Spice Essence, Kirkby Lonsdale

13th July 2025
Chloe Francis and Stuart Bennett

South Wales Caving Club has a long standing tradition of Going For A Curry. Previous iterations of committees have aimed to finish a Saturday night meeting before 9pm, to allow enough time to race to Tiffin down the valley for dinner. For the decade or so that I have been a member, the 30th December has seen those visiting the club between Christmas and New Year venture out for a curry, or even order curry to the HQ.

This series of blog posts aim to review and highlight curry houses which may be combined with a caving activity.

Welcome sign

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Curry was not on the plan today! However, after a gentle afternoon at Sell Gill - the objective being to practice my rigging skills - we discovered the Wheatsheaf in Ingleton no longer serves battered halloumi and chips. Disaster! As we were heading north back to Glasgow, Stu suggested that Spice Essence in Kirkby might be the next best option.

We arrived at 19:00 and were seated and served tap water immediately. We then promptly ordered a Coke and an alcohol-free Cobra. The restaurant stopped serving booze from 1st July 2025, but they still offered us the random selection of booze they had left (we declined).

The Coke arrived in a glass bottle (fancy), however it was room temperature (not fancy), albeit with a glass filled with ice. The food order was taken at 19:08. The poppadoms and dips arrived at 19:11. The pickle tray was bountiful: lime pickle, raita, mango (smooth) and onion salad. More lumpy mango chutney and even more lime pickle would have elevated this. No weird / delicious coconut - as is Swansea Style - was observed.

Coke and AF Cobra

The curry followed quickly after; it was hot and the portions were generous. The saag paneer had plenty of paneer. My aubergine  dish was tasty - aubergines are great at taking on all delicious spicy flavours. Stu enjoyed his vegetable jalfrezi, which was slightly too spicy for my palate.

The naan bread was very hot and served whole. It wasn't too greasy. If I'm being picky, the bread could have been smothered in even more garlic.

Garlic Naan

Vegetable Jalfrezi

Saag Paneer and Brinjal Bhaji

Total bill = sadly, I cannot find my receipt, but I think it was roughly £50. Spice Essence is cash-only, but there is a cash machine just across the road. While Stu is an almost faultless dining companion, I am interested in recruiting caving curry house reviewers who will go halves on one portion of rice and one naan with me!

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5th August 2025

Toby Dryden

The esteemed Toby Dryden also visited this establishment on 5th August, with dining companions Jo White and Andrew McLeod. His notes are below:

Expectations were high. The poppadoms arrived with in 3 minutes! They were good, not greasy, but nice and crisp, I had Chilli Chicken Masala and a Garlic and Coriander Naan. This arrived within 20 minutes. The food was good, but not exceptional - it was more or less like every other one I've had. The naan was good: it wasn't covered in oil, not burnt and it had a nice texture. Toby score: 7/10. The staff let the place down for me, it felt like food was being thrown at us.

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In conclusion, Spice Essence is a good alternative to the Settle curry house establishments, which are often frequented by SWCC during Yorkshire away-trips.

Yorkshire - SRT training, rain and plenty of mud!

SWCC Team: Derek Cousins, George Linnane, Helen Hooper, Duncan Hornby, Mark Rees, Lee Smith, Claire Vivian

Dates: 12th October - 14th

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A smaller team of SWCC cavers descend upon the YSS for a weekend of SRT training and trips. Very wet weather limited our trip options to known “dry” entrances whilst Mark and George attended an SRT training session run by Helen using the excellent YSS indoor facilities.

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Saturday

Helen arrived early Saturday for SRT training with Mark and George at the YSS.

George looking confused at the start of the SRT weekend. He was a pro by the end!

Due to the poor weather the rest of us took several cups of tea before deciding to visit Lancaster Hole and explore the immediate surroundings including the Colonnades and the Wilf Taylor’s passage of the Ease Gill system.

A Josh White was staying at the YSS and asked to join our trip as he had never visited the system, little did he know he had also unconditionally agreed to rig the entrance… ;)

Arriving at Bull Pot Farm it was clear how serious the issue of flooding in the system would be as what is normally a muddy but dry foot path had turned into a full on stream...

