YUCPC Trip History

Here you can see the list of pretty much all the trips YUCPC members have been on over the years. Members can also submit reports which will hopefully help others to avoid problems or just for some inspiration! Use the filters below to view by year or cave.

Trips by year...

2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996

Trips by Cave...

Add a trip

Trips & Reports 2005

Sunday May 8th 2005 Lancaster Hole Attempted through trip to Wreched Rabbit Members: Adrian Turner,  Gary Douthwaite,  Holly Read,  Oliver Bunting

Adrian wrote...

I want to see a survey to find out where we went! Change gets 2 because it kept raining on me :(

Gary wrote...

The seeds of cock-up were first sown when we didn't take a survey OR description with us. Why did we think we could look blury-eyed at the survey in the garage for five minuits at 8am and remember the whole way on. In the words of Ade: I know they way... yes this definatly looks right. Hmm, well, I think we shall ignore Ade in future. Ended up going under Lancaster in the streemway and about a mile in the... read more

Sunday May 8th 2005 Brown Hill Pot Members: Andrew Gilmartin,  Dominic Galliano,  Nicola Gover,  Richard Gover

Richard wrote...

A fantastic trip. I don't know what all the fuss is about, although possibly Dom would disagree :-) Didn't go to the bottom, although we probably would have got there as the entrance is a bit hard so we didn't want to be doing it when knackered.

We got further than Gary :-)

Andrew wrote...

~Ouch, pretty sore the next day. Cracking trip. Rigging the first pitch involved being wedged in a constricted rift and reaching to thread a fig 8 single handedly. Plenty of awkward moments. Return journey was far tougher than way in. I'm gonna stick my neck out and say that the first pitch head is the most difficult and awkward I've ever experienced. This cave certainly deservers a place in my top 10 most hardcore trips. Serious error->BHP is listed in... read more

Dominic wrote...

My hips will never be the same again...

Sunday May 1st 2005 Oxlow Cavern Maskill Exchange Members: Adrian Turner,  Gary Douthwaite,  Holly Read,  Laura Bennett,  Matt Ewles,  Nicola Gover,  Richard Gover

Richard wrote...

A fantastic trip. Both teams went in at the same time, the Oxlow->Maskhill team had to wait for two hours at the bottom for the others to catch up then we got out of Maskhill and over to Oxlow in time to watch Laura coming up the entrance pitch. Generally a very pleasant cave except the scummy entrance pitch in Maskhill.

I got soaked climbing down under the waterfall to the terminal sump. Really wasn't worth the effort,... read more

Gary wrote...

A top trip, and relativly efficiant, we all managed to get out by about 4:30. Some very scary rigging in Maskhill though, but great fun and a good challenge. Both East and West chambers are well worth seeing, somthing about the size of Mud Hall, quite awsome. Very interesting to see old mine workings, nice bit of variation to a totaly natural cave.

Holly wrote...

The scummy enterence pitch in Maskhill was my favourite! almost as good as mud hall! + the really big chambers at the bottom were good too :o)

Saturday April 30th 2005 P8 / Jackpot Members: Adrian Turner,  Nicola Gover,  Richard Gover

Nicola wrote...

i got to rig!! i was crap and slow but i got there in the end! then i fell into a waterfall and got v wet! sheer luxury of short nearby caves: met at 10, out by 4 and to a beer garden! what all caving trips should be like! :)

Richard wrote...

More fun than a sackful of badgers. I particularly enjoyed watching Nikki falling off Idiots Leap and landing under a waterfall.

Sunday April 24th 2005 Nettle Pot Members: Adrian Turner,  Andrew Gilmartin,  Gary Douthwaite,  Matt Ewles,  Richard Gover

Adrian wrote...

I am never going down this cave again. Quite unpleasant.

Gary wrote...

Not the most enjoyable cave I have visited. Much of the bottom half looks nice and big on the rigging guide... hmm, must remember to think in 3 dimentions! On reflection, it wasn't tooo bad, a nice change and a bit of a challenge. On the way down the entrance pitch I thought I may never see the light of day again, but on the way up it wasn't half as awkward as I expected it to be, no more... read more

Matt wrote...

I didn't make it to the bottom I'm afraid. I took one look at the final(?) pitch, looking narrow and rather wet, and I opted to return to the surface. Everyone else carried on, am glad I didn't from what I've heard. The entrance pitch was fun, went down for AGES, three re-belays at least, and seemed tight, but wasn't nearly as bad coming up as I expected. Not a great cave at all, not much... read more

Saturday April 16th 2005 Flood Entrance Via Ingleborough Members: Andy Tricklebank,  Richard Gover

Andy wrote...

Walking to Flood Pot from Southerscales cottage via ingleborough is a seriously stupid thing to do. I recommend it isn't reapeated cos it's just fucking MILES.

