1989-1990
Richard Collcott, Dave Wilson, Janet Cotter, Pam Murphy, Rob Knell, Paul Huggins (Huggy), Pete Hambly, Tim Palmer, Malcolm Barr, Phil Hay, Rob Chaddock, Chris Birkhead, Harry Lock, Bronwen Ley, Alva Gosson, Clive Orrock, Debbie Armstrong, Richard Chaddock, Herman Herz, Chris Shaw, Monaghan Tindale, Simon Lawes, Wendy Rooke, Gideon Smith, Lionel Wightman, Keith Wilson, Tanya, Jessica Acheson, Jens Biele, Alan Fowler, Martin Shelley, Richard Mason, Derk Noske, Sally Lawes
I typed these reports up in 2025, and sometimes I chose to leave out sentences or words I deemed offensive. I usually thought these were sexist or racist. These decisions were entirely my own. Typos, incorrect attempts at transcribing handwriting, and misattributing trips to cavers who share names are also my mistakes.
Fiona Hartley
The First Trip of the Year - Yorkshire 13-15 October
Superstars: Rob, Herman, Simon, Wendy, Rob K, Monaghan, Janet, Paul, Phil
Old Duffers: Harry, Rich, Dave
Fresh Young Faces: Tanga, Lyndsey, Jessica, Alva, Lionel, Jaime, Margaret, Gideon, Keith
Saturday
Heron Pot: Harry Lock, Monaghan Tindale, Lionel Wightman, Tanya
[This handwriting is hard to read.]
I was expecting - calm [] drive up to Yorkshire, expecting nice, dry potholes; These dreams were destroyed in the first five minutes where every man, woman and thing was rammed into a small Minibus. After getting lost, trying to find a small hole in the ground, and a nice walk around the hills, we entered the pothole, things started to deteriorate, 2 pitches down waterfalls, one ladder being too short. then after a nice wet period, a 800 yard crawl through a very wet, small bit, and then too top it, a nice narrow end, which collapsed your rib cage. During this pleasant experience, Tanya stated her affection for [] in the form of I'm going to kill you when get out, otherwise it was nice and dry.
Lionel
Nettle Pot: Janet Cotter, Simon Lawes, Gideon Smith, Jessica Acheson
Delightful drive over to Dent with chauffeur extraordinaire Rob Chaddock. Nettle Pot is a lovely Freshers Cave with only a short crawl to the pitch (~15ft). Lots of water which made it fun (crawling under small waterfalls etc). Stream was very fast flowing and very noisy! I think Gideon and Jessica liked it. Not very strenuous though. The highlight of the trip was when we went up a wrong passage and I (Janet) persuaded Simon that we could get through this small gap. Hee! Hee!
[a sketch of a cross-section of a hole and Simon saying Are you sure, Janet?]
The way back was, in fact, the next passage along.
Janet
Sunset Hole: Dave Wilson, Rob Knell, Lindsey, Jaime
Fairly standard trip down Sunset enlivened by a ladder rigged almost perfectly down the line of a waterfall. Made it past the 2 cascades to the head of the pitch until, foiled by lack of ladders and embarrassment at Jaime's immense musculature, we returned, slightly damp, to daylight and THE PUB.
Rob K
Southerscales: Richard Collcott, Alva Gosson, Herman Herz, Wendy Rooke
While I was naively looking for a large hole in the ground the others were searching for the very inconspicuous and ridiculously small 'entrance' to the cave. I was astonished when the cave mouth was found, a slightly eroded joint in an exposed part of a limestone pavement. Rich did the impossible and slid down into the passage below. Herman being somewhat larger in build had some trouble which did not help my development of faith in the plasticity of the human form. Then my go. With complete trust in what I had been told I lept down the hole and found it a lot easier than I had expected. Thank God I didn't get stuck for I am sure I couldn't have coolly handled it. After a huge crawl in a tiny passage we came to the first pitch. No real problem except the stream falling on our heads as we descended. A slightly larger passage led to the second pitch (with a huge river flowing over it). After this we continued along the cave for a while and then returned. On the ascend the only drama was Wendy catching a cowstail on the ladder of the second pitch and having to be hauled up, very wet and cold. And so my innocence to caving was dashed.
Alva 29/3/90
Roaring Pot: The vacant space.
This trip was obviously too exciting for words...
Pete
Sunday
Heron / Valley Entrance: Rob Knell, Herman Herz, Monaghan Tindale, Simon Lawes, Wendy Rooke, Gideon Smith, Lionel Wightman, Jessica Acheson
We went down Vallee Ntrance and it was quite nice. Me and Monaghan and SiMoN dived sump I at RoWten which was a duck 'cos it was really really loW WateR and it was cold and also really stupid [because being REAL HARD MEAN TOUGH MEN - Monaghan] Me and MonagHan did it in dry gear.
Herman?
Then Monaghan and Herman de-rigged Heron too.