The footpath from Bull pot farm had turned into a stream rushing into the nearby Bull pot of the witches cave!

Arriving at the entrance we discovered another team was also using the same entrance so we had to rig over their rigging. Whilst standing around on the surface we could not get over how mild the weather was which made for entering the system less inviting. The draft coming from the cave was particularly cold.

Team preparing to enter Lancaster Hole, we needed to rig over another teams rigging.

The main pitch was quite wet, you could keep out of the spray for most of the descent until the last few metres then you got a face full!

With the team collected at the bottom of the pitch we went in search of the Colonnades. After a few wrong turns we found our way to them. I took a few photos and accidentally captured an Alice in Wonderland moment where Claire the smallest in the team grew to an enormous size whilst Lee shrank in size!

The Colonnades. Claire ate some cake whilst Lee drank from a bottle with “Drink me” written on it...

We then went in search of the Wilf Taylor’s passage, stopping to admire any pretties.

Josh admiring a section of pretties.

We found our way to the section of passage that leads you to a sump to Bull Pot of the Witches. A stream was thundering through this section stopping us from progressing any further. We took the opportunity to grab a team photo as the air was relatively free of mist.

The team (Claire, Duncan, Derek and Lee) with Josh providing back lighting.

Returning back to the entrance we stopped to grab a couple of photos, Lee next to a curtain and Claire next to the shower bath.

Lee and some curtains.

Claire at an inlet.

We returned to Lancaster Hole main pitch (30m) and then it got all a bit complex. As our team were attempting to exit the other team came down the entrance to collect their rope (they’d done the traverse to Country pot via Manchester Bypass). A third team had rigged over our ropes and used a slightly different route so when they arrived, to exit the system, it all got a bit “busy” at the constricted entrance with three people all trying to exit at the same time.

Trip time: 5 hours 30 mins

We returned to the YSS, cleaned up then meeting the others headed over to the Helwith bridge pub for a night of food and beer!

Harvey joins us at the pub.

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Sunday

Mark and George left quite early to meet with Helen and put into practise the SRT skills they had learned on Saturday by visiting Jingling Pot. The rest of us had a lazy start with sore heads from too much beer…

Mark testing out his new found SRT skills.

George on his first Yorkshire pitch.

Mark finding vertical caving fun.

Abseiling with style.

Derek, Claire and I (Duncan) went back to Bull Pot Farm and visited Mistral Hole, another system that can be accessed in wet weather conditions. We bumped into some freshers from SUSS at the car park and determined that they were heading to the same cave. It was then a race over the moor as to who got to cave first…

Neither Claire nor I had visited this cave before and our visit to the system was based on Derek’s memories from 21 years ago! Amazingly he could remember key junctions and was able to guide us to key locations. Nice one Derek!

We passed Hall of the Ten where Duncan and Claire had a look at the exit from Pipikin pot- wet and foamy. Our next stop was Hall of the Mountain King which has some glorious mud. On leaving the Hall we bumped into the SUSS group who were about to enter the Hall for a mud fight. We continued into the cave towards Gour Hall.

Someone had deliberately placed a saucepan on a stal boss which was being dripped upon. It produced an eerie tapping sound as we approached Gour Hall, something out of a horror film…

Click on video to hear the tapping sound.

Derek in Gour Hall.

Derek in a section of Mistral which had many stalagmites.

On the way back we stopped a couple of times to photograph the stalagmites that had grown along the passage.

Claire in Stalagmite section.

We made it out to wonderful evening sunshine a stark contrast to the previous days weather.

Mistral team at entrance after a very muddy trip!

Trip time: ~5 hours

Caving in Yorkshire is awesome!

Trip date: 17th-18th June 2017

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Team; Stuart Bennett, Bob Hall, Elaine Hall, Duncan Hornby, Helen Hooper, Andy Jones, Richard Sore and Claire Vivian

Everyone arrived in Yorkshire on the Friday to stay at the excellent Bunkhouse at Hardraw run by the SWCC members Helen and Andy. Duncan managed to break his record of getting to Hardraw now taking no less than 8½ hours to get there…

Hardraw Old School Bunkhouse in the glorious sunshine.

