Yorkshire II
Ellie Pizey, Chris Hayes, Jan Kożuszek, Julien Jean, Laura Temple, Magor Pocsvelier, Thurston Blount, Janak Subberwal, Steven Sun, Aurelia Eberhard, Remi Soubes-Goldman, Zain Fletcher, Lamya Adam, Claryce Yap, Lucas Robinson (Bangor), Leonie Siepmann, Colin Foord (Bangor), Leo Harris (Bangor), Oshan Griffith (Bangor), Ollie Oddie (Bangor), Ben Schuster (Bangor), Siôn Du (Bangor)
Friday
Thurston took us to Warwick It had a nice big Lidl We bought some breccy, Our bags made heavy, and the rest of the drive was a diddle.
Chris
You may have already seen the video of Laura dropping a kit bag directly onto her face, and wondered how I knew to be ready to record. This has all to do with my amazing timing, and nothing at all to do with the fact that that was the third time in short succession the same thing happened.
The drive was plagued with inefficiencies, from an early stop at the cave house, to a very out-of-the way shop, to further stops for pissing and filling the washer liquid tank. At least I didn’t have to drive all the way to the NPC myself as I feared, with Remi once more proving what an indispensable addition to the club he is and taking over after the shop.
“This thing is so big”
- Remi
“I feel like I’m piloting a 747”
- Also Remi
Laura spilled rum all over herself and KYW sped further into the night.
…
Wait, KYW?
Surely nothing bad could come of this.
Jan
Saturday
Notts 1, Left route: Julien Jean, Lucas Robinson (Bangor), Colin Foord (Bangor), Leo Harris (Bangor), Oshan Griffith (Bangor)
Notts 1, Centre route: Thurston Blount, Steven Sun, Aurelia Eberhard, Remi Soubes-Goldman
Notts 1, Adamsons: Chris Hayes, Jan Kożuszek, Zain Fletcher, Claryce Yap, Leonie Siepmann
We met for the weekend with Bangor, A Nots pot exchange was on for, We faffed above, exchanged bellow, and got back to pints apour.
Chris
We planned a big Notts 1 exchange, three groups all going in. The Bangor group was sent a little ahead so they could pre-rig the entrance pitch, thus allowing us to avoid queuing. This did not work.
Once finally at the bottom of the entrance pitch, I took the lead. Adamsons Route begins with an upgoing traverse that is mad annoying to rig safely. Then there’s a weird ladder thingy going up before the route finally drops down over a couple of reasonably chill pitches.
At the bottom I reunited with the other groups and took a few photos, but waited in vain for the rest of my team to show up. Finally, someone from Bangor swiftly went up to check what was holding them up, and returned to inform us of a hair-stuck-in-gear-related incident. Chris and Leonie did still make it down to the rendezvous point to check it out, while I sped up to rejoin Claryce and Zain.
En route to the entrance chamber, I bumped into one of the other groups, apparently confused as to where the exit was. Once we were all on the right path, we discovered that another traffic jam had formed, and we needed to pass some more time by setting up fairy lights, taking photos and crawling into a side hole to see a waterfall.
After we finally made it back to the NPC, we were greeted by a lovely Bangor-made dinner and proceeded to engage in an evening of mild insanity, with people attempting to conquer the squeeze machine feet first (this seemed extraordinarily painful), aerial sock wrestling (I lost to Thurston after a long and hard-fought match) and putting cavers in kit bags (which resulted in perhaps the single greatest photo ever taken in the NPC). A joyful day all round.
Jan
After having breakfast and practicing our SRT a bit, we all hopped on the bus and headed to the dales, the Bangor group going just before us. We would have to suit up in at the bus when we arrived, which considering my inexperience and the cold weather was a pretty uncomfortable process for me. Afterwards, we started our grand trek towards the cave, a journey that would take a couple of thousands of years to complete. At long last, we finally arrived at the cave, a grassy hole in the ground that looked like a hole. After the Bangor group and the other Imperial group. Anyway, then we went down the hole while trying and failing not to swing into the sides of it, which was immediately followed by some crawling, a climb down with a non-SRT rope for support and then a thing streamway. A bit of climbing and another descent would lead to the main chamber and its 5 routes (although we only care about three of them).