Rob
Dow Cave - Providence Pot: Richard Collcott, Harry Lock, Keith Wilson, Jaime
Ah Yes!! Whoops!! Very Sorry!! Won't do it again!! etc... the "experts": Rich and H. the "victims": Jaime and Keith. this was a real epic and certainly not a novice trip. Rich hadn't bothered to read up about the cave and Harry's memory of the trip had undergone a massive mental failure. Well done to Jaime and Keith, who caved brilliantly so early on in their hopefully much longer caving career. the cave was just too long to do as a realistic Sunday novice trip. My and H's apologies to all those who got back to London at 7am Monday morning. I'll try and keep a low profile next weekend.
Rich
Ingleborough walk: Rob, Janet, Dewi, Tim, Tanya, Lyndsey
A well organised walk from Clapham to the hill Inn via Ingleborough Hill with Tim's car being left at the Pub where we were supposed to arrive for last orders. Took the nature trail up to Gaping Gill which was jolly pretty, if a bit grannyish, stopping for an ice-cream en route. Didn't actually go right to the top as along a ridge but got a superb view of Pen-y-Gent and the Allotment. Weather was windy and quite cloudy (started to rain) but we were mean and tough and so didn't care. We also didn't make the Hill Inn in time but went to Ingleton for "afternoon tea" - very civilised. The only casualty was mud on Monaghan's jacket which he'd lent to Tanya.
Janet
The Second "Proto-Entities" Trip Mendip 20-22 October
Rob, Rob K, Simon, Janet, Clive, Chris, Pete, Pam Murphy, Alan Fowle, Martin Shelley, Richard Mason, Derk Noske, Jens Biele, Alva Gosson (again), Harry, Rich, Wendy, Richard Chaddock, Hugh
A totally horrible drive from London. We left the Union at 7:40 and ventured out to brave the elements and all they could throw at us - guting gales and horizontal rain, together with no brake light on the van made for an entertaining drive. Stopped at the Old Bell in Warminster for a print of GX and a kebab. Got to the MURC at around 11:45 to find Harry lurking in his pit waiting for us.
Saturday
Swildons: Richard Collcott, Pam Murphy, Rob Knell, Alva Gosson, Simon Lawes
What a merry time we all had. Everyone in rubberware (except boring old Rich), bit of a shame that the water level was so low. Went to sump 2 and back (well Rich stayed the dry side of sump/duck 1). Everyone seemed happy, and Pam must have liked ladders a lot as she tried to climb two at once. The pace speeded up towards the end as Simon, Al and Pam tried to escape the dulcet tones of Rich and Rob "All around my hat" etc... Album out soon. Got out after a bit of barging past some "slightly" slower cavers. Then onto Wells for food etc.
Rich
GB: Pete Hambly, Chris Birkhead, Clive Orrock, Wendy Rooke, Richard Mason, Derk Noske
This trip was led by Pete, Clive and Chris and Wendy, who were joined by the two caving virgins, Derk and Richard.
From my point of view this consisted of climbing down lots of very steep slippery slopes, where one false move would have led to certain death. This, we were told, was a 'dry' cave. Despite this I still managed to get soaked through to the skin.
One particularly interesting bit was crawling flat out for about a mile (or that's what it seemed like), and then squeezing through a very small hole which was half full of water. We were assured that beyond this there was another way out, so we wouldn't need to go through it again. After many hours (!) of wriggling, squeezing, sliding (falling), shitting myself etc, we decided that we couldn't find the "back passage". So we had to go all the way back.
Despite all this we still had a great time, and the only casualties were my knees.
Richard or Derk
Cold, wet, smelly - I loved it. See you next time.
Richard or Derk
PS. The experts were brill, and saved my life several times - cheers lads and girl.
Richard or Derk
Manor Farm: Janet Cotter, Harry Lock, Richard Chaddock, Jens Biele, Alan Fowler
Horrible pitches, narrow hole and all that stuff that is so vital for caving freshers!
Two of us (Alan and me) escaped quite early, climbing up the ladder freely and totally unattended as Harry was busy trying to get out Janet, who was stuck somewhere (so it is told). We waited for hours and hours... Eventually they appeared to the surface, totally exhausted. Good trip! And then, a good after-cave cigarette of course, cheers Janet! I better finish now...
Jens
I wasn't stuck. I was just enjoying the view.
Janet
And bleeding.
Anon
A freshers trip only for "Hardy" pro-entities.
Anon
Sunday
Longwood-August: Pam Murphy, Rob Knell, Alva Gosson, Simon Lawes, Martin Shelley
Any time Simon tells you "It's a piece of piss" DON'T believe him. At least we got a chance to put on the rubber suits again. it was very small and, okay, Paul's arse didn't fit. Luckily Rob's threat of farting got me moving again - there's no way I was hanging around. And I'm never going to forget his rendition of the Trumpton Song (however hard I try).
Pam wrote this
The alternative version - the Swildon's mega assault team of the prvious day reconvened minus Rich and plus Martin and guided on their wetsuits (mmmm), followed by a jollu spiffing little zoom through Longwood complete with a very sporting entrance series where we found that zen is not the answer to such situations, but a lot of RUDE WORDS are.
P.S. Standing at the bottom of a wet chimney in the rain waiting for the big S to find the way on was sort of fun too.
