Caving in Derbyshire

We were supposed to be going to Yorkshire for the weekend, but the forecast was dire and Penyghent is not the sort of place you want to be when it's raining (plus there's a 1000ft crawl, which makes my knees cringe just thinking about it!).

We wimped out at the last minute at around 6:20 on Friday evening, phoned Jim and Keith to let them know we weren't going, I went to the shop for lashings of chocolate and we settled down in front of the tele for the evening.

Saturday saw us heading for Hitch 'n' Hike to buy me a new Meander suit because my old one was disintegrating rapidly. We then continued via Oxlow Farm - to collect part of Pete Collins' car that he carelessly left behind the previous weekend - to Perryfoot Farm and had a trip into P8. Several other people had the same idea, including Paul Cooper and his friend, Quentin, but we were all in twos and nicely spread out so it was very pleasant. Water levels were surprisingly low with the upstream sump completely dry and noticeably silty at the bottom, certainly compared to other years when I've seen it dry. The downstream sump was even siltier than ever with a large pool leading up to the sump proper.

Back on the surface, we headed for Outside at Calver Crossroads and had sausage and chips (Pat, if you're reading this, it was really lovely!!!!). I had a mug of tea... well almost... I managed to upend it all over the table and had to use a huge bundle of serviettes to mop it up.

Sunday morning and we'd agreed the night before to go to Knotlow Caverns (part mine) for a short trip. The weather, which had stayed dry as forecast the day before, was looking a bit more unsettled, but it was still dry. The first two pitches are straight forward and we then dropped down steeply to the head of the Waterfall Pitch. This is the engine chamber below Knotlow Engine Shaft and you can see big indents in the wall where huge timbers would have supported all sorts of gubbins (technical term!) for hauling lead out of the mine.

To get to a point where you can drop into the chamber without getting soaked - the stream comes out of a very narrow bedding (an inch or two) below the pitch head - you have to traverse a comparatively blank wall, hanging on the traverse line. In the past this has caused me all sorts of problems to the extent that I've had to back off it, unable to get across, but I think I've got it cracked now as I didn't even have to use my footloop.

I gather from various sources that those who went to Yorkshire didn't get far in Penyghent and if they went, they didn't get far in Hunt Pot either!! Thank you Metcheck, you saved us a lot of travelling for nothing.

Titan - the big one

Team Orpheus ready to go!

So, the day had finally arrived for the visit to Titan. Having seen it from the bottom a few weeks before, I had some idea of what to expect, but I don't think anything really prepares you for the real thing. Keith was rigging and he, Aaron, Paul T, Boyd and Larry were to go through to JH, whilst Chris, Dave, Phil Walker and Mark came from JH through to Titan.

Paul, Dawn and I were heading in and out of Titan, so we followed that group down the entrance pitch and followed them to the balcony that overlooks the 80m pitch down to the Event Horizon. It's a very scary place to stand, even when you're clipped into two different ropes. Paul T was on the rope when I first looked over with Aaron on the Event Horizon and with my light on full, I could see far too much. Awesome!

Boyd was next to go and Paul took a couple of photos of us before he set off.












He looked remarkably calm (8 days after his 70th birthday!) hanging over the edge while I took a final shot, a lot calmer than Larry did a few minutes later.






















I spent quite some time on the Event Horizon while Larry went on down and Dawn arrived and then headed back up. The prusik back up didn't seem to take too long, considering, but then I was busy taking lots of photos of all the pretty formations. The entrance pitch was another thing. It's quite a large diameter and deceptively long!!













Kate Humble, you're a star!!!

Birthday Walk in Bradgate Park, Saturday 10 May

To celebrate my birthday (on the day) and Jill's birthday (30 April), we had arranged to meet, with Loraine as well, for a walk around Bradgate Park. Up to about a week ago the weather was chilly, but today it was very warm, almost too warm, and very hazy, so the danger of burning was very high. We seem to have gone from winter straight into summer and missed spring altogether!!



But we slapped on the factor 20 and 50 and set off, puffing and panting up the hills to the high point of the park, 'Old John' as the folly at the very highest point of the park is known (photograph taken from the road along the bottom of the park).