Whilst having a cheeky pint in the Green Dragon, Richard and Stuart arrived looking just as frazzled from their long drives. With a fairly early start and knackered from driving it did not take too much for everyone to retire!

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Saturday - Meregill Hole

The SWCC group split into two groups; the advance party rigging pitches 1 and 2 but going no further and the rest following an hour later to complete the rigging to the bottom. The reason this was done was that Andy had two clients (Ariana and Lee) who were on an improver SRT course. They were improving their skills and a full trip to the very bottom would not have been appropriate. Andy gave Duncan the opportunity to rig pitches 1 and 2 which he jumped at under his watchful eye, dispensing best practise and advice. Bob joined the advance party and went no further than pitch 2 as he was recovering from a shoulder injury.

An excellent description and rigging guide can be found on the CNCC website here.

Andy and his SRT clients (Ariana and Lee) at Meregill entrance.

Andy abseiling the first pitch.

Stunning rays of light in the Mere entrance.

Pitch 1 was relatively easily to rig as it was at the surface, pitch 2 had an “interesting” traverse line that lead to the pitch head. It is high up near the roof and you find yourself desperately trying to jam yourself into any place that will hold you as you attempt to rig.

Lee passing the deviation on the second pitch.

Bob arrives at the base of the second pitch.

Whilst waiting at the base of pitch 2, to our surprise 3 Wessex cavers came shooting past and overtook us. Stuart, Claire and Richard arrived and Duncan joined their team. Bob, Andy, Ariana and Lee then returned to the surface. Apparently Andy put them through their paces getting them to repeat some of the skills they were learning, so no rest for the wicked!

Stuart and Richard continued rigging the pitches, made more fiddly with the Wessex rigging in place. Big pitches and several hanging re-belays made for a “lonely” trip until we all gathered at the base of pitch 5. It was at this point the Wessex team blasted past us on their way out...

Aware of time we decided to keep the exploration short. With various options lying ahead Stuart who has visited this cave before announced he had “not been this way” and this was reason enough to give it ago. I now know that if Stuart says “not been this way before” that is reason enough not to go there! A painful hands and knees crawl with SRT kit was not what I wanted! Almost at the point of turning around I could hear Stuart ahead saying he was in a stream way which eventually rejoined the obvious stream way which we had ignored.

Stuart in the Meregill stream way.

The team (Duncan, Claire, Richard and Stuart) near the base of the 5th and final pitch.

After our team photo we headed out; again a lonely journey as we strung out waiting for each pitch to clear and people derigging. We de-rigged the pitches we had rigged. I was secretly pleased with this as poor old Richard and Stuart dragged out the heaviest bags from the deepest parts of the system, kudos to them! As I (Duncan) had rigged the 2 pitches at the entrance I was the last out and was welcomed by a glorious sunny evening with spectacular vistas that only chapel-le-dale can offer.

We got back to the cars, quickly changed, Bob had been a trooper and waited for us, then a mad dash back to Hawes for food. We were joined by Jo White and the rest of the evening was spent in the Green Dragon in Hardraw talking about Richard’s pants, a topic that just kept on giving…

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Sunday - Roaring Hole


A rigging guide can be found on the CNCC website here.

Due to time constraints Sunday had to be a short trip and Roaring Hole in Chapel-le-dale fitted the bill. We said our goodbyes at Hardraw and headed over to park up and change. The weather was glorious and was promising to be a scorcher.

Stuart came over but the weather was just too good to get him underground, so only Duncan, Claire and Richard entered Roaring Hole.

The entrance is within a section of limestone paving just off the main track.

Duncan, Richard and Claire at the entrance of Roaring Hole.

At the car we had re-evaluated what we planned to do and with time against Duncan and Claire we decided to just do the first pitch and get as far as we could before turning around.

Looking out or Roaring Hole - saying goodbye to the sunlight.

Duncan installing rigging at the first pitch.

