We can’t hope to bring you every story, but there are plenty of caving and mining blogs out there you can browse at your leisure – so have a read through some of the best! If you know of a blog you’d like us to add to this page please let us know.
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Incident 40/2016 – Jun 7th Mon. 17.55 – Dike Green, Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire – Animal Rescue
The team were contacted by a farmer who had a lamb trapped in a small culvert, and was unable to extricate it. A small party of team members was dispatched to attempt the recovery. The lamb was stuck in a 15″ diameter disused culvert, where it had gone to seek some shade, and then got stuck, moving deeper underground, as it was unable to turn around. Attempts to hook the… ...
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Haggs Brow Excavations, May 2016
Haggs Brow Excavations, Lower Winskill, Yorkshire Dale National Park. Just spent an enjoyable few days on this project at Lower Winskill in the Yorkshire Dales with a group of fine like minded individuals seeking to further their experience ...
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A Highland Fling
14th-22nd May 2016.
SWCC team - Andy Freem, Antonia Freem, Lucy Freem (and Rosemary), Duncan Hornby, Harvey Lomas, Kevin Munn, Pam Munn, Helen Stewart, Malcolm Stewart, Claire Vivian.
A fun week was had by all SWCC in the Scottish Highlands around Elphin. Canoeing, caving, diving, sightseeing and walking were all on the cards and with the weather being mainly dry, if a little chilly, we managed to accomplish all this and have fun.
View of Suilven from the summit of Cul Mor
Preparing the kayaks and Canadian canoe, with Stac Pollaidh in the background.
I’ve never done anything like this and it was a great adventure. Andy, Claire and I were in the Canadian canoe whilst the others zipped around in their sea kayaks.
Despite it looking like a river connecting the Lochs a section was in fact a very shallow river requiring everyone to exit their boats and drag them carefully between boulders on super slippy rocks!
What was a river on the map turned out to be a boulder strewn shallow channel requiring us to get out of the boats and carry them.
It’s that way!
A second portage required us to drag the boats up and over a heather hillock as the river had too many boulders to navigate.
The second portage.
We stopped after this for lunch on a pristine, exclusive sandy beach with amazing views of the surrounding mountains. As if it could not get any better Andy and Antonia whipped out a stove and started cooking some bacon! Something about fresh air, remotes lochs and the smell of bacon...I’m salivating now as I type! 🙂
The Canadian Canoe on the beach where we had lunch.
The beach we had lunch on, absolutely pristine!
Stac Pollaidh from our vantage point.
The final push got us back, not to the location we had left the car, but a place which was more sensible to get the boats out and up to the road.It was an amazing first day of what was going to be a great week with SWCC!
Andy steering (and filming) whilst Claire and I provided the power. We made a successful team.
Traligill Resurgence: Malcolm
Meanwhile, with the weather forecast to break after a long warm dry spell, Malcolm headed up the Traligill valley from Inchnadamph to the Traligill Resurgence to have a dive in the sumps there, before water levels rose as a consequence of the expected rain. On arrival the river bed was dry and the pool at the entrance of the cave, normally 8’ deep, only a puddle of water, supporting a few unhappy looking dehydrated trout.
With no water flowing in the cave portering the gear along the awkward ‘thrust plane’ was comparatively easy, but the diving was just as cold as ever and the lack of flow meant the vis didn’t clear quickly. With only a 4mm wetsuit and 3l cylinders the diver had to retreat from Sump 2 without reaching the previous limit established by Simon Brooks. Repulsed again, with cold, cold fingers.
Today we walked in one of the primary caving areas, visited several entrances, and followed a dry river bed exploring various sinks.
We eventually stumbled across a small entrance which lead into a large chamber with the rumbling sound of water. We later found out this was called Storm Cave. The walls were covered in peat and gave the cave a very dark and oppressive feel. It clearly flooded to the roof.
Storm Cave entrance
Leaving Storm Cave behind we walked up and over a peat area with a huge sinkhole and impressive peat gullies.
Incredible eroded peat channels.
On our way back down the valley towards the car park, Antonia, Claire and Duncan popped up to the Bone caves to have a poke around.
Antonia in the entrance to the Bone Cave.
Along the way we found an antler. The ice axe loops on Antonia’s bag provided perfect storage for this.
Towards the downstream end of the valley, what had been a dry river bed suddenly became a flowing torrent as water bubbled out of a rising.
The rising for Allt nan Uamh (NC2603817731)... My kingdom for a JCB!
Antonia and Claire posing by a waterfall near the end of today’s journey.
Today the combined GSG and SWCC divers had a dip at the site known as Drumbeg Wall (turn left off the main road as it approaches Unapool going North, signposted for Drumbeg, and shortly after the road enters the forestry look for a broad track going down to a fish farm on the right). All launched from the bottom of the fish farm track, where there is a shallow bay, and swam round to submerge and follow the coast west, dropping down over boulders to about 20 - 25m. Loads of life; brittle stars, feather stars, a few scallops. The seal scarer working from the fish pens on the other side of of the loch, click, click, click… click, click, click... was very noticeable and we certainly didn’t see any seals.