Stopping periodically to sit in the shade and cool off a bit, we made our way towards the road, via a small wood of ancient oak trees. They're so old, in fact, that often the only living part is the outer 'shell', with the core of the tree rotting, or even completely hollow.


I have a thing for trees at the best of times so I was busy taking photos as we wandered among them. I remember clambering around in them when I was a kid.

They're just so beautiful and... old.












































We also had the ubiquitous 'group' photo.

Down on the road, we had about 3/4 of a mile to walk back to the car, but we had a brief stop at a cafe where we enjoyed a cup of tea and sat talking. The closer we got to the car park the more people there were - everyone seemed to be enjoying the sunshine, kids paddling in the stream and dripping ice cream all down themselves. The deer were doing the sensible thing and were crashed out in the shade under the trees. There didn't appear to be any fawns yet, which surprised me a bit, but maybe it's just too early.

Back at the car park I ditched my bag in the car and we went and indulged ourselves in an ice cream and sat by the stream and ate them. Then we headed for home. A lovely day out.

PS: There's an interesting bit about Bradgate on this website:
http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/ancient-tree-forum/events/eventinfo/events_calke.htm

Weekend in Nenthead

A long weekend exploring the mines of Nenthead. A really interesting place, loads of artefacts and well-preserved mine passage, miles of passage partially or complete lined with dressed stone, loads of brightly coloured calcite decorations... fascinating.

Saturday, 26 April 2008

Had hoped to get a trip into one of the Winster mines, but unfortunately it didn't come off - never mind, another time. Paul, meanwhile, had gone off to P8 for a DCRO exercise, so I spent the morning watching some TV and generally dossing (much needed).

After lunch I took another look at the garden and decided that it was far too nice to be indoors, in fact probably the nicest day of the year so far. It was early so I decided to tackle the garden shed (more of a sentry box really), so I spent the next couple of hours screwing and nailing it together and then made a start on varnishing it before I had to leave for the DCRO AGM. Heavy rain was forecast for Sunday, so I tacked one of the polythene sheets onto it that have been covering it up all winter to cover up the bits that aren't yet varnished.

Alt Tues - Slin Tor

Spent the evening with Niki & Mat and some of the Alt Tues crowd (wife Jim, wife Andy, Arthur, Martin and Scott). Arthur and I went AWOL at different times to have a poke around some of the smaller holes, while the rest were exploring another bigger hole.

The fields at the bottom of the hill were full of primroses and wood anemones, very pretty.

When we got back to the cars I discovered that Paul had been called out to a shout at Peak/Titan/JH, which fortunately had been cancelled when the missing cavers turned up at the top of JH.

Went to the Barley Mow for a quick drink and got home just after Paul.

OCC Yorkshire Trip 19-20 April 2008

Paul and I arrived at the NPC on Friday night to find Jim and Boyd already there, so we all headed out to the pub. I was absolutely exhausted and by 11:00 had got to the point where I simply couldn't stop yawning.

Met Keith and Phil Walker in Bernies on Saturday morning and, after some discussion, decided to go to Alum. Water levels were really quite low and it was quite a dry trip down Dolly Tubs, although Paul managed to fall in Plank Pool. Paul and I got as far as the shelf above the Bridge and decided to head back out but the other four bottomed Alum and had a look at the sump.

On Sunday Boyd headed off home after Bernies and the rest of us went on to Kingsdale. Paul's shoulder was playing up again, but he generously offered to rig Valley Entrance for us, so the four of us trudged off up the hill and went straight to the entrance to Swinsto (I think Keith knows where it is now!).

Had a cracking trip down through Swinsto. The 300m crawl was hard on the knees and wrists and the water was really cold, but overall it was fine. I found a couple of what Jim told me were Stonefly larvae. Some of the pitch take-offs were a little scary and exposed - you don't realise how much you rely on a back-up rope until it's no longer there! - but as long as you're careful it's fine. We dropped through the boulder choke into the streamway and crawled and stooped our way along to the main streamway, which seemed fairly short to the bottom of the Valley Entrance pitch. We emerged after about 31/4 hours into the rain.

An uneventful, but very enjoyable trip that I've been meaning to do for ages. Definitely one I'll do again.