The first pitch is a nice friendly pitch with easy access, no desperate hanging rebelays as in Meregill the day before.

Duncan about to descend the first pitch.

There is a wide ledge for the second half of the first pitch which allowed us to take a few action shots.

Claire descending the second part of pitch 1, Richard in background.

We continued our exploration passing through boulder chokes seemingly held up by rusting scaffolding poles.

Duncan near some pretties.

We passed through a few damp patches and finally arrived at Masons Chamber where a rather tight and awkward squeeze into more boulder choke had to be passed. No problem for Claire, a bit more worrisome for Richard and I!

Richard in the squeeze out of Mason’s Chamber.

We eventually got to what we believe is Slab Climb which would have required using a bit of kit to get down safely. This turned out to be a suitable turn around point.

We retraced our tracks and exited into scorching sunshine.

Ingleborough in the sunshine.

We said our goodbyes and then Duncan and Claire made a dash for Newbury so Claire could catch her connecting train. Richard met up with Jo and they visited Mistral to pick up some data loggers.

Hardcore at Hardraw….

Trip Date: 3rd - 5th February 2017

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Most of the team arrived on Thursday evening to stay in the very comfortable Old School Bunkhouse at Hardraw, just north of Hawes. As the one and only pub didn’t open until Saturday evening the team happily started on their stash of wine and beer, catching up with club news and gossip well into the small hours.

There was a good mix of cavers with a wide range of SRT experience, from the beginner and intermediate through to the very hardcore experienced SRT rigger. This meant there plenty of options for everyone.

Day One - Friday 3rd February 2017

Lost Johns Cave, Leck Fell, Lancashire.

Friday 3rd February 2017. A long drive from Hardraw, giving plenty of time for the car heater to warm us all up nicely before we had to step out, onto the arctic tundra of Leck Fell, and take all our clothes off. Nothing like a bit of exposure, shivering and hypothermia to get the morning off to a bracing start.

All changed and wrapped up in SRT kit the ‘Dome Route’ team (Helen, Jill & Malcolm) plunged underground to enjoy the fabulous entrance series; the high traversing above the streamway makes this one of my favourite northern caves.

Jill descending the Dome route

The ‘Centipede Team’ (Andy, Brian & Dave) came powering past at the head of the initial Dome route pitch, down the first pot in the fossil passageway. This pitch used up one of the two slings we’d planned to use.

We rigged Vestry and Cathedral together, using one 50m rope. This pitch used a sling we hadn’t planned to use, for the narrow thread round the back of a flake at the top of Cathedral. There was a bit of tat in place, but it looked as if it had been left by the original explorers and didn’t inspire confidence, so a sling was used as well. This meant that by the time we reached the deviation part way down Cathedral the team was clean out of slings; the donkey’s dick off the bag was therefore pressed into service. Officially the next pitch, ‘Dome’, needed a further sling for a deviation, however we rigged this as a rebelay, thus avoiding the need to knit a sling on site.

Malcolm and Jill at the base of Centipede

The teams re-united at Candle and Shistol, which Brian rigged, and then we were at Battle-axe. Malcolm ended up rigging this, very slowly, and the traverse to the y-hang used up all our remaining rigging hardware. The topo indicates 9 bolts along here; somehow we managed to use 15 assorted krabs and maillons. Time was ticking on as well, so after everyone had had a look at the y-hang we beat an orderly retreat, with the teams swapping routes for the de-rig. Time underground over five hours.

After more naked hopping around in the dark, with the polar breezes of Leck Fell whistling round our goose-bumps, we discovered that the Station Inn at Ribblehead does a nice pint and has a warming open fire…

Long Kin East <> Rift Pot exchange, Allotment, Yorkshire.

Not written up.

Day Two - Saturday 4th February 2017

Cow Pot - County Pot

Team: Ali, Jules, Malcolm, Josh and Lilo

SWCC had a Saturday permit for Cow Pot. It's got to be the most spectacular entrances into the Easegill system, emerging out of the roof in the cavernous Fall Pot. A party of 7, comprising 4 ageing SWCC members and 3 youthful York Uni students, who we acquired at Ribblehead Station, headed over to Bull Pot Farm. The plan was to explore the western end of the system, entering and exiting via Cow Pot. Like all good plans, that went out of the window when we bumped into Fleur and a few Irish cavers at the farm. They were doing a County to Lancaster through trip, so we joined forces to do a more exciting and challenging Cow Pot to County Pot exchange.

