JH Over-Engine Mine / Peak Cavern

Saturday April 19th 2008

Members present: Adam Wilkinson,  Andrew Vick,  Imogen Shepherd,  Kevin Francis,  Natasha Durham,  Nicola Gover,  Richard Gover

I felt dead all of yesterday which was partly due to the cave. It was a really fun trip though.

Me, Kevin and Andy got up at 6am having set alarms for 5.45 (hitting snooze just the once) and after a quick brioche we headed to Castleton where we surpised Martyn at the TSG by turning up before Kent Uni had got up!

The descent down JH went surprisingly well and I even managed the deviations without much difficulty. All 9 of us were down to the bottom within 2 hours. Some of the fixed ladders were quite scary after this, especially the ones where you had to change over to another ladder where there was a massive gap. It's also quite scary climbing really long ladders when you'd normally use ropes and knowing that if you'd slipped you'd die. Hmm. I had a bit of a breakdown in the crawl and changed my opinion on liking crawly caves but I think it was because I was exhausted. I have learned that a cheese toastie is not enough food to go caving on!

I managed to get more mud on my face than anyone else (probably more than everyone else put together). I also got very cold and couldn't warm up even after the shower. My lips even turned blue! How exciting! We drank lots and lots of tea back at the TSG and then we faffed about too much so I couldn't actually eat anything before getting the train to Leeds from Hope via Sheffield where there were many drunken football fans who prevented me from getting dinner from Burger King.

My friends party was ace (everyone in red and white!) but despite being up at 6 me and my friend sat up talking while 3.15, which rounded off a fun day!