Rob
Swildons: Pete Hambly, Clive Orrock, Jens Biele, Alan Fowler, Richard Mason, Derk Noske
Got to entrance for midday, joined queue for first pitch, gave up after 45 minutes or so, to exit.
Pete
the most strenuous part of the day was getting into a drysuit designed for a stunted person (ie < 6'6" long). Caving great fun especially the detour round the dry route - plenty of tight squeezes.
Big Al
Swildons (Short Round): Chris Birkhead, Richard Chaddock, Hugh
Slow progress at the 20' but then quickly got to the very damp mud sump. tried to stick legs through etc but no go; so onto sump 1, and then up the slope to the double troubles etc, got through around four of the ducks up to around Blue Pencil then turned round. Only underground 3 hours! Try again in January, and take bin for bailing mud sump!
Chris B
Wot no caving for H on Sunday?
Bonfire Weekend Yorkshire November 3-5
Rob Chaddock, Herman, Simon, Rob Knell, Monaghan, Janet, Phil, Dave, Chris, Clive, Harry, Debbie, Lionel, Jessica, Bronwen, Tanya, Pam, Gideon, Alan, Pete
Uneventful drive up from London in FLW and Janet's Ma's Golf GTi.
Saturday
Sell Gill Holes: Harry Lock, Bronwen Ley, Simon Lawes, Jessica Acheson
Sod all to it, lots in a downward direction and plenty back up, Harry showed us around "Estate Agent Style" the nice little end of terrace with small tunnel of a back yard and humungous waterfall - the wet way down ho ho ho. We supposedly descended the "dry" way (Please check dictionary, I'm sure that is without moisture). However although slightly moist the 4 of us emerged moments after descending (well ignoring the slight delay from Bron's unusual ladder technique BULT).
Jingling Hole: Pam Murphy, Phil Hay, Rob Chaddock, Chris Shaw, Alan Fowler
My first attempt at SRT in a cave (as opposed to a tree in Princes Gardens). Got completely frozen at the top, waiting for the ropes to be rigged up. Leaning over the edge of a 40m drop for the abseil scared the shit out of me but it was OK when we got going. Had a look around the bottom chamber and then went straight back up again. Not a very interesting cave but good practice at SRT. Also nice to be in a dry cave for a change.
Bull Pot: Pete Hambly, Clive Orrock, Debbie Armstrong, Monaghan Tindale, Lionel Wightman
Loooking for the entrance took almost longer than the cave itself! Much embarrassment as wandered up and down, up and down, up again... and back down again until finally... up again. Wrong field! So down (again) to entrance.
Ladder team of novices exiting (with some problems) as Monaghan rigged down beside 'em. What to say? All down first pitch OK, down Chris' pitch ok (via rope) and thence down the slot (third pitch).
Fourth pitch (and preceeding ones) quite wet. Monaghan rigged long traverse clear of water but unfortunately ran short of rope just before a suitable dry re-belay. Faced with only option being passing a knot in much spray we elected to leave the excitement of Bull's Bottom (ooh err!) for another day. Exited past a following ladder/novice crew. Some very cold people there... the lass in the wet suit looked particularly unhappy and the guy in the leather jacket and overtrousers with just a Petzl headtorch was pretty cold as well. Anyway swift, efficient exit and de-rig. Everyone coped v well. Good trip.
CMO
Christmas Pot: Dave Wilson, Herman Herz, Gideon Smith
My first SRT trip and I was the last to go in so was left to fiddle with rope and descender myself. - a little worrying. Having said that the other two made sure I knew what I was doing inside the cave with rope (rebelay) changeovers etc which hadn't done before (oops!). The cave was pretty dry (much better than Valley Entrance) and ok fun. Herman got lost soon after entering the cave and further inspired confidence by asking whilst rigging "How do you tie this knot?".
The formations were good, on the lower levels, but we didn't reach the very bottom (too wet).
Gideon
The Bonfire Party!!!
Having all emerged from overassorted grotty holes we:
- Went to the chippy (myself in full glorous PVC)
- Went to the Marton Arms
- Returned unto the Enn Pee Cee, where after drinking a certain amount of petrol we managed to get a fire lit, which eventually evolved into a fair blaze. We then drank lots of beer (el Presidente showed a fine example) and let off some fireworks. then I ate a mars bar sandwich. A fairly reasonable evening all round, especially the rain.
Rob K
[mars bar sandwich] which Pam made which was fairly bloody impressive, I thought.
Love an' turtles from
Pam
As an afternote when all us tired little IC3 people were in bed, the hut was invaded by two far too lively Newcastle people (Katrina and Meg) and some inconsequential males from the same club (except Gavin who'd been drinking with us all evening). The evening was thus enlivened and a few steady souls managed to force themselves to drink some more beer until 4:30am before finally collapsing.
Rob C
Sunday
Valley Entrance Part IV the horror continues: Pam Murphy, Rob Knell
Clad once more in glorious rubber wear we zoomed through V.E. to Kingsdale Master Cave to go and look for some insects we found in there last time. The streamway was quite entertaining because there was lots of water. There were no insects to be seen because of there being so much water. So we came out again. And met...