Malcolm in the Manchester Bypass

By the time we'd reach the bottom of the final pitch in Cow Pot, we'd lost a student who managed to painfully insert his thumb through an eco-hanger during a crazy dive across the surface pitch and a nameless SWCC member who turned back at the notorious Cow Pot slot. The magnificent 7, I mean 5, set off to traverse the Easegill system making good progress through the high level passages above the main drain.

Ali in Minarets Passage, Ease Gill

We all had different levels of knowledge of the system, but none of us had done a through trip in the past 20 years. Which incidentally happened to be the average age of the two York students!! The lack of knowledge added a certain edge to the trip. Fine passages were traversed, based on nose following and an aborted through trip that Gareth Davies and I had attempted last October. The not so fine, Manchester Bypass, was not one of Malcolm's highlights. Reaching the end point where Gareth and I crashed and burned last time, Fleur's quality directions and a bit of student Josh's local knowledge, got us to the bottom of Fleur's County Pot rope and we were out. Another excellent trip (5hrs) on an excellent weekend.

Boxhead Pot

Team: Gary, Richard, Helen, Jill, Martyn, John, Brian, Dave and Andy

After a very successful caving day on Friday, followed by a curry in the evening with a drink or three...we started to make a plan for the following day’s activities. Various routes were discussed, CNCC guides read, and referred to again, until Gary made the final move to the white board and entered Notts Pot 2 and Boxhead Pot onto it; for the people who had not added their names to Simpson or Cow Pot.
Another look at the Rigging Guide, and descriptions and yet more wine, I still couldn’t decide which to do, so my name was added on the board in-between the two of them, and left to ponder over; along with a couple of other people's indecision until the following morning.
Morning tea was much needed, along with the normal ‘faff now – cave later’ syndrome until the plan was hatched.

The group had formed, ropes were packed, transport organised and reorganised and finally we were off. The Sun had begun to shine and we were on our way to Boxhead Pot and towards a dark and ominous cloud on the horizon.

The team kitting up at the layby 

We arrived at the car park, and with perfect timing, started to change just as the wind was picking up with a light shower of rain coming down on us...brrrrrrrr it was cold. No messing, SRT kit on, and we were on our way to find the small shake hole with a plastic tube coming out of it, just off from Lost Johns.

I stayed above the shake hole, while Gary rigged, (well volunteered Gary..... thank you!!!), to wait for John. Thankfully I had my thick yellow suit on, it was bitter cold.
Gary disappeared along with Richard; whilst Helen and I were left peering down the plastic tubing to the lights below; Martyn became the official photographer.
The rope for the 1st pitch starts at the top of the pipe, which then opens directly onto an impressive 26m descent down the middle of a large chamber. At the end of the pipe, on a shelf, a Y Hang re-belay starts the abseil, followed by a deviation and a hanging re-belay. Not my favourite move, why aren’t my legs longer, I thought. A short scramble down a boulder slope reaches the main Boxhead pitch, to a stunning 70m deep shaft.

Richard almost ready to abseil down the first pitch

Here, the order of descent was finalised, Martyn and John being perfect gentlemen to let the girls go first, and then me being kindest to let Helen go next.. (shhh...more dutch courage required by me). It had been a long time since zipping around on ropes during ‘Speleo’ whilst the previous day having a tangle up on a hanging re-belay.

I met Helen and our team again at the top of the main pitch, and again looked down, wow...what an awe inspiring sight; we could see Richard’s light which had veered off to the right, we waited, and then a distant shout of “rope free” through the other sounds of the cave.

Helen disappeared and I waited for my turn, then heard her shout and I was on my way, heading towards Kendal Flyover and not the direct 70m single hang descent.