Grumpy looking Juvenile Brill Fish
Malcolm looking at a Moon Jellyfish
Common Starfish at Drumbeg Wall
Later in the afternoon, after a light lunch at Achins Bookshop (does anyone fancy a lifestyle change?), Helen and Malcolm walked up the river to the Kirkaig Falls impressive even in fairly dry conditions.
Helen looking at the Kircaig Falls.
As cavers we were given a free trip into the cave by Colin who runs Smoo Cave tours. He also turned out to be one of the people who helped dig out the Rana entrance.
The tour was an epic 20m boat trip then a 15 second walk to the “bitter end”. Made OFD look like a walk in the park 🙂
Smoo Cave, Durness. (There’s a patch of rare ‘mountain aven’ flowers just where the fence tops out on the left of the picture.)
Looking back at the waterfall created by the stream entering above. Note the large Chert nodules on left wall.
On our way back we picked up a hitchhiker who was trying to make his way to Lochinver. Having picked him up we then told him we were going to check out a tea room at the quay for getting onto the Handa Islands. I don’t think he had spoken to anyone for a few days so seemed very happy with our plan. We eventually dropped him off at the junction to Lochinver.
Travelling south the four divers went to Lochcarron (the Spar there does good hot sausage rolls) and then dived off the slipway at Strome. This is one of the classic shore dives in the UK, with the underwater cliff to the west of the slipway famed for it’s huge plumose anemones and giant dead men’s fingers. With excellent visibility the dive was crawling with life, but the start of the flood tide pushed us off the wall before we had had a proper look, so we will have to go back another time. We surfaced to rain and this got progressively heavier as we got changed on the pier. Wet underpants, deep joy. :o(
Sea Slug (Tritonia hombergii) Loch Carron
Queen Scallop - Loch Carron
Cushion Star - Loch Carron
Back in the car, sitting damply, we crossed the Bealach na Ba to Applecross with the intention of finding and exploring the ‘Cave of True Wonders’ and the ‘Cave of the Liar’, but the piss awful weather modified this plan to an enjoyable lunch at the ‘Walled Garden’ followed by a fully saturated walk through thick undergrowth looking for and photographing cave entrances.
My friend had gorged on my blood, whilst Claire’s had simply locked in.
We then headed off to go caving. We were in two groups today. Helen and Malcolm plus Pete Glanvill and 2 friends (Derek Guy and George ?) who were staying at the nearby Grampian hut went to rig Black Rift pitch in Rana. We followed leisurely behind around 2 hours later and arranged to de-rig at the end of the trip.
Preparing the pitch at the entrance of Rana Hole.
Duncan climbing along second pitch top to fixed ladder.
Rana is the name of the cave and Rana sp. is what we found at the bottom of the entrance.
The team enjoying a brief rest before heading out.
Duncan also visited the remotest public toilet!
Claire and the Old man of Stoer
Close up of the Old man of Stoer
Mountain Aven - A rare and unusual plant found on limestone outcrops. We found clumps of this at Smoo Cave.
Following a surface swim from the slip across the bay in front of the hotel we descended by the rocks at the corner and worked our way west and deeper to about 30m. At the furthest end of the dive we were starting to get on the main vertical wall, plunging rock in clear green water covered in sunstars, huge anemones and pale orange dead men’s fingers, vanishing into the gloom below.
View across Loch Gleann Dubh, Kylesku
Common Sunstar - Kylesku Wall
The Kylesku Hotel has improved a lot in recent years and provided an excellent post-dive beer and supper. These were on the menu...
Long Clawed Squat Lobster - Kylesku Wall
The main portage, dragging boats up and over a small hill through gloopy mud.
Initially the boating was calm and pleasant with the occasional squall. The sun kept popping behind clouds and the surrounding scenery changed dramatically from sunny mountains to dark and ominous shadowed backdrops.
Andy and Claire looking happy (before the boat tipping incident…)
Yet again Andy, Claire and Duncan powered the Canadian canoe whilst the others zipped around in their sea kayaks.
Antonia zipping around in her sea kayak.
The 3 sea kayaks with spectacular mountain scenery.
We had stopped at the central island for lunch, soaked up the sun and had a wander around the island. Being blissfully ignorant I had not appreciated that the wind had picked up and upon setting out for the return journey it very quickly became obvious that it was going to get a whole lot more interesting!
With some waves almost breaking over the top of the canoe, getting to the far shore was going to be a challenge, but thankfully Andy is a very experienced kayaker and read the situation well and got us across the main section of water between the island and far shore. We pulled into a shallow protected area and Andy asked Claire to move backwards to help distribute the weight. She stood up, got tangled in some netting and tipped the boat. Thankfully we could simply stand up and I for one was grateful that this had not happened in deeper water.
With boat emptied of water, the others joining us, we reconfigured with Andy in a sea kayak towing us as we desperately paddled against the oncoming waves. We eventually got into a zone of less wind and waves and were then able to paddle full steam ahead with my awful steering hindering everything.