After Jan set the traverse up, we would go up through Addamson’s Route to get to the bottom of the cave. After going up a ladder and then a very tight pitch upwards, we would make it to a small chamber. While Jan would set up the large pitch down to the bottom of the cave, Chris would set up his Christmas lights in the chamber to have a CHRISTMAS PARTY! After a while, Jan would finish off setting up the pitch, I would be the first to go down. But then I got a bit tangled at the first deviation, which while it wasn’t the big of an issue it wasn’t an ideal feeling for my first large pitch.] But then my hair got stuck in the descender, which was a considerably larger issue. Thankfully I was able to react fast enough before any considerable damage was done, with the ends of the trapped hair breaking off easily as I did a switch-over to remove the descender.
But then I realised that I couldn’t finish off the switch-over, which was also a pretty big issue. This meant that Chris had to come down to find out why, and it turns out that my foot loop was too long. It was quite relieving to find out that the troubles that I’d had with switch-overs both then and in my first tree-training session weren’t actually just me having a skill issue. I was then able to get to a large ledge in the pitch which was big enough for multiple people to sit on. But then we realised that we didn’t have enough time to finish the cave, which wasn’t that much of an issue, but it meant that the Bangor group would get a bit confused. This meant that Chris and Leonie headed down to the bottm while me and Cloris would enjoy yet another CHRISTMAS PARTY on the ledge.
The rest of the journey up was pretty uneventful, with the only notable stuff happening when we met up with the rest of the cavers back in the main chamber. There we found out that Thurston had led his group through a sump for no reason because he thought it was the way to the exit. Meanwhile, Chris set up yet another CHRISTMAS PARTY in the chamber and we would all take some photos as a group which are probably somewhere in a trip report that I didn’t write. Soon enough, our group’s turn to leave the cave had come with me being the second to go again. Thankfully I didn’t get my hair stuck in any descenders this time, although I did break almost every bone in my right hand on the last pitch. Soon enough, everybody made their way back up to the surface and we once again made the short multi-millennia trek back to the bus. We took off our kit (and by ‘took off’ I mean that everybody else took off their kit while I made a valiant attempt at it) and headed back to the club for some tasty curry, courtesy of the Bangor group. They day would end with Thurston barely scraping a victory against Jan in a vicious game of SRT sock wrestling.
Zain
Lost Johns', Centipede:Ellie Pizey, Laura Temple, Magor Pocsvelier, Lamya Adam
After my usual morning routine, I sat down for breakfast and listened to the team discuss their plans for the day. There was some talk of the previous trip and the Monastery fiasco. For the team going back to Lost Johns, the aim was to NOT take a wrong turn this time. That was all well and good until I was informed that I was going to Lost Johns. Uh oh.
After some final SRT training, we were off. The entrance was only a short walk from the car park, and a couple hops (and falls) over fences since we missed the entrance the first time around. Once we found the stream way, we did some final checks of our kit and in we went!
I am happy to report that no wrong turns were taken (debatable) on this trip. I’m told it was surprisingly smooth compared to the usual trips. It was quite enjoyable for the whole team. We were serenaded by Laura’s lovely singing voice for much of the journey and saw some stunning stalactite formations on the way.
At the end of our trail, we took a quick break for chocolates and began to make our way back. The return probably took a little longer than it needed to; many thanks to the team for their patience with me while I improve my skills. But eventually, we were getting close to the exit. Only a little more to go. Ellie paused for a moment after a turn, confident that we were on a different path to the one through which we came. But we decided to continue anyway because:
Laura: “I can smell the outdoors!”
So we followed our noses. And emerged from a small hole in the ground not far from the entrance. The hole seemed previously undisturbed. It was full of roots, grass and annoyingly, lots of thistles. Part of me lost faith in our navigation skills that day.