Sunday April 10th 2005 Marble Steps Pot Two routes with change-over at the bottom Members: Adrian Turner,  Deborah Last,  Gary Douthwaite,  Holly Read,  Matt Ewles,  Nicola Gover,  Richard Gover

Adrian wrote...

Derigging the intestines is fun!!!!

Holly wrote...

Higher scumminess factor than everyone else put cos i went the wrong way and ended up waste deep in the scummy sump. lovely! Had a bit of an epic trying to get out of the sump too, seeing as i could not touch the bottom of it + had to climb a rift with no footholds assissted only by clothes line.
anyway, apart from that slight mishap + another bit where i got the stuckest i have ever been and... read more

Matt wrote...

This cave is evil. It tried to swallow Holly, and it made me claustrophobic. But I think I enjoyed it in the end!

5 photos by Gary...

Sunday April 3rd 2005 Ireby Fell Cavern Members: Andy Tricklebank,  James Gregory,  Natasha Durham,  Richard Gover
Thursday March 24th 2005 Top Sink Members: Adrian Turner,  Andrew Vick,  Nicola Gover,  Richard Gover,  Stephen Cooper

Nicola wrote...

the fun rating would have been much higher if we'd got a bit further! steves too big!! we'l have to chop his legs off or something. but we went to a beer garden on the way home so i didn't mind too much!

Tuesday March 22nd 2005 Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 1 Members: Andrew Vick,  Nicola Gover,  Richard Gover,  Stephen Cooper

Nicola wrote...

fun fun fun, pretty pretty pretty!! shame on those who were too wussy to go you missed out :P and caving cures hangovers!! one of my favourite trips so far, very pretty things to see and fun streamway and waterslidey things! and we didnt get lost at all thanks to nice guide man! and we even got out in time for afternoon tea, and i found shampoo in the girls showers afterwards, sheer luxury!

Richard wrote...

Much fun. Very good pretties, the chute down from the upper levels was great and a fantastic streamway (unfortunately a bit dry). However, the definate highlight for me was seeing Matt H's face when I told him that's where we were going - and he couln't come. Closely followed by Steve G's face when I told him we'd done it.

Monday March 21st 2005 Pant Mawr Members: Gary Douthwaite,  Holly Read,  Matt Ewles

Matt wrote...

A very long walk there (thankfully following a path most of the way). Must have been at least an hour. Not to be done in the dark! A nice easy cave with some really PRETTY formations. Stalagmites and stalagtites changing direction all over the cave suggesting geological goings-on. And some lovely curtainy things. One of the prettiest caves I have been down :-) And I didn't fall over once :-) Next time we shall abduct a... read more

Monday March 21st 2005 Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 2 (top) to Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 3 Members: Andrew Vick,  Dominic Galliano,  Nicola Gover,  Richard Gover,  Stephen Cooper

Dominic wrote...

One comment, the Welsh are insane!!!! Big drop under a traverse line (about 23m) and you might want to consider a rope! The only point they tell you to use a rope (by which point in time the rope you took has been used...) was impossible to get through!

Apart from that was fun! (Well that was fun too really!) Next time we take more rope!

Monday March 21st 2005 canyoning / watching people canyoning Members: Adrian Turner,  David Sproson,  Laura Bennett,  Matt Hobby,  Natasha Durham,  Stephen Cooper

Stephen wrote...

Hardcore! i mean running up and down muddy slopes above reasonably sized cliffs while trying not to get your trousers muddy is one heck of a challenge.

Got many photos and a few videos of people making prats out of themselves including people absailing off waterfalls jumping off waterfalls and falling over while exiting waterfalls

Sunday March 20th 2005 Waterfalls Walk Members: John Singleton,  Matt Ewles

Matt wrote...

Ok, so I wussed out of caving on the Sunday! It was a really nice day, and we took a picnic and saw two major waterfalls, and found a cave (though unfortunately others had found it first!)

John wrote...

Faff factor = none



It was a late start and I was under orders to 'please hurry up' but finally did manage to make it out of the cottage after everyone had left for complicated wet caves that were apparently "our worst nightmare"! We had no map, no directions but did pack yummy food and a GPS nav. Anyway, somehow we managed to take the alternative route to the waterfalls, passing many people in the opposite direction who had... read more

Sunday March 20th 2005 Ogof Draenen Members: Adrian Turner,  Andrew Vick,  David Sproson,  Dominic Galliano,  Stephen Cooper

Dominic wrote...

After the previous days attempt (see report - Faff) it was great to actually manage to do the round trip!!!! Was wanting to do this for ages and finally did!!!!! Was a lot of fun, quite fast too! (We got to Lamb and Fox in 40 minutes, that's where we turned round previous day!) Favourite bit was the squeeze at end of the squirrel bit, good sense of achievement after that! (Even though Ade did decide to drop a bunch... read more

David wrote...