Such an incredible journey abseiling down, I was extremely privileged to experience the true scale of the shaft, Richard had reached the absolute depth of Boxhead Pot and was in the parallel aven to where the direct hang route enters. He was shinning his head torch up at me, down, down deeper and down I went; deviations, Y hangs, and re-belays which could be tackled while standing on rock protruding out of the shaft walls. One in particular, more exposed than the other, which both Helen and Brian tackled at the same time on the ascent. Not sure how, but they did it, and must be congratulated on; thankfully it wasn’t me in that position!! The hanging rope traversed a penultimate drop to a broad ledge. A further short abseil took me to meet both Helen and Richard who were coming up from the final pitch.

I descended thinking I’d find Gary, nope, not here, I thought; after exploring the area, to return back to the rope where I found Martyn.

Gary and Brian at the Kendal Extensions

“Where’s Gary, dunno” we both said, not realising where the start of the Kendal Extensions were, so Martyn went off to explore and locate him. I returned back up the rope to find Gary sitting opposite the Kendal Extensions, which I’d missed. It turned out, he too, had been exploring; whereupon he waited for the return of explorer Martyn.

I returned back up to the ledge above Gary, and waited for Helen’s “ropefree”call, heard it then ascended the rope on my way up to the first re-belay. Huffing and puffing somewhat due to the way the rope was traversing off to the right, eventually getting to the next re-belay only to find Brian also arriving at the same time as me from above. A well balanced manoeuvre was made by Brian, and then we were both on our way in different directions.
I can remember thinking at this point, that he must of met Helen on the next re-belay, it turned out he had; I continued ascending and arrived at the sloping boulder to the friendly faces of Dave and Andy waiting.

On the final pitch up, Gary right behind me (moving at great speed!) I reached the entrance tube with Helen announcing warmth, blue skies and sunshine; what a difference in the weather compared to the descent.

Gary…….

One final heave-ho out of the tube.... then finally I was out.

Martyn…...

What a brilliant trip, we waited for Martyn to appear and then headed off, looking forward to a quick stop over in Ingleton to taste the delights of afternoon tea; teacakes, scones, and a very indulgent hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows (consumed by Richard).

Richard enjoying a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows 

With the sorting of ropes back at the hut, and assisting Gary with his delicious supper, we ventured to the pub for a well earned beer and to reflect on a super day. A big thanks in conclusion to Brian, Dave and Andy for de-rigging the system.

Gary hard at work…….

Day Three - Sunday 5th February 2017

Sunday morning meant most of the team emerged from their bunk rooms bleary eyed having drunk copious amounts of beer at the local pub the night before. However, most were soon up and out of the door divided up into 3 parties. A caving trip to the Bull Pot of the Witches at Bullpot Farm, a group to Hagg Gill and another group to have a go at Simpson’s Pot...

Spaghetti Rope Techniques in Simpsons Pot

Sunday morning finds myself and Ali stopping off for a pull thro' trip in Simpsons hole prior to the return journey home to Cardiff. In the past I'd only ever come up Simpsons pot, and that trip was via the Great Aven Pitch not the infamous Slit Pot route. This was also proper caving trip number three in three consecutive days - a feat I hadn't managed to replicate since seriously twatting myself by falling down a big hole in France in the summer of 2014. So why does the desire to hang on ropes above big holes continue.....?

The advantage of just two of you is a reduced faff factors, and an efficient change, quick jaunt into Valley Entrance to rig the exit pitch, and stomp up the hill virtually straight to the entrance ensued. Armed with two ropes - one to rig with and one in case of a hang up - we made good progress traversing 'the pit' down a series of short pitches which quickly refreshed our minds of pull thro' techniques.

Looking through the slit at Ali rigging Slit Pot

Once down a wetter Storm Pot it was thro' the duck for extra refreshment, with the caving continuing in fine Yorkshire Pothole style with classic pitches and some fine awkward thrutchy rifts testing for approaching 'middle age spread' before arriving at the crux of our trip, Slit Pot. There is a bit of rigging in place that takes you up and over the top of the slit, but it looked doable, and neither myself or Ali can be described as particularly fat! Thus out came my 60m 9mm Edelrid, a veteran of the SWCC Annecy trip a few years back, which was doubled up and sent down the pitch. However a ledge and some reasonable quantities of water prevented confirmation of touch down to the bottom. I assured Ali it will be fine and off he went fitting snuggly thro' the slit.....