Lesson learned. Do not follow the smell of the outdoors.
But I suppose any way out is a good way out. Either way, it was a great first SRT trip for me! Being the first group back to the minibus, we had some extra time while we waited for the other groups to return. We proceeded to consume all biscuits on board. Now full and satisfied, I took a quick nap, dozing off to the sounds of Laura growing increasingly restless in the front seat.
Back at the NPC, I was introduced to two games. The squeeze machine and aerial sock wrestling. Both are very entertaining to watch. We had the pleasure of watching Magor and Remi attempt to go toe to head through the squeeze machine, with a little help from gravity. It seems a masochistic exercise, given there was some screaming involved, but I see the appeal. Next was a few intense matches of aerial sock wrestling, with some attempts at fitting humans into tackle sacks between matches (they are surprisingly cosy?). We concluded our chaotic evening with some chitchat around the fireplace, which was really quite pleasant. I’m a big fan of the sense of community and friendship in caving soc, I think it’s quite special. A little while later, I was off to sleep and completely oblivious to how painful my muscles would feel the next morning. But that didn’t matter. All I needed to do was sleep enough to wake up before the dreaded cowbell."
Lamya
Lost Johns', Dome: Janak Subberwal, Ollie Oddie (Bangor), Ben Schuster (Bangor), Siôn Du (Bangor)
We colabbed with Bangor. Julien went with 5 of them and rigged left. Thurston and Remi took Aurelia and Steven down centre, whilst Jan and I took Claryce, Leoni and Zain down Adamsons. It was my first time doing Adamsons, and it was really cool. however, the route is longer than the other two,, so we should have gone first instead of last. The queue out was also awful.
I heard Lost Johns also had a good time.
Mr C
I took Aurelia and Steven through a duck twice. Not sure they enjoyed it, especially when I made them do rock paper scissors for who isn't doing the duck the second time.
Thurston
Sunday
Upper Longchurn: Janak Subberwal, Lucas Robinson (Bangor), Colin Foord (Bangor), Leo Harris (Bangor), Ollie Oddie (Bangor), Ben Schuster (Bangor), Siôn Du (Bangor)
Bangor decided that it was a bit wet, so due to the aquaticness they didn't do down Alum. And then they all went to IngleCafe.
Janak
Valley Entrance, Toyland: Ellie Pizey, Chris Hayes, Steven Sun, Aurelia Eberhard
Much, much rain had past, rivers in flood we were aghast To toyland we opted to brave, but my, did we have a blast.
Chris
Valley Entrance, Main Drain: Jan Kożuszek, Julien Jean, Thurston Blount, Remi Soubes-Goldman, Lamya Adam
This was one of my best caving days so far! Toyland was ok, but everyone had an amazing trip (swimming in the streamway, and bouncing jingling also) and we made it back for 3pm on the dot! Then KYW broke down and Bangor gave 8 people a lift to the NPC where 9 people then got trains back. us 5 stragglers walked back to the NPC to stay the night, and had a pub meal on the way.
Mr C
A chill Sunday trip to Valley Entrance, or so I’m told. I’d never been, but it’s meant to be nice and easy, so I enter in high spirits. Almost immediately, Thurston and Julien begin shouting to each other that they have never seen the water level this high. After some walking/crawling/wading we make it to the first and only pitch of the trip. Here we must wait, as there is a family with two five-year-olds just emerging from the bottom. They’re wearing tiny little harnesses. Adorable.
At the bottom, there is a pond and a foam-covered entrance to a sump and a roaring streamway. We struggle against the force of the water, slowly placing one foot in front of the other. Lamya, the smallest of the group, requires some tactical pulls and lifts. I make it the furthest in, before being joined by Remi – I’ve always loved caving in streamways best. It’s time to turn around then, and following Thurston’s suggestions, we let ourselves be carried by the water all the way back to the pitch. This is in fact so fun we do it again. Valley Entrance turns out to be the best Yorkshire Sunday trip – you heard it here first, folks.