Rob
... some funny friend of Rob's who he'd just spoken to but hadn't recognised. So Pam sat in a puddle and got bored while they talked about 'old times'.
Pam
Bar Pot: Janet Cotter, Monaghan Tindale, Gideon Smith, Lionel Wightman
Hacked up to G.G. via the [] boys route and arrived at Bar to be confronted with 4 million sodding ropes down the first pitch. Descended anyway and moved down to the 30m pitch to meet 4 Newcastle chaps climbing. Free hang had 3 ropes. Even the wet route was double rigged. Sat around at the top for one and a half hours waiting. One Newcastle guy taking 40mins to climb a 30m pitch was a bit much. Very disgruntled we left Bar and got back to the NPC early. Well that's life.
PS. Will everyone stop asking me if I'm pissed off or not.
Monaghan
No!!
Anon
Barn: Simon, Tanya, Rob, Clive, Jessica, Bronwyn (spelling??), Dave and Pete
Went to barn, bounced up and down a bit, went to pub, went to cafe. A really good day out honest.
Simon
Mendips 20 Nov (approx)
Simon, Rob K, Pam, Harry, Bron, Chris B, Lionel, Alan, Jens
Saturday
Stoke Lane Slocker: Pam Murphy, Rob Knell, Bronwen Ley, Simon Lawes
Smashing trip into this lovely cave much enjoyed by all. Simon bravely led into the deep, dark, very smelly far reaches of the cave (well, past the first sump) carefully negotiating the treacherous "nutmeg grates". Much time was spent wallowing in the particularly fine and glutinous mud past the first sump and a few photos were taken. No problems on the trip and we exited after about four hours and picked up the Thrupe Lane lot.
Simon
Funny, I thought it was the "organ grinder" or "the potato peeler."
Pam
Thrupe Lane: Chris Birkhead, Harry Lock, Lionel Wightman, Jens Biele, Alan Fowler
Harry and Chris set off at their usual slow speed, with 2 freshers, the other, he chickened out due to his light failing (see Longwood for Alan's continuing luck). Chris and Harry went down one passage to find a way, so I formed a puddle down another passage, Chris then decided this was the way and had to crawl through the puddle. Good trip, right down to the bottom, where I found a light.
Lionel
Sunday
Rhino Rift: Chris Birkhead, Harry Lock, Bronwen Ley
Only problem with this trip is borrowing the key from the Longwood team! Nice long first pitch, but deviation has been taken out so you will have to manage with a rebelay, or Go For It!! One rope got us to the bottom of main rift (100m). But core because of loose rock!! Small sewery pitch to get to bottom! Lots of bolts available and a new Fancy SRT route for D. Elliot types (see Descent for details). OK but dry trip.
Chris Birkhead
upside down account of a visit to topsy turvey land.
CSB
Longwood-August: Pam Murphy, Simon Lawes, Lionel Wightman, Alan Fowler
Simon makes a very good ladder. Well, actually, it wasn't really a ladder, I just kind of stood on his shoulders while he climbed out.
Alan didn't seem too impressed with the cave. This could be cos he only got to see the really squashy bit at the entrance before his light faded AGAIN. Only the third time this weekend... [Why bother? - Al] Apart from that it was a ded good cave and we had a reel good time. I'm writing this at Xmas when me an' Simon got ratarsed - an' stuff. Lots of love an' turtles from
Pam
Yorkshire 1-3 December
Rob, Herman, Wendy, Rich, Dave, Chris, Monaghan, Harry, Debbie, Malcolm
Pretty standard drive up only marred by the fog and crap van - OLE - which had a non adjustable driver's seat, no wiper arm and a knackered gearbox.
Saturday
Diccan Pot: Dave Wilson, Monaghan Tindale, Wendy Rooke
Pasture Gill Pot: Richard Collcott, Rob Chaddock, Harry Lock, Chris Shaw
It was decided that the good, dry, cold weather meant it was time for a trip to Wharfedale. Drove over via Hawes - much easier than Settle and Kettlewell route. There was very little water going down the sinkhole. Take a 35m rope for the first 2 pitches in future, a 15m is too short for the entrance pitch. Straightforward trip down with no route finding problems except for doing a very wet crawl which we didn't need to do. Tadpole passage and the duck were no problem - it was possible to keep the body dry. Chris rigged to the bottom - nice to bottom a good grade IV and Harry and Rich derigged.
It was really good to do a good cave after 6 months of no caving.
Rob
King Pot: Malcolm Barr, Debbie Armstrong, Herman Herz
It took 12 hours - it was pretty shit.
Herman
What an utterly shit, unfortunate write up.
Rob
Sunday
Rowten Pot: Dave Wilson, Monaghan Tindale
The Christmas Tour 1989 - December 15th-22nd
Whole week: Rob, Dave, Janet, Rob, Pam, Phil (the bogey man), Monaghan, Gideon, Alva, Keith
Part timers: Rich, Wendy, Paul, Pete, Tim, Simon, Lionel [what a bummer to leave this excellent company :( - Lionel. I dont think Lionel is very modest - Alva]
The team drove up by various means:- the red van, Rich's Escort, Rob's R16 and Lionel's Datsun 100A. Dave's plan to ride up on his bike on Saturday was foiled by a high speed accident on his bicycle on Friday night so he came up in the van.
