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Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 4059

Report by Martin Barnicott

Time Machine, Hard Rock, Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Cavers: Martin Barnicott, Bob Toogood

Top trip. Met Bob in Crickhowell, had a couple of pints of Rev James and dossed at Whitewalls. We had the place to ourselves as we did the cave the next day. The 600m entrance crawl (more like a sideways snake slither) was taken slowly and enjoyed; I guessed that it would not give quite as much pleasure on the way out and I was right.

This was all the cave was last time I was there. Plodding on we marched and crawled and climbed up and down the various bits and bobs till we got to the Hard Rock Café (nowhere as good as the one in Bangkok or for that matter any of the others I have been to). Bob let me have a biscuit and then we started along towards the Micron passing all manner of disconnected arms and incongruous signs. Dropping down the Micron, complete with fishing rod, we stumbled up the Ankle Grinder, a superb bit of stream passage with 1001 shin scuffing potholes to emerge at the “Restaurant”. A perfect day’s caving, topped off by a quick visit to the Blue Greenies.

Now here is the rub, you have to do the whole bloody thing to get back out. Still it wasn’t so bad and despite the pair of us moaning about stiff necks in the final 600(0)m we emerged to late for the pub, 13h after entering. The bonus was that there was no gear to wash! I Will definitely invest in some of those “Nancy” pads for the elbows next time, and there will be a next time if your up for it Bob. Perhaps we can take a couple of extra biscuits though.

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Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 3880

Report by Barny
Cavers: Martin Barnicott, Bob Toogood

After the previous days pleasant trip (Juniper), where I came out cleaner than I went in, reckon Bob wanted to remind me why everyone in Derbyshire is stained permanently mud.

A fine entrance drop down to the “Flats”, must have lost the route on the way down as I never found the narrows. After a couple of memory failures that meant we had one rope too few we found the pitch leading down to the “Freeze Squeeze”.

This more than made up for missing the narrows! After a couple of rather half hearted attempts at breaking my back we/I gave up and returned to the surface..

A tour round the streams and rivers of Derbyshire to find a good washing spot led us back to Oughtbridge where we spent longer washing the gear than we had done caving. Still a good trip and something to come back to when I feel a bit more committed.

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Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 3888

Report by Phil Burke
Cavers: Phil Burke, Martin Barnicott, Bob Toogood

Arrived in Ingleton and not quite sure what to do we finally settled on Juniper Gulf, which surprisingly none of us had done.

It took about 40mins to find the entrance but once there everything went OK, 2.5 Hrs to the bottom and out.

There's more P bolts down there than ever you'd want, but the rigging is now fantastic.

The last pitch is totally magnificent.

Came out to continuing sunshine and fantastic views. Thoroughly recommended for an odd couple of hours.