Touch down was not as smooth as expected as our rope was short by a few metres. Ali tagged on a spare few metres, did a knot bypass with the added refreshment of the waterfall, and shouts up something I can't make out but know means 'rope no long enough'! Thus out comes the spare rope and a re-rig of the pull down is sorted. Now my turn for the slit arrives. Various attempts are made to almost successfully jam myself in the slot as the descender keeps jamming my chest. After a few attempts it's obvious this isn't working so I put the ascender on the short cows tail to keep it clear of the chest and pop thro' the slot to joint Ali below. We'll be out in no time.......

Sadly not. The pulldown does not go to plan and a visit from the spaghetti monster ensues. Essentially my old 9mm was a bit too wiry and twisty, and we applied a little too much brute force and effort trying to retrieve. The result a well twined rope - oops! Some slightly creative rope acrobatics and we did fully retrieve the pull down rope at least, but after an hour pratting about under a waterfall we decided to abandon the rope to irritating someones elses thro' trip, through it will be very clear from the top what the problem was!

Half hour later and we are out of the cave and at the car. A fantastic trip despite the hiccup and my body well and truly thrashed by a quality weekend of caving with good company.

Hagg Gill Pot

Team: Andy, Brian, Dave, Gary, Helen, Jill, John, Josh (YUCPC), Lilo (YUCPC), Malcolm and Martyn.

Gary, Gill, John and Martyn set off early with the YUCPC students to rig the pot while Malcolm and I took it easy and had our last cup of tea. We left the bunkhouse and travelled south on narrow country lanes gingerly making our way on un-gritted roads with a light dusting of snow. Recognising Gary’s van we pulled up in a lay-by and got changed. However, finding the pot without a GPS became finding a needle in a haystack, made worse when the local farmer yelled abuse at us across the valley when we climbed over his fence! Feeling pretty guilty we made our way across and upwards trying to find a gate….. What we thought was the farmer walking up the hill towards us, to give us more verbal, thankfully turned out to be Gary! He’d forgotten his helmet and hadn’t gone into the cave with the others and luckily for us was able to point out the location of the pot. We were a long way out!

Josh and Lilo

Sliding across the lid to the pot we made our way down some scaffolding to a y-hang. We descended the tight squeeze to the bottom (around 15m) and removed our SRT gear.

We decided to go upstream first as this was meant to be the best bit. We followed the stream, walking and crawling passing some imposing flowstone formations along the way. We met the rigging party at a slippery boulder climb aided with a rope. We headed up a boulder slope to a narrow rift passage with helictite walls. Passing up another boulder slope and a further calcite slope, with few handholds we turned back.

Malcolm in Rift Passage

Back beneath the entrance, passing the party exiting the pot via the pitch, we headed downstream, over pretty cascades, joining a larger stream and eventually reaching the sump. Returning we headed off up the adjoining stream over and up some impressive narrow cascades for a fair distance, before making our way back to the pitch. To our surprise we met Dave, Andy and Brian at the bottom of the pitch, who had just descended and were happy to de-rig after their tour around the cave. Back at the car we changed, trying to keep an air of decorum as plenty of Sunday drivers found our attire interesting; a few were even happy to stop for a chat!

Malcolm looking happy….

It was a great weekend, everyone enjoyed themselves doing some challenging trips. Some of the other caving trips included SRT training in Bull Pot of Witches and Long Kiln East to Rift Pot. Special thanks go to Gary for organising the trip, Gary and Jill, who both cooked filling and tasty meals, Andy and Helen who provided the very comfortable accommodation.

Contributors to the blog: Malcolm - Lost Johns; Ali - Cow Pot to County; Jill - Boxhead Pot; Jules - Simpsons; Helen - Hagg Gill Pot. Photos were provided by Helen, Martyn, Jill, Jules and Malcolm