We eventually got back to the cottage that the Freems were staying at and whilst drinking tea and reminiscing over the day we were treated to a spectacular sunset.
An awesome sunset to complete the day’s amazing adventure (before it started raining for 12 hours…)
Thanks Andy/Antonia for an amazing day out!
Malcolm above Traligill Rising; the river was back to its normal size by Friday.
Malcolm exiting Cnocers cave
Malcolm in Storm Cave
After Friday's epic kayaking, Saturday was going to be an easy day, especially as it had rained for 12 hours non-stop over night.
Claire and I had decided to visit the infamous Allt Nan Uamh Stream Cave. The Valley which had been bone dry 3 days earlier now had water bubbling out of the ground feeding into the mainstream way.
Water bubbling out of the ground where there had been no water a few days earlier.
Borrowing a map from Andy we navigated our way around the cave, entering too tight crawls to large almost “OFD” size passages.
Access to the stream and current dig site was via a precariously balanced ladder.
Andy had suggested visiting a section of the system called the Farr Series which are beyond what is affectionately known as the Sphincter. We found this part of the system and were somewhat dismayed by the volume of water (in fact, we looked everywhere for a more inviting way on). A section that would require a flat out crawl in water with limited air space. There would be no escaping a soaking in this duck. We went for it, got to the pitch down to Thunderghast Falls then turned around and hurriedly exited that part of the cave system.
Claire exiting the Sphincter. As you can see water was pouring into this part of the cave from all directions.
We pottered around the entrance of the system exploring every nook and cranny and finally exited the cave to discover what had been a dry channel was now taking a fair amount of water as it flowed passed the entrance. In hindsight we thought it was fortuitous that we did not stay too long beyond the sphincter, otherwise the sh*t really would had hit the fan! ...
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SWCC team - Andy Freem, Antonia Freem, Lucy Freem (and Rosemary), Duncan Hornby, Harvey Lomas, Kevin Munn, Pam Munn, Helen Stewart, Malcolm Stewart, Claire Vivian.
A fun week was had by all SWCC in the Scottish Highlands around Elphin. Canoeing, caving, diving, sightseeing and walking were all on the cards and with the weather being mainly dry, if a little chilly, we managed to accomplish all this and have fun.
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| We stayed at the Naismith Hut of the Scottish Mountaineering Club. |
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| The view from the doorstep |
Saturday
Trek up Cul-Mor: Helen, Malcolm, Pam and Kevin
Malcolm, Helen, Kevin and Pam arrived in Assynt, after a very long car journey from South Wales, to welcome blazing sunshine on Saturday afternoon. Not wanting to waste any of the precious sunshine the group decided to walk up Cul Mor, a dramatic Corbett with impressive views of Suilven and Stac Pollaidh. Stunning weather at the beginning of the trek, but by the time the summit was reached the weather had deteriorated to blizzard conditions.View of Suilven from the summit of Cul Mor
Sunday
Canoeing Loch Lurgainn: Andy, Antonia, Claire, Duncan, Lucy and Rosemary
The week in Scotland was never going to be all caving, in fact the Freem’s had brought their kayaks and a canadian canoe so the first day was to be a trip between two Lochs requiring two portages. Dropping one car at the end of our planned trip we started in Loch Bad á Ghaill and paddled our way to Loch Lurgainn.See map here.Preparing the kayaks and Canadian canoe, with Stac Pollaidh in the background.
I’ve never done anything like this and it was a great adventure. Andy, Claire and I were in the Canadian canoe whilst the others zipped around in their sea kayaks.
Despite it looking like a river connecting the Lochs a section was in fact a very shallow river requiring everyone to exit their boats and drag them carefully between boulders on super slippy rocks!
What was a river on the map turned out to be a boulder strewn shallow channel requiring us to get out of the boats and carry them.
It’s that way!
A second portage required us to drag the boats up and over a heather hillock as the river had too many boulders to navigate.
The second portage.
We stopped after this for lunch on a pristine, exclusive sandy beach with amazing views of the surrounding mountains. As if it could not get any better Andy and Antonia whipped out a stove and started cooking some bacon! Something about fresh air, remotes lochs and the smell of bacon...I’m salivating now as I type! 🙂
The Canadian Canoe on the beach where we had lunch.
The beach we had lunch on, absolutely pristine!
Stac Pollaidh from our vantage point.
The final push got us back, not to the location we had left the car, but a place which was more sensible to get the boats out and up to the road.It was an amazing first day of what was going to be a great week with SWCC!
Andy steering (and filming) whilst Claire and I provided the power. We made a successful team.
Traligill Resurgence: Malcolm
Meanwhile, with the weather forecast to break after a long warm dry spell, Malcolm headed up the Traligill valley from Inchnadamph to the Traligill Resurgence to have a dive in the sumps there, before water levels rose as a consequence of the expected rain. On arrival the river bed was dry and the pool at the entrance of the cave, normally 8’ deep, only a puddle of water, supporting a few unhappy looking dehydrated trout.
