Almost Long Churn; Cardiff do Stupid Rