Notts 2 - 14 Mar 2009

Saturday March 14th 2009

Members present: Catherine Moody,  Jennie Hill,  Mark Sims,  Nicola Gover,  Richard Gover

A really good trip. Didn't really know what to expect from Notts II but it turned out to be a very pleasant streamway with lots of pretty stuff upstream and in some of the inlets.

Our wonderful efficiency meant we were leaving bernies at about 11, and once we'd convinced ourselves to get out of the car (it was windy and cold) and get changed (me using Cat's lab's nitrile gloves) it was only a short walk to the cave. The entrance series is the strangest ive ever seen. A ridiculous amount of scaffolding, ladders, breezeblock ladders, bricks, expanding foam etc for quite a while before you even reach what looks cave-like! Then a couple of climbs and into the streamway.

We went downstream first, which is a nice winding streamway, past various inlets (one with a ladder made of bits of rope and gaffa tape!) to the spout where we made rich get wet spotting us down the climb. On to the sump (or almost-it was a flat out crawl so we stopped 10m short) then back upstream. Rich tried to get Mark wet but instead managed to remove all the water while he climbed up!

Upstream gets progressively prettier and quite big. Carried on up all the way to the canal where all except rich stopped as it was getting unpleasantly deep. Rich popped up to the sump. Back down via Inlets 5, 7 and curry. Very pretty in all of these and in the main streamway, some of the finest curtains i have seen anywhere, and some cool black and white striped stuff!

Back out to daylight and sunshine, and a very pleasant change, before heading to bernies for tea and cake, then bodrums for the cheap deal pizza, then back to york by 8pm for wine drinking :)

Only downside to this trip was i managed to do something strange to my back which was agonising on the way home :( gone now though.