Suprisingly enjoyable considering the epic lack of motivation I'd managed to build up in the 20 mins we were waiting in the car park for Andy. (Assuming, that is, that's it's not a contradiction to build up a lack of something).

Dom's fall was really quite impressive, and made the sort of noise that usually preceeds a big cheer at rugby matches. I had visions of broken ribs, before Dom just brushed himself off and said "yeah, I'm fine, just having... read more

Adrian wrote...

Was a good trip, but now I'll never feel I have the need to do the cave again (which in my opinion is a good thing).

Sunday March 20th 2005 Little Neath River Cave Members: Gary Douthwaite,  Holly Read,  Laura Bennett,  Nicola Gover
Sunday March 20th 2005 Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 2 (top) To Cwm Dwr Members: Matt Hobby,  Natasha Durham,  Richard Gover
Saturday March 19th 2005 Ogof Draenen to the end of Megadrive Members: Dominic Galliano,  Gary Douthwaite,  John Singleton,  Laura Bennett,  Matt Ewles

Gary wrote...

Faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff incompetance faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff faff, oh, and FAFF. It only took an hour an and a half to find a photo copier. Why is Wales always closed? Once we finally got into the cave after MORE FAFF with the lock, it was a good trip.

Matt wrote...

Yes, a bit of a faff, but we got to see more of Merthyl Tydful, which we seemed fated to do considering every road in Wales leads there. The lock into the cave almost defeated us but finally we were in. Didn't like the squeezing very much on the way down, am sure I almost didn't fit! On way back up my light fell off and went out just as I was half way up a waterfall... read more

Dominic wrote...

Erm.... Faff!!!! Never seen Gary so annoyed before!!! Once we actually got into the cave, was fun! Shame we didn't actually get to the Lamb and Fox chamber in the end!

John wrote...

Faff factor = extreme!

Ogof Draenen – What a fantastic name! This was the trip that very nearly wasn’t. The greatest challenge lay above ground! We must pay credit to MFI and Carpet Right for their (little known) copying facilities, it was a mixture of ‘Treasure Hunt’ and ‘Challenge Anika’ but there was more to come... Finding the cave wasn’t easy but Gary’s SatNav came into its own and soon we arrived at what appeared to... read more

17 photos by Gary...

Saturday March 19th 2005 Little Neath River Cave Members: Adrian Turner,  Matt Hobby,  Natasha Durham,  Richard Gover

Adrian wrote...

Definately going to spend a good amount of time in this cave in the future. Great fun!! Did I mention ducks are pleasant in a wetsuit?!

40 photos by Adrian...

Saturday March 19th 2005 Porth yr Ogof Members: Adrian Turner,  Matt Hobby,  Richard Gover

7 photos by Adrian...

Saturday March 19th 2005 Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 2 (top) To Cwm Dwr Members: Andrew Vick,  David Sproson,  Holly Read,  Nicola Gover,  Stephen Cooper

David wrote...

Altogether far too efficient for my liking, assuming we gloss over the fact that Andy had to return to the cottage, and I couldn't find my arse from my elbow (or Dragon from OFD, OFD from Dragon, and neither of the above from anywhere else in Wales). I feel I should apologise to Holly here, although I'm sure it was as much her shoddy navigation as my shabby memory.

Anyways, trip was as pleasant as you'd expect from a top-c.d. trip,... read more

Holly wrote...

Dave!!!!!!!
My navagation was fine I knew exactly where we were, only problem being that neither of us knew where OFD was!
Anyway twas a lovely tour of the brecon beacons nonetheless complete with dinosaurs!
OFD nice as always, not sufficient amounts of singing thou.

Stephen wrote...

Next time remind me to bring a bucket and spade to dig out the exit.

Having to reverse due to the pile of gravel that builds up in front of your battery pack is not fun.

While everyone else says the exit was not that bad i was the largest person there by far.

i wonder if they'd let me take a pneumatic drill?

Sunday March 13th 2005 Lost John's Cave Members: Adrian Turner,  Andrew Vick,  Dominic Galliano,  Gary Douthwaite,  Holly Read,  James Gregory,  Laura Bennett,  Matt Ewles,  Natasha Durham,  Nicola Gover,  Oliver Bunting,  Richard Gover,  Stephen Cooper

Gary wrote...

Yes, I know I cocked-up all our plans by getting lost. We set off to go down Centipede and ended up half way down Monastery before we realised that we were totaly in the wrong place! Never mind, we had to suffer the embarasment of meeting most of the others when we got back to the point we went wrong. I blame the blond! Despite that though, we still made it to the bottom ahead of everyone else to rigg... read more

Holly wrote...