With no water flowing in the cave portering the gear along the awkward ‘thrust plane’ was comparatively easy, but the diving was just as cold as ever and the lack of flow meant the vis didn’t clear quickly. With only a 4mm wetsuit and 3l cylinders the diver had to retreat from Sump 2 without reaching the previous limit established by Simon Brooks. Repulsed again, with cold, cold fingers.
Monday
Traligill to Bone Caves walk: Andy, Antonia, Claire, Duncan, Lucy and Rosemary.
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| Andy looking at the Water Slide in Cnocers Cave. |
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| The pothole entrance to Cnocers. |
We eventually stumbled across a small entrance which lead into a large chamber with the rumbling sound of water. We later found out this was called Storm Cave. The walls were covered in peat and gave the cave a very dark and oppressive feel. It clearly flooded to the roof.
Storm Cave entrance
Leaving Storm Cave behind we walked up and over a peat area with a huge sinkhole and impressive peat gullies.
Incredible eroded peat channels.
On our way back down the valley towards the car park, Antonia, Claire and Duncan popped up to the Bone caves to have a poke around.
Antonia in the entrance to the Bone Cave.
Along the way we found an antler. The ice axe loops on Antonia’s bag provided perfect storage for this.
Towards the downstream end of the valley, what had been a dry river bed suddenly became a flowing torrent as water bubbled out of a rising.
The rising for Allt nan Uamh (NC2603817731)... My kingdom for a JCB!
Antonia and Claire posing by a waterfall near the end of today’s journey.
Scuba Diving at Drumbeg Wall and a Trip to Kirkaig Falls: Helen, Malcolm and Pete Glanvill (GSG) and George
Today the combined GSG and SWCC divers had a dip at the site known as Drumbeg Wall (turn left off the main road as it approaches Unapool going North, signposted for Drumbeg, and shortly after the road enters the forestry look for a broad track going down to a fish farm on the right). All launched from the bottom of the fish farm track, where there is a shallow bay, and swam round to submerge and follow the coast west, dropping down over boulders to about 20 - 25m. Loads of life; brittle stars, feather stars, a few scallops. The seal scarer working from the fish pens on the other side of of the loch, click, click, click… click, click, click... was very noticeable and we certainly didn’t see any seals.
Grumpy looking Juvenile Brill Fish
Malcolm looking at a Moon Jellyfish
Common Starfish at Drumbeg Wall
Later in the afternoon, after a light lunch at Achins Bookshop (does anyone fancy a lifestyle change?), Helen and Malcolm walked up the river to the Kirkaig Falls impressive even in fairly dry conditions.
Helen looking at the Kircaig Falls.
Tuesday
Smoo cave and back: Harvey, Claire and Duncan
Harvey suggested a visit to Smoo Cave. Claire and I had not been to this part of Scotland so it sounded like a good excuse to do some sightseeing whilst soaking up the awesome landscape of the Highlands.As cavers we were given a free trip into the cave by Colin who runs Smoo Cave tours. He also turned out to be one of the people who helped dig out the Rana entrance.
The tour was an epic 20m boat trip then a 15 second walk to the “bitter end”. Made OFD look like a walk in the park 🙂
Smoo Cave, Durness. (There’s a patch of rare ‘mountain aven’ flowers just where the fence tops out on the left of the picture.)
Looking back at the waterfall created by the stream entering above. Note the large Chert nodules on left wall.
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| Harvey and Duncan on the Smoo Cave boat tour. |
On our way back we picked up a hitchhiker who was trying to make his way to Lochinver. Having picked him up we then told him we were going to check out a tea room at the quay for getting onto the Handa Islands. I don’t think he had spoken to anyone for a few days so seemed very happy with our plan. We eventually dropped him off at the junction to Lochinver.
Scuba diving at Loch Carron and a cave recce at Applecross: Helen, Malcolm, Pete Glanvill and Derrick Guy (GSG) and George
Travelling south the four divers went to Lochcarron (the Spar there does good hot sausage rolls) and then dived off the slipway at Strome. This is one of the classic shore dives in the UK, with the underwater cliff to the west of the slipway famed for it’s huge plumose anemones and giant dead men’s fingers. With excellent visibility the dive was crawling with life, but the start of the flood tide pushed us off the wall before we had had a proper look, so we will have to go back another time. We surfaced to rain and this got progressively heavier as we got changed on the pier. Wet underpants, deep joy. :o(
Sea Slug (Tritonia hombergii) Loch Carron
Queen Scallop - Loch Carron
Cushion Star - Loch Carron
Back in the car, sitting damply, we crossed the Bealach na Ba to Applecross with the intention of finding and exploring the ‘Cave of True Wonders’ and the ‘Cave of the Liar’, but the piss awful weather modified this plan to an enjoyable lunch at the ‘Walled Garden’ followed by a fully saturated walk through thick undergrowth looking for and photographing cave entrances.
Wednesday
Rana Hole: Andy, Antonia, Claire, Duncan, Lucy, Helen, Malcolm and Peter +2
On Thursday we awoke to find that some friends had hitched a ride on us...My friend had gorged on my blood, whilst Claire’s had simply locked in.
