Trips & Reports

Dench trip to the sump and back of this Wharfedale classic. None of us really fancied the scumminess and crawliness of the original entrance, but then none of us had thought to find out where the Hole in the Floor was. So scumminess and crawliness it was. On arriving at the second pitch, Doyle 'Ate All The Pies' Scott discovered he was too well-built to fit through the top slot so went out with Ali to go and try to find... read more

It was after a particularly faffy morning that we found ourselves in Kingsdale at about midday. After dismissing the idea of bottoming King Pot, we decided to give it a go anyway and see how far we got. We changed in glorious sunshine, and after a bit of debate as to the best route up the hill, we made our way past Braida Garth Farm to the plateau upon which the entrance is situated. Finding the entrance was not particularly... read more

After having convinced Andrew to go out as the runner, preparations for our prolonged stay underground were made. Andrew lent us his spare survival gear in addition to our own and the last points of our strategy agreed upon, especially, that Thomas and I would remain in the small chamber and not attempt to go anywhere else or self-rescue whilst waiting to avoid injury or exhaustion. Leaving someone behind in a cave is not easily done, even if rationally, in... read more

We wanted a shortish trip to do before heading home. I fancied the Great Oxbow Series; I'd been to the top end from the Skyhook a couple of years ago and was now confident of the traverses at the other end after doing them on Saturday. Trip time estimate 3-4 hours based on a guess of 1 hour to the start of the traverses, 1 hour to the Skyhook, 1 hour back to entrance, 1 hour extra to allow for... read more

Excellent trip into Dan-Yr-Ogof, fully fun, fully cold, Dan almost made it a quick trip by loosing his welly in the first lake, eventually finding it we carried on, did the full round trip with a quick detour for photography in Flabbergasm Oxbow.

A really really excellent cave; the reason I started caving. Good fun in the lakes and canal (including the infamous lost welly), pretty easy moving about in the passages, but the highlight for me was the formations. Cloud Chamber was stunning, incredible collections of pure white straws. The Grand Canyon Streamway was also impressive, especially when viewed from Flabbergasm Oxbow.

To the music room and back with some photos en route.

As I think Andy H said... "Just the right amount of scary" - I agree! I'm steadily facing my fear of traverses.. after going to OFD3 a couple of years ago and finding it fine, I was ready to give Marble Showers a go. I definitely found the trip scarier than going to OFD3... The Midnight traverses were certainly exposed, and quite technical, but as long as you take it steady and think about where your feet are going it's... read more

After the usual drive and pratting about in Bernie's and Inglesport (Rachel forgot her jammers, so bought some, and Will wanted some elbow pads) we parked up on the road near Cold Cotes. There's a handy lay-by next to the junction indicated in the description. The change was brisk, with an cold wind, but fortunately it was dry. Armed with a compass, GPS, and the Lat/Long of the entrance we started the ~25 minute walk up the hill. Finding the... read more