I bought new shoes :o) !!!
Then I went caving - its hard to decide which was the most exciting - they were both good!

Richard wrote...

I went back up Monastery, as did Steve. Dom and James went up Dome derigging. Not sure Andy can claim to have almost got to the bottom as he didn't go down Valhalla :-) A very fun trip as always. I've now done all the routes so next time we need to do an exchange to Boxhead Pot.

Steve is a wuss if he thinks that was a grade 4 change.

Stephen wrote...

It was snowing i think that counts as a level 4 by your definition if 5 is a blizzard by the gover scale. For instance ade graded a three when it was still light and it wasn't snowing therefore i feel perfectly justified in my rating (plus my battery pack got stuck under the duck and i got propperly soaked).

But yeah asside from that great fun trip. I was however followed by some kind of cave daemon that... read more

Matt wrote...

A great fun trip, especially as we (team Gary) didn't have to derig anything on the way back :-p though I suspect we shall pay for that on the next trip! Superb traverse just before the bottom, and some scary seems-terrifying-at-the-time-but-actually-good-fun unprotected traverses... good for boosting the confidence! The technical stuff was great, nice and varied, and as usual, I got strung up on the easiest pitch in the entire cave. Hrrmmpph. Really enjoyed the trip,... read more

28 photos by Gary...

Sunday February 20th 2005 Vesper Pot Members: Natasha Durham,  Richard Gover,  Steve Gilbert
Saturday February 19th 2005 Aquamole Pot Members: Adrian Turner,  Gary Douthwaite,  Holly Read,  Nicola Gover,  Stephen Cooper

Gary wrote...

Supurb trip. So nice to visit a relativly new cave. We actually met a team that were finishing off the bolting in the last pitch! Nice variation although, a bit of guess work on the rigging as no accurage rigging guide has been produced yet. Click on 'View Cave Details' above to see my description for this cave, good for future referance as there is no official rigging guide.

Stephen wrote...

Twas a cold winters night when the five cavers mounted the moor the wind chilled them to them bones and they were feeling quite dejected. Then we found (with no searching around) aquamole pot. as gary rigged the entrance we were bullied by sheep who surrounded us and looked at us funny (i'm sure theyd've demanded our marsbars but sheep can't speak).

We were rescued from the sheep by three wondering cavers (Sheep never mess with grumpy... read more

Holly wrote...

I almost forgot about the demon sheep - they were soooo scary.
Yeah the cave was fun, except for the old (no fun) cavers who complained about my singing + then altered our rigging for us!

Adrian wrote...

Above the bottom pitches there is a point where many a caver has obviously been left waiting a while. Clay can be found nearby, and there is a good rock on which to place models. I made a snail.

Nicola wrote...

i found a cave in the dales my dad hasn't done! hurrah!!

23 photos by Gary...

Sunday February 13th 2005 Jingling Pot Members: Adrian Turner,  Laura Bennett,  Nicola Gover,  Regan Early

Adrian wrote...

Not really joking about the blizzard conditions either!

Sunday February 13th 2005 Alum Pot to Dolly Tubs Members: Andy Tricklebank,  Beth Gale,  Dominic Galliano,  Matt Hobby,  Natasha Durham
Saturday February 12th 2005 Notts 2 Members: James Gregory,  Richard Gover,  Stephen Cooper

Stephen wrote...

We Shall return (possibly with ropes) without the aid of ropes and srt kits this cave proved too much. started with a 10 m free climb down a vertical shaft (with scaffolding 1/3 of the way down) then a muddy crawl to a 4m free climb then a bit of a scramble then from the front i heard calls of "this is a bit extreme" and it was decided that it would be beter to attempt it with ropes.... read more

Sunday February 6th 2005 Rowten Pot Members: Gary Douthwaite,  Holly Read,  Matt Ewles,  Nicola Gover

Matt wrote...

Really good fun cave :-) with a scary traverse pitch-trasverse-pitch one-rope wonder over an almost bottomless hole. Such a nice view from the bottom of the big pitch when we finally got there though. And completely exhausing to prussik up again. I am being a bit rubbish writing this report a month and a half after the trip, so can't remember anything else. Doh!!!

Saturday February 5th 2005 Diccan Pot Members: Andrew Vick,  Dominic Galliano,  Natasha Durham,  Richard Gover

Natasha wrote...

good cave tho would have been more fun if we hadn't had to wait at any point -very very wet and very very cold!

Sunday January 30th 2005 Simpson's Pot Exchange with Swinsto Members: Andrew Gilmartin,  Beth Gale,  Ellie Jones,  Natasha Durham,  Nicola Gover,  Richard Gover,  Steve Gilbert