We then headed off to go caving. We were in two groups today. Helen and Malcolm plus Pete Glanvill and 2 friends (Derek Guy and George ?) who were staying at the nearby Grampian hut went to rig Black Rift pitch in Rana. We followed leisurely behind around 2 hours later and arranged to de-rig at the end of the trip.
Preparing the pitch at the entrance of Rana Hole.
Duncan climbing along second pitch top to fixed ladder.
Rana is the name of the cave and Rana sp. is what we found at the bottom of the entrance.
The team enjoying a brief rest before heading out.
Thursday
Old Man of Stoer walk: Claire and Duncan
Today was to be a rest day which ended up being a walk out along the coast to visit the sea stack “Old man of Stoer”. It was raining, windy and overcast when we arrived but the weather eased off allowing us spectacular views of the sea stack.Duncan also visited the remotest public toilet!
Claire and the Old man of Stoer
Close up of the Old man of Stoer
Durness, Smoo Cave and a Dive at Kylesku: Helen and Malcolm
Strong winds from totally the wrong direction resulted in the planned dive on the Fairweather being cancelled today. Instead the divers dived the Kylesku wall in two separate waves. Pete and George went in at midday on the start of the flood tide, to drift from under the bridge to the pier by the hotel, several hundred metres away. Helen and Malcolm went in from the slipway in the evening, having spent the day touring up to Handa Island (shut, raining, nice tea room, excellent lunch) and Smoo Cave (open, raining, zillions of French and German camper vans and motorbikes).Mountain Aven - A rare and unusual plant found on limestone outcrops. We found clumps of this at Smoo Cave.
Following a surface swim from the slip across the bay in front of the hotel we descended by the rocks at the corner and worked our way west and deeper to about 30m. At the furthest end of the dive we were starting to get on the main vertical wall, plunging rock in clear green water covered in sunstars, huge anemones and pale orange dead men’s fingers, vanishing into the gloom below.
View across Loch Gleann Dubh, Kylesku
Common Sunstar - Kylesku Wall
The Kylesku Hotel has improved a lot in recent years and provided an excellent post-dive beer and supper. These were on the menu...
Long Clawed Squat Lobster - Kylesku Wall
Friday
Inverpolly nature reserve canoeing trip: Andy, Antonia, Claire, Duncan, Lucy and Rosemary
This was to be one of life's great adventures, entering the wilderness of the Inverpolly Nature Reserve. We had paddle across a small Loch, then drag the boats up and over a small hill to get to main Sionasgaig Loch.The main portage, dragging boats up and over a small hill through gloopy mud.
Initially the boating was calm and pleasant with the occasional squall. The sun kept popping behind clouds and the surrounding scenery changed dramatically from sunny mountains to dark and ominous shadowed backdrops.
Andy and Claire looking happy (before the boat tipping incident…)
Yet again Andy, Claire and Duncan powered the Canadian canoe whilst the others zipped around in their sea kayaks.
Antonia zipping around in her sea kayak.
The 3 sea kayaks with spectacular mountain scenery.
We had stopped at the central island for lunch, soaked up the sun and had a wander around the island. Being blissfully ignorant I had not appreciated that the wind had picked up and upon setting out for the return journey it very quickly became obvious that it was going to get a whole lot more interesting!
With some waves almost breaking over the top of the canoe, getting to the far shore was going to be a challenge, but thankfully Andy is a very experienced kayaker and read the situation well and got us across the main section of water between the island and far shore. We pulled into a shallow protected area and Andy asked Claire to move backwards to help distribute the weight. She stood up, got tangled in some netting and tipped the boat. Thankfully we could simply stand up and I for one was grateful that this had not happened in deeper water.
With boat emptied of water, the others joining us, we reconfigured with Andy in a sea kayak towing us as we desperately paddled against the oncoming waves. We eventually got into a zone of less wind and waves and were then able to paddle full steam ahead with my awful steering hindering everything.
We eventually got back to the cottage that the Freems were staying at and whilst drinking tea and reminiscing over the day we were treated to a spectacular sunset.
An awesome sunset to complete the day’s amazing adventure (before it started raining for 12 hours…)
Thanks Andy/Antonia for an amazing day out!
Storm Cave Again….Helen and Malcolm
Responding to stories of huge chambers, and a beautiful clear stream pouring down a walking-size passage to cascade into an inviting sump pool (by all accounts, warm, clear, tasting of gin and full of mermaids), Malcolm and Helen walked over the moors to Storm Cave. Reaching the sump wearing two three litre cylinders proved easy, it was only at the sump pool that the problems started. There was no cascade into the pool, instead the swollen stream flowed into a large long lake, black water that extended through a narrow rift to a further deep lake beyond, with no dry land, just an overhanging roof and a mountain of black peat mud. Furthermore the reported lead blocks for diving were nowhere to be seen, no doubt sitting on a ledge somewhere underwater, waiting for a more sensible diver to return in lower water conditions… Walked back off the moor to Inchnadamph without turning the cylinders on. We did have a fun hour exploring and photographing the river passages and chambers in Cnocers.Malcolm above Traligill Rising; the river was back to its normal size by Friday.