Saturday
Saturday
Jingling: Richard Collcott, Janet Cotter, Tim Palmer, Wendy Rooke
Bar: Paul Huggins (Huggy), Alva Gosson, Monaghan Tindale, Gideon Smith, Lionel Wightman, Pam Murphy, Rob Knell, Simon Lawes
There was no drinks and therefore I was v disappointed. Then no this £0 ffo kcab yyyyip etc.
Alva
This is a pissed Alva saying we went down Bar and came up Flood. Basically.
Lionel
Now seriously - we entered the modest cave much without incident except it took until dark because of the vast numbers of other cavers on their way out @ suitably spaced intervals to make our descent impossible. I mean if the G.G. system were not so large I would not believe there was room for them. Anyway once down we descended the two pitches rigged by Monaghan to the SE passage where we met the flood group. This was my first SRT trip % I was rather unsure of myself we then ascended flood. This was difficult and I got knackered.
Alva
Not sure if he's referring to the ascent out of Flood or the fact he wrote this in tiny script descending into the corner of the page, and ran out of space.
2025 Editor
Flood: Paul Huggins (Huggy), Alva Gosson, Monaghan Tindale, Gideon Smith, Lionel Wightman, Pam Murphy, Rob Knell, Simon Lawes
Pam an' Simon (stayed at home being P'd off 'cos he gave his kit to Alva) [who took real great care of it & would appreciate such niceties in future please thanks etc - Alva] an' Rob an' Mark (NPC) an' people. Anyway, it was fun, an' I got my hair caught in my stop and I was NOT IMPRESSED cos it HURT apart from that it woz a good cave. And we met Monaghan (Yeuch!!!) and peeps and crossed over then we went to the pub and got a bit squiffy then I got a piggy back off of Simon. Love from
Pam
Rob's 'serious' write up: quite a nice cave rigged rapidly by an NPC type (Mark). The last pitch is especially entertaining, and I got my photo taken by Martn Farr (wooo) coming down it. Found Monaghan at the bottom and came out through Bar.
Rob K
Sunday - it pissed down
Bull Pot: Richard Collcott, Paul Huggins (Huggy), Wendy Rooke
Rowten: Monaghan Tindale, Simon Lawes, Lionel Wightman
Simon's attempt at rigging was cut short by immensely large volume of water going down cave. With thoughts of dead CRO cavers we beat a retreat after the rift pitch. Shame really because it is a very nice cave and excellent practice for both rigging and SRT practice. A fun trip was had by all though.
Alum Pot (Main Shaft/Long Churn Exchange): Janet Cotter, Pam Murphy, Rob Knell, Tim Palmer, Phil Hay, Rob Chaddock, Gideon Smith
Well, this was a REALLY exciting trip. Trog up the hill in lots of wind and rain, stare at a hole in the ground and say, "Gosh, that's a lot of water." Find another hole in the ground, go down it, say, "Bloody hell, that really IS a lot of water," sit in some water and eat a Mars bar while "the lads" go upstream a bit and nearly get washed off and killed and things because there really WAS a lot of water, and then go home. The End.
Pam
Monday
Large Pot: Phil Hay, Rob Chaddock, Gideon Smith, Lionel Wightman [why is my name always LAST - Lionel]
After an exhausting ascent from car to entrance (due to lack of fitness) descended first pitch mostly on scaffolding. Second pitch had restricted access, strictly no cat swinging, third pitch then to the pit through some muddy crawls, through Arcadia with some great straws and stals. On your knees to calcite corner then some awkward standing passage and on to the cunt! where odd noises were heard from Gideon eventually we descended into Necropolis unavoidably in water. Then as rapid ascent as possible with Lionel leading. third pitch OK but at the top of second Gideon and I manage to get through fairly easily with a little more effort from Lionel. Overall good team effort as well as individual.
Phil
I was knackered.
Lionel
King Pot: Dave Wilson, Monaghan Tindale, Simon Lawes + 9 hours + 40 Marlboro (is there any relation?)
The mega-death team of hard mean tough cavers got absolutely knackered. This cave fights you to the last second. A pretty uneventful trip to the sumps where we discovered just why the T shaped passage is talked of so often (it is a bitch). Rigging by Dave - derigging by Monaghan. Swearing and pissing about by Simon. After nine hours we surfaced to a beautiful, cold, Kingsdale night with a very slight snow falling.
Simon
Lancaster Hole: Janet Cotter, Pam Murphy, Rob Knell, Tim Palmer, Alva Gosson, Keith Wilson
Exciting event number 1 - Tim forgetting his oversuit so he wore an Inglesport bag - very detching. Event number 2: Rob rigging the pitch in a manner so magnificent as to be breathtaking. [Well, no one got killed falling off it, that's about all you can say - Pam.] Rest fairly uneventful - a few route finding probs, a little absolute fear on the slab at the bottom of the iron ladder, then into the main drain, saying 'gosh' and going out again.
