Karen Slatcher: August Bank Holiday - Jingling Pot

Walked up to Valley Entrance and went in. It’s a surprisingly long way to the pitch head, much further than you think. Keith rigged and Paul went down for a look. I meanwhile headed slowly out because I wanted to take my time - my stomach was full of veggie breakfast and it didn't like being compressed as I bent over. Collected my SRT kit and the two tackle bags and sat in the draught to keep the midges off. Keith appeared, saying that the water levels were quite high, so Paul had suggested we go to Jingling Pot instead. None of us had done it before, so it seemed like a good plan. We walked along the road, chatted to three guys who were headed for Bull Pot and went up by the Bull Pot path. We were all hot and sweaty by the time we arrived, so we sat for five minutes before going in.

Cooling off before heading underground

Keith rigged off the tree and was just trying to get into the cleft when Colum Walsh, Ann Soulsby and Roy Rodgers from Masson Caving Group arrived.

Keith rigging

Paul and I chatted to them while Keith dangled and grunted and groaned, trying to get into a very slippery rift, known as the 'Lateral Cleft' route. Eventually we followed him down and the others started rigging a ‘new’ route. Once in the cleft, the first pitch drops in two short sections within the rift. The second pitch was a ‘throw yourself through and pray you can get back up’ jobbie, then a straightforward deviation, around the corner to the right to another rebelay. I found the next drop awkward, with a deviation high up on the right. I tried it backing out with my feet on both walls, but I didn’t like the foot holds, so put both feet on the opposite wall to move the krab and then dropped onto a big ledge, part way down the main shaft. The last pitch is a lovely dangle and I landed all excited only to be overwhelmed by the evil stench of dead sheep at the bottom. I then got so carried away with the view above and trying to photograph it that I forgot to let Paul know the rope was free. As he came down the last pitch, I could also see Roy who was rigging the 'new' more direct route.

Roy (left) and Paul (right) descending two different routes

As Roy landed, we headed off to the traverse and the final drop into the bottom, which pretty much stops dead, apart from a dig in the floor, which appears to go down at least 30ft. Sadly we didn't have a rope or a hanger for that one. Back in the main shaft, Roy suggested that as Ann was rigging the route we’d followed, with Colum, one of us could go back up his 9mm rope and ease the congestion, so I took the 20m rope and headed up.

Paul and Keith on their way up

Paul went up, followed by Keith and I managed to get photos of the two of them at different rebelays, from my vantage point on the rope across the shaft. Having passed my rebelay, I reached a big ledge and then followed the MCG rope out of the far end of the rift opening. I then sat on the lip of the pot (clipped-in to a handy bolt!) getting midged until the guys appeared. What a cracking trip! There had clearly been some heavy rain while we were underground, because by the time I surfaced there was a small flow into the pot by the tree, which hadn’t been there before, but even though the water levels were higher than usual it was still a safe trip.

Ferns clinging tenaciously to the very walls of the pot

On our way back to the cars to get changed, we followed the Turbary Road, a green lane that runs along the west side of Kingsdale, and passed Aquamole, Rowten Pot, Simpson's Pot and Swinsto Hole, before dropping down a very greasy path back to the lane.