Malcolm exiting Cnocers cave
Malcolm in Storm Cave
Saturday
One last cave… Claire and Duncan
After Friday's epic kayaking, Saturday was going to be an easy day, especially as it had rained for 12 hours non-stop over night.
Claire and I had decided to visit the infamous Allt Nan Uamh Stream Cave. The Valley which had been bone dry 3 days earlier now had water bubbling out of the ground feeding into the mainstream way.
Water bubbling out of the ground where there had been no water a few days earlier.
Borrowing a map from Andy we navigated our way around the cave, entering too tight crawls to large almost “OFD” size passages.
Access to the stream and current dig site was via a precariously balanced ladder.
Andy had suggested visiting a section of the system called the Farr Series which are beyond what is affectionately known as the Sphincter. We found this part of the system and were somewhat dismayed by the volume of water (in fact, we looked everywhere for a more inviting way on). A section that would require a flat out crawl in water with limited air space. There would be no escaping a soaking in this duck. We went for it, got to the pitch down to Thunderghast Falls then turned around and hurriedly exited that part of the cave system.
Claire exiting the Sphincter. As you can see water was pouring into this part of the cave from all directions.
We pottered around the entrance of the system exploring every nook and cranny and finally exited the cave to discover what had been a dry channel was now taking a fair amount of water as it flowed passed the entrance. In hindsight we thought it was fortuitous that we did not stay too long beyond the sphincter, otherwise the sh*t really would had hit the fan! ...
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Dig Halloween update 4th June 2016
After recovering from surgery on a dodgy elbow and recently spending several days in the Yorkshire Dales digging at Haggs Brow, Lower Winskill with a group of fine like minded individuals, it was now time to get back to the local project. No-one was available due to a whole host of reasons so decided to go solo. This was okay with me because it meant that I could check on the progress made and work at my own speed. It was a warm day so got partially changed at the farm and packed the rest of my kit into a rucksack and walked up to the cave. At the entrance I got kitted up, packed 10 dry bags and made my way underground. The approach passage is drying out nicely just a couple of small drip puddles. The dig is really dry so I was comfortable in cotton overalls -£6 from Mole Valley Farmers, bargain. A wall of sediment consisting of silty sand with frequent cobbles and boulders including fragmented calcite formations confronted me. I set to work with the small pick, loosening the sediment, hooking out rocks, filling bags as I went and dragged them down the passage to stack them just out of the way along with several rocks. Working slowly forward I eventually opened up a small gap over the sediment that appears to continue, not overly large c.100mm but it is encouraging. The ceiling also looks more solid and it would be good to get away from the small choked rift that is presently overhead. It's rather disconcerting feeling the tree roots tickling the back of your neck and the constant trickle of sediment falling down into your collar. I filled my 10 bags and found a few more already at the end so rounded up a bakers dozen plus several rocks. That was enough for me, my elbow was a little tender in certain positions but generally felt good, I made an exit from the cave satisfied with the morning session. Met Mark, the farmer, on the way back across the field cutting hay so stopped for a chat before going down to the farm, getting changed and making my way to the Hunters Lodge for some refreshment ...
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Grebe Swallet, A Parallel Universe!
As Mendip Digfest virgins this year we eagerly scanned the list of diggers looking for willing volunteers/ victims for their dig, to see which one seemed the most alluring.
Chris Binding's looked most tempting; 'Absolutely guaranteed to go'.
How could we pass by the opportunity to join a dig that promised so much? (Though 'excellent picnic facilities' was also a strong contender. )
We therefore met up with Chris on a lovely sunny morning to go and find miles of new , cavernous passage in Grebe Swallet.
On the way Chris gave us a potted history of the cave and pointed out how the landscape and geology of the area indicated that cave passage to rival Upper Flood was almost definitely waiting for us to just tap in and discover it.
In my mind's eye I saw us emerging into huge chambers and having to be careful we didn't get lost as we wandered past huge crystal white formations. " Wow, like a parallel universe! “ I exclaimed.
The entrance was heavily guarded by an army of slugs, which nearly cut short my caving trip , but the lure of fame and fortune won and soon we were underground.
Chris gave us a guided tour of the known cave and mine which was thoroughly enjoyable. As a big Willie Stanton fan I fully appreciated how much of his engineering had gone into the cave and how well it had served to protect delicate areas and historical artefacts.
Our role was to clear and make good two areas where Chris and the rest of the team had been 'teasing' the rock to see what lay beyond.
At the first location Chris spent his time mostly throwing rocks at Mark, while I played with mud.
At Perdition the dig face and air space was limited, so I stayed back out of the way while the boys took turns prising away at the heavy mud and rocks. Once they had both worn themselves out, I was invited to 'Have a Go'.