Rob K
Tuesday
Bar Pot: Rob Knell, Alva Gosson, Keith Wilson
A strenuous trip down to the top of pitch 2 where we were foiled by a vast quantity of adventure holiday type chaps. Nice walk though.
PS. Alva saw a bat.
Rob K
Climbing
Barn: D Wilson, Simon, Pam, Monaghan, Lionel
Pissed about on ropes and wall for a while and then went to stuff our faces. Bar (New Inn): Simon and everyone. Simon got v pissed. (So did Pam)
Monaghan
Wednesday
Rowten: Pam Murphy, Monaghan Tindale, Simon Lawes
Over to Simon for his account of being caught in water.
Monaghan
It was very silly really, but having descended the rift pitch earlier in the week and failed to get on to the ledge, I decided to go for it. I fucked up and got caught in the waterfall. A very rapid underwater changeover followed and I prussicked back up much chastised. Pam then descended the rope to look at the water and was much impressed. We then exited and Pam derigged. A good and interesting trip.
Simon
But then... Simon nearly frizzed to death (okay, maybe not but he was bloody cold) then we went to the chippy, and then we found that the car wouldn't start. Nobody was particularly happy and quite a lot of swearing went on. And Simon could only find one sock, THEN he dropped all his money THEN his cigs got wet, and he wasn't a happy little teddy bear. So we pushed the car into somwhere that wasn't the middle of the road and sat in the pub all night and no one came to pick us up so we got the taxi home. It was a really good evening and we all enjoyed it a lot. Honest.
Pam
19th-21st January - Yorkshire
Van: Dave, Jan, Rob K, Pam, Simon, Sally Lawes, Alan
Cars: Harry, Tim
Saturday
Ireby Fell Caverns: everyone else: Dave Wilson, Janet Cotter, Pam Murphy, Tim Palmer, Harry Lock, Alan Fowler, Sally Lawes
King Pot: Rob Knell, Simon Lawes
An epic 16 hour death trip. reached the sumps in five and half hours with little trouble apart from Simon losing a welly in the T-shaped passage. Entertaining take off for Elizabeth Shaft - standing with 30m of empty space below your bollocks is a strange feeling. Needs a fairly long tape for the deviation, which is off a natural about 5?m down the pinnacle. If the tape is too short you get a rub point a bit further down.
Things started wrong as we started coming out. The O-ring on my carbide started leaking, and the electric on Simon's stopped working (later found out the bulb had blown. I had a spare but we didn't realise at the time) Also the hose on his carbide started coming out regularly every 30 seconds. This meant that he had to ascend Elizabeth shaft mostly in the dark because of the waterfall. Somewhat later we started running out of carbide...
Naturally this led to a certain amount of demoralisation, panic, saying words like 'dandruff' and so forth.
This combined with tiredness led to the pace slowing quite a lot, and as we continued it slowed more. S had a LOT of trouble getting the tackle bag through the you-know-what, after which he looked at me and said in a pathetic voice, "Rob, man, you wouldn't mind, like, taking the tackle bag to the next pitch, man... please?" So I did. A 'character forming experience'. We were now moving very slowly due to total mental and physical exhaustion, and finally escaped at 3:35AM onto a cold moor with about 10' visibility. Made our way down to the road, where we found Dave asleep in the van.
Moral: don't get your O-ring in a twist. Also, if your light fails, test it by putting a new bulb in...
Rob
Yorkshire 26th Jan-28th Jan 1990
Members present: Rob C, Monaghan, Rob K, Simon, Chris B, Gideon, Pam
Non-members: Chris S, Rachael Wilson, Cath Davies, Marc Houghton
Non-members who should pay membership: Tanya
Saturday
Walking team: Chris (who went caving once), Tanya
We spent hours and hours in the barn, got dropped off on one side of Ingleborough, stumbled around the marshes and got back to Clapham for 4-30 when we got something to eat and waited for New Inn. Future Notes: New Inn doesn't open till seven; Three Peaks map not necessary!
Chris S
Vesper: Chris Birkhead, Gideon Smith
Flood Entrance: Pam Murphy, Rob Knell, Simon Lawes
Nice trip down Flood. I rigged, so it took a while. Got to the bottom, went to the main chamber (pretty) then to Mud Hall (also pretty) and back out. I had to pull Pam off the top of the first pitch ha ha.
Rob K
Heron Pot: Rob Chaddock, Monaghan Tindale
What magnificence, what grandeur! The true beauty of this superb trip was added to by the splendid scenic route which Monaghan treated us to on the way to the cave. Since water levels were fairly low we abb'ed through - rope wouldn't pull through on first pitch so I re-ascended and abseiled on a doubled rope (using a rack). Zoomed through and spluttered out in around one and a half hours.
Rob C
Sunday
Woke up to shitty weather - high winds, horizontal rain blah, blah. A brave group of cavers attempted an assault on the infamous Bull Pot, whilst us townies (Chris, Cath, Rach) went walking in jeans. 50 minutes later we sat in the van drying off and waited for some Valley entrance people (Rob and Chris were doing some "exploring" - more about that later probably).