We get back to the bus in no time, and soon I am driving further into the valley to find a decent place to do a u-turn. We end up going all the way to the farm, I send some people out to make sure I don’t crash into a wall and begin turning KYW around. And then something weird happens. Turning the steering wheel is suddenly requiring all my strength and is only possible if the bus is moving at least a little. Still, with some extra effort the u-turn continues. But then I look out to my right.
And there it is.
A small metal wheel, lying on the tarmac. I’m sure it wasn’t there before.
I have Laura hand it to me. It is warm. Much warmer than the road it was on.
Ah, shit.
Opening the bonnet, we find out that one of the pulleys on the serpentine belt has snapped off the engine and simply fallen out. The resulting lack of power steering explains why the turning suddenly became so hard.
I complete the turn to try and get KYW out of the middle of the farm’s driveway. Pulling in on the side of the road I find that the brakes are also not working properly, since brake fluid is connected to the serpentine belt too. There is no way for KYW to make it out of the valley.
What now? We make several frantic phone calls and Laura poses with the pulley and the serpentine belt itself. Bangor mercifully come to our rescue: they have enough time and car space to get eight of us back to the NPC. I’m put in charge of the freshers (plus Julien and Magor) and told get them back to London at a reasonable time. We speed off, leaving six people stranded with KYW to await better times (it later turns out that they will simply walk all the way back, since no taxi company can be found willing to pick them up).
We reunite with Zain at the NPC, and I start trying to book our train tickets. Several times the system tells me that the train to Euston is fully booked, but it turns out it is simply lying and I manage to get everyone a spot.
It’s a half hour walk in dark and drizzle to the Clapham train station, a fair bit away from Clapham itself (and a very large distance from Clapham Junction indeed). We get there in good time to catch the regional train to Lancaster where we change into a fast service all the way to Euston. It is actually quite full, and the seats I bought turn out to be in economy premium, despite having been the cheapest available. There might have been some football match along the way as I see quite a few people in matching scarves. No matter. From this point on the rest of the journey is comfortable and stress-free, and we get back to London faster than we would have had KYW not broken down to begin with.
We would later learn that after this incident the union would finally stop using KYW. RIP [*].
Jan
No cave: Zain
When Sunday came around, I had had a nice, hot shower, a decent sleep and as the morning came, a tasty breakfast with some pristine Yorkshire countryside water. I thought that this would be a good day to spend doing jackshit rather than going caving again. I may have been alone in this decision, but boy-o-boy was it the right one. During the afternoon, when all the Bangor lot had gotten back from their caves, I would get news that the caving bus had broken down as the rest of the group was trying to leave the caves. Because of this, the Bangor lot had to shuttle most of our group back to the hut with their own vehicles, while a few of our committee members would have to stay the night in Yorkshire to ensure the bus got fixed. After everyone got back to the hut, Jan had to spend about £900 getting us all some last-minute train tickets back to London. During all this, the Bangor lot would clean up the hut for us because they’re just chill like that. With all of our non-caving kit packed up and our stomachs filled up with left-over curry, we headed out onto the dark country roads to find the Clapham cum Newby train station. This quaint little station was ironically about as far away from the village it was supposed to serve as the caving hut itself, the walking distance being about half an hour. We got on to a 2-carriage train operated by the Northern train service to change at Lancaster. The final leg to Euston would be in an oddly luxurious carriage of an Avanti West Coast train, with us arriving at 23:45 (earlier than we would’ve made it if we took the bus). Jan took a picture to mark the occasion (see other trip report) before we all went our separate ways (and by separate ways I mean most of us took the near-identical tube route home). Overall, while this trip was a bit of a disaster, I still ended up learning more ways of not dying in a cave and took two new train operators home (as a member of the rail and transport society as well, this was a big success). Moreover, the members in Yorkshire would have a nice night at a local pub and the SU now has to pay thousands of pounds due to their inability to maintain a bus! A happy ending for everyone that matters!
Zain
Monday
Once more did KYW fail, Late 'pon high Kingsdale. A third night at the NPC, thanks to Rob, our trains were free.