Easing away at the mud and brittle calcite was quite fun! I was just getting into the swing of it when the boys got bored and decided that we probably wouldn't be able to make any further progress that day. rolling the last few bits of mud towards me, to leave it tidy, I found that my hand was now waving about freely on the other side of a calcited wall! A Void!
The next couple of hours passed in a flurry of activity as Chris and Mark sweated and cajoled the calcite wall and mud floor, revealing a tantalizing decorated rift passage beyond . More of the mud floor was pushed aside until Chris could wriggle forward into the passage to see where it led to . An exciting prospect lays ahead - the rift pinches in, but a dark void can be observed beyond it - a Parallel Universe? ?
A quick guestimate of the amount of passage gained was about 5 metres, which Chris thinks is possibly a Mendip Digfest record!
I certainly think there is about 5 tonnes of mud to be cleaned off the suits. ..
The rest of Digfest was really enjoyable too, lots of great people and plenty of fun and Potholer. Who can ask for more?
Trip report: Jess Burkey
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Chris Binding's looked most tempting; 'Absolutely guaranteed to go'.
How could we pass by the opportunity to join a dig that promised so much? (Though 'excellent picnic facilities' was also a strong contender. )
We therefore met up with Chris on a lovely sunny morning to go and find miles of new , cavernous passage in Grebe Swallet.
On the way Chris gave us a potted history of the cave and pointed out how the landscape and geology of the area indicated that cave passage to rival Upper Flood was almost definitely waiting for us to just tap in and discover it.
In my mind's eye I saw us emerging into huge chambers and having to be careful we didn't get lost as we wandered past huge crystal white formations. " Wow, like a parallel universe! “ I exclaimed.
The entrance was heavily guarded by an army of slugs, which nearly cut short my caving trip , but the lure of fame and fortune won and soon we were underground.
Chris gave us a guided tour of the known cave and mine which was thoroughly enjoyable. As a big Willie Stanton fan I fully appreciated how much of his engineering had gone into the cave and how well it had served to protect delicate areas and historical artefacts.
Our role was to clear and make good two areas where Chris and the rest of the team had been 'teasing' the rock to see what lay beyond.
At the first location Chris spent his time mostly throwing rocks at Mark, while I played with mud.
At Perdition the dig face and air space was limited, so I stayed back out of the way while the boys took turns prising away at the heavy mud and rocks. Once they had both worn themselves out, I was invited to 'Have a Go'.
Easing away at the mud and brittle calcite was quite fun! I was just getting into the swing of it when the boys got bored and decided that we probably wouldn't be able to make any further progress that day. rolling the last few bits of mud towards me, to leave it tidy, I found that my hand was now waving about freely on the other side of a calcited wall! A Void!
The next couple of hours passed in a flurry of activity as Chris and Mark sweated and cajoled the calcite wall and mud floor, revealing a tantalizing decorated rift passage beyond . More of the mud floor was pushed aside until Chris could wriggle forward into the passage to see where it led to . An exciting prospect lays ahead - the rift pinches in, but a dark void can be observed beyond it - a Parallel Universe? ?
A quick guestimate of the amount of passage gained was about 5 metres, which Chris thinks is possibly a Mendip Digfest record!
I certainly think there is about 5 tonnes of mud to be cleaned off the suits. ..
The rest of Digfest was really enjoyable too, lots of great people and plenty of fun and Potholer. Who can ask for more?
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| The Dig Face On Arrival (Photo Christopher Binding) |
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| Mark Furtles with a Crowbar (Photo Christopher Binding) |
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| And Creates A Filthy Hole (Photo Christopher Binding) |
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| And Keeps Creating Till He Fits! (Photo Christopher Binding) |
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| Chris crawls over the pit to check out the newly discovered passage (Photo Mark Burkey) |
Present: Christopher Binding, Jessica Burkey & Mark Burkey
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Mendips Photography Competition 2016
After having my photographs lost for a couple of weeks I was starting to wonder if they'd turn up at all.Fortunately they did and with the help of Dudley members we managed to get a few shots that won the competition for a 2nd year running with a ...
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Neanderthals used fire in caves: French cave sheds new light on the Neanderthals
Deep inside Bruniquel Cave, in the Tarn et Garonne region of southwestern France, a set of human-made structures 336 meters from the entrance was recently dated as being approximately 176,500 years old. This discovery indicates that humans began occupy ...
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Canoes, Weddings and Bike Rides
Early morning on the Son riverIt's wedding season! We've been invited to five weddings this Month, we couldn't both get to all of them, but between us we had them all covered.Which way is up?As well as the weddings, we've been busy (as usual) with tour ...
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Back to the future: Space-age exploration for pre-historic bones
Scientists roped in the use of high-tech laser scanning, photogrammetry and 3-D mapping technology to map Homo naledi's Dinaledi chamber. ...
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Incident 39/2016 – May 30th Mon. 16.26 – Malham Cove, North Yorkshire – Mountain Rescue
A walker (f,37) went over on an ankle, coming off the bottom of the Cove steps. After pain relief and splinting, she was taken by CRO vehicle down to Malham village for transfer to a road ambulance. Volunteer hours: 24 ...