That's all from me, goodbye
Chris S x x
Valley Entrace: Rob Knell, Chris Birkhead
After much blahing from John Cordingley after breakfast about avens, and tight squeezes at the top of, near the Rowten sumps, Chris and Rob set off armed with 2 ladders, a 40m rope and countless krabs. Usual trip through to main stream. When we got to the wades, a slight problem presented itself (to Chris at least). Short legs + deep water + dry gear = drowning. A tactical withdrawal was undertaken before Chris died. Fortunately I was clad in a wet suit and so could forge on through to the prospect of new discoveries and world fame. Unfortunately when the aven was reached (keep following the left wall as you go upstream) it was found that the krabs we had were too big for the holes in the hangers (thin, rusty bits of angle iron) - oh well! In an attempt to salvage something from the trip we had a poke down Carrot Passage before exiting.
Rob
Bull Pot: Pam Murphy, Monaghan Tindale
Usual story. Too many people down and therefore would have to wait, got cold, pissed off etc.
So we went for jolly japes down Valley Entrance. A lot fo water. Good for being washed away.
Monaghan
Mendips 16-18th February 1990 The Year of our Lord
Rob C, Rob K, Simon, Pam, Chris, Harry, Pete, Sally, Alan, Philip (Pam's bruvver)
Swildon's - black hole: Pam Murphy, Rob Knell, Simon Lawes, Sally Lawes, Philip, some other random
Fun fun fun with lots of water. Went down by the normal route to just past the duck past sump 1. Turn right, up an aven, carry on a bit to the BLACK HOLE - down a ladder, traverse over to the left, loooong step over, up a greasy stal covered climb. Pottered about a bit - it's quite pretty. Came back. The water was going up on the way out, which made it especially entertaining. We met some jerk at the top of the twenties with 2 girlies in full makeup, earrings etc who were making lots of squeaky noises.
Rob K
Tyning's Barrow: Chris Birkhead, Harry Lock, Alan Fowler, Pete Hambly, Rob Chaddock
After much debating team 1 (Harry, Chris and Alan) decided to do Tyning's Barrow while team 2 (Rob and Pete) decided to do Thrupe Lane on rope. 1 set off in harry's wagon. 2 set off in the van only to find Thrupe already rigged. After a jovial chat with a portly farmer's wife 2 decided to follow 1 down. The two teams met about 15 minutes from the bottom. Mined entrance with two ladders needed. 1 ladder further on in a waterfall. Took one and a half hours.
Rob C
Saturday night
Usual early exit despite trying to waste as much time as possible in the morning. Tynning's Barrow teams proceeded to Priddy Green to wait for the New Inn to open. Several pints of Pedigree and a food frenzy later the Swildons team emerged unscathed from the Black Hole. The evening then took the usual course - go to the Hunter's, drink lots of Butcombe, play shoere-ha'pening (Simon won the tournament) and stagger back to the Belfry. A raiding party was sent across to the Wessex where it was rearked that there were 2 barrels of beer on. Rob K attempted to uphold the honour of the club by squeezing through the cheese press but there were even scrawnier members of the Wessex about. Staggered back to the Belfry.
Rob C
Sunday
Shock, horror - Simon was up early for the second day in a row!!! After that though usual leisurely start.
Longwood: Richard Collcott, Rob Chaddock, Chris Birkhead, Richard Chaddock, Wendy Rooke
Rich C(2) (Collcott) and Wendy finally turned up on Sunday morning (we'll be there on Sautday morning... see you in the Hunter's tonight...). So Rich C(2), Wendy and Chris went off to look for a key to Longwood. Rob C waited for Rich C(1) (his brother) and his mate Hugh to turn up. They too felt Longwood would be a good idea and so set off after the others.
Trip was a bit wetter than usual with a good soaking on the second pitch. Rapid trip down wet streamway which made me glad I was wearing a wetsuit (heresy surely!) interrupted by a heated discussion between Richard C(2) and another party about the use of carbide down Longwood.
Rob C
Yorkshire 16-18 March
The valient few, in a van: Rob C, Rob K, Simon, Harry
Drove up the A1 and got to Huntingdon an hour early. Got some chips and then adjourned to the Falcon Inn in the centre of town - definitely the sixth form pub on a Friday night. Met Harry at this school and continued on. Total driving time - 5 hours.
NOTHING TO WRITE UP
The Easter Tour - Yorkshire 23-30 March
Dave, Rob C, Rob K, Pam, Alva, Pete, Phil, Richard Ch
Saturday
Simpsons
Sunday
Meregill
Black Shiver
Monday
Tuesday
Whitescar: Dave Wilson, Pam Murphy, Rob Knell, Pete Hambly, Rob Chaddock, Alva Gosson
What a crap show cave! Do not pay £2.20 for the tourist trip of this "magnificent natural system" half of which is a mined tunnel. After an astoundingly early morning which saw us in the White Scar car park at 10:30 we donned our scraps of wetsuit - Pete had a particularly dashing new style - the "crotchless" which revealed white thighs and the occasional pubic tuft. Zoomed through the show cave making appropriately moronic comments and then proceeded to follow the streamway as we'd forgotten the survey. It all gets a bit tedious until you get to the final ducks and wallows before the sump which are quite fun (as are the lakes). Exited before the onset of hypothermia to gasps of awe and admiration from a party of school kids (must have seen Peter's thighs). N.B. no more permits are being issued.
Rob C
Wednesday
G.G. Dihedral
Rumbling HoleMarble Steps Pot: Phil Hay, Rob Chaddock, Richard Chaddock
Drove over to Leck Fell hoping to get down Rumbling during a quiet Wednesday. However, no body at the farm (as usual!) so we drove up, only to meet a shepherd who told us the farmer (a figure chasing sheep on the horizon) would be back down in three quarters of an hour. He said no so we went to Marble Steps.
Pleasant trip down the Intestines (unintentionally) which were all flushed clean except for fresh grass and leaves. Saw some white shrimps near the base of the last pitch. Notable points were Richard sitting in a turd at the entrance and Phil having to return down the last pitch to retrieve a forgotten bag. Rob rigged, Phil derigged.
Rob
Thursday
... and let the sixth day be a day of rest. Arose at a leisurely hour cooked breakfast at a leisurely pace and eat it at a leisurely quarter to twelve. Spent a leisurely afternoon pottering about the hut and doing a leisurely inventory of the ropes (~2100m in total). Since it was all getting a bit too leisurely, a stroll up Pen-y-ghent was decided on. After stopping in Settle for supplies - food and booze we finally left the car park in Horton at 4:45, our mighty obstacle shrouded its head in mist. Got to the top fairly rapidly and without meeting many people. Zero view at the top so we headed down rapidly with a diversion to have a look at Hull pot - always an impressive sight.
Stopped at the Game Cock for a pint of Thwaites - it seems to have changed hands as the two little old ladies weren't around as usual.
Dinner was a veritable feat with loads of venison stew and mashed potatoes washed down with wine (Richard brought up two haunches of venison). After the gentlemen had removed their jackets and settled down in the armchairs over brandy and cigars - with the ladies in the other room of course - a lively, although extremely pointless and [] argument ensued.
Friday
Sell Gill Holes: Dave Wilson, Phil Hay, Rob Chaddock, Alva Gosson, Richard Chaddock
Scotland - 11-15th April 1990
Chris Birkhead, Rob Chaddock, Harry Lock
Chris drove to stores and met Rob. They drove to Rob's place and met Rob's Renault 16. Then they all drove to Harry's place and met his Renault 4. Then they all drove to Phil's place (in Newcastle) and met his flatmate. Then they went to bed after avoiding Chris's pastis. In the morning they drove to Glencoe via Dumbarton arriving at 1:30pm.
Walk 1 - Ballachulish Horseshow - 2 Munrows bagged, 1 snowy gully descended. Beer in Ballachulish Hotel. Chilli meal with 1986 Navarra. Beers in Clachaig Hotel - excellent pub.
Walk 2 - morning in Nevisport - met IC Canoe Club. Ask for coffee refill - they don't mind. Chris bought a new fleecy jacket. Drove to Dalness on Glen Stive Road and did 2 Munroes linked by a splended snowy ridge. Chris said it was shit getting up there and it was. Beers in the Kingshouse and tuna slop for food. wine and Newquay Brown.
Walk 3. The great caving adventure. Walked up in the pissing rain to the Allt Coine Mulrooney and found Scotland's premier caving region. We thoroughly recommend a summer tour to this most promising region. (There are no bogs nearby either). Beers in Loch Leven Bar (Sassenachs not allowed near the fire). Pilchard kedgeree and beers in Clachaig. It was too wet for Paella. The Clacheig was full. The campsite is soggy but the showers are warm. We may do a runner from the site (without paying)
Walk 4 - Hadrian's Wall. Stopped near Vindolanden (a Roman Fort, not a curry house) with a smell of burning rubber. Found that the fan belt tensioning pulley had seized and the belt was melting. Decided to admire the Roman Wall - could not find it, someone has built a new one on top. Climbed a Diff. on the Great WinSill. Mended Harry's car with his extensive tool kit - hint, the wheel brace fits the idle met on R4s.
Zoomed (?) back at a cautious 70mph to get in 2 pints of Ruddley at Harry's local.
Harry and Rob
Yorkshire Dinner Meet 4-7 May 1990
Rob C, Rob K, Pam, Alan, Pete, Rich, Wendy, Harry, Bron, Tim P, Dewi, Kath, Spike, Chris B, Clive, Dave
Saturday
Hangman's Hole: Richard Collcott, Rob Chaddock, Chris Birkhead, Harry Lock
Had a pint in the Gamecock, had a pleasant walk up to the entrance. Sat sunbathing for a bit, then a 2hour descent and a 2 hour reascent of the cave. Worst bit was the duck inside the entrance, and reversing "The Collar" at the top of Executioner Pitch. Bottom of cave was nothing special. A very muddy, gritty cave. Once ticket off, not done again!