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Yorkshire Bank Holiday Weekender
Under the dictatorship of Anton...All but one managed the trip from Stream Passage Pot to Gaping Gill, and out of Bar Pot/Small Mammal, taking advantage of the Bradford Pothole Club's rigging during the Winch Meet.DCC Rock On!Mud Pot Gaping Gill M ...
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Alert – May 28th 16:46 – Tosside, Skipton, North Yorkshire – Alert only
Yorkshire Ambulance Service asked for assistance when someone fell from a bridge into the beck. Very quickly, however, they were advised that there was road access, so a rescue team was not needed ...
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Incident 38/2016 – May 25th Wed. 14.48 – Swinetail, Ingleborough, North Yorkshire – Mountain Rescue
A walker (m,50) dislocated his left kneecap, high up on Ingleborough. CRO members immobilised the leg, gave him pain relief and put him onto a stretcher. He was carried and ‘sledged’ down to a CRO Land Rover, driven to the road-head and transferred to a Yorkshire Ambulance Service road ambulance, waiting in Chapel-le-dale. Volunteer hours: 70 ...
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Chamber of Horrors 50th Weekend Celebrations. A Giants Round Trip
As Jess was off cycling in Yorkshire I decided to pop to Castleton for the presentations for the 50th anniversary of the Giants/Oxlow connection. This started with a great talk by Clive Westlake as he read from his journals of the original digging proj ...
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Flood!
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| A wet start to the day |
What a difference a day makes! A lovely day yesterday on the walk out from Hang En, but an overnight thunderstorm of almost Biblical proportions has changed things somewhat. Many of the roads on the way over to Tu Lan were very wet, and the road through the village of Trooc was under thirty centimetres of water. The streams were orange with mud and in full spate.
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| Have we got to cross that raging monster? |
The situation was no different at Tan Hoa but the guides and office staff assured me that the rivers would be ok to cross, one tour had already left so I assumed that if things were bad we would see them before we got to the first river crossing.
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| First river, deep and nasty, should have got the safety line out - or even a boat! |
We managed to cross the first river, three at a time holding hands, but it was nearly chest deep with a very strong current, Personally I thought it was a little risky and we would have to take more precautions for our next crossings.
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| A stormy La Ken valley |
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| River deep, mountain high |
The final crossing location was still not possible with the equipment we had, but we were able to make a call to the office for life jackets and a floating rope. As the water was deep and not so fast here, with fewer dangerous obstructions in the water, we figured we would be able to cross once we had the safety equipment.
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| Second river crossing. |
While we were waiting for the life jackets, some porters came back and crossed exactly where we were. Coming towards us it was a wade, followed by three metres of swimming across the current to a tree, once at the tree they walked on submerged branches to our side, we had a route across!
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| Third river crossing |
Having crossed into the La Ken valley proper, we only had one more river to cross before our camp in Hung Dung for the night, and with the equipment that we now had I was confident we could make it although we no longer had time to visit Gibbon Cave.
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| This is normally the swimming pool at the Hung Dung campsite |
Once at camp, I immediately spilled a cup of coffee over myself, this was not going well. By the next morning the water level had dropped by over a metre, although it was still high I thought that there was a good chance that we could get through Bat Cave.
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| Bat Cave, way too wet for safety |
How wrong I was, the water was still way too high so we had to retrace our steps, back to the Hung Dung camp for a swim before continuing on to the La Ken campsite.
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| A much improved Hung Dung Swimming pool, still wet though |
With the water levels dropping, everyone was more relaxed and happier, knowing that we should at least be able to complete our itinerary for the next two days.
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| Monster card game? |
The walk over to the Tu Lan valley was uneventful and we arrived in time for a swim before lunch. The water levels were high but manageable.
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| Butterflies in the sun |
After lunch it was Tu Lan cave, no problem for us but the porters had fun getting the boats into Tu Lan. Crossing the bridge between the two camps is easy, but in high water there is not much room to get a boat beneath it!
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| Boat limbo dancing |
At the entrance to Tu Lan we saw a baby bird that had obviously jumped out of its nest just a little bit too soon. Hopefully it will survive.
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| Bird is the word |
After Tu Lan, we went to Hang Ken before dinner, there was some more rain overnight but this had no effect on the water levels. On the downside, I seemed to have developed my first case of foot rot, hopefully I can get rid of it before my next tour in three days time.
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| A nice night for an evening |
By the final morning, my foot rot was no worse, which was a good sign, so we set off to swim through Hang Kim and Hang Hung Ton.
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| Hang Kim, before the swim |
Thankfully the swimming was uneventful, leaving just Secret Cave to go. I saw the little chap below right beside the entrance, not the neatest spiral in the world, but not a bad effort.
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| Spider spiral |
The picture below shows the river outside the Tan Hoa office before and after our tour. Next up for me is Hang Son Doong, passing Ruth on the hill. but before that there is the small matter of two weddings.
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| Same spot, before and after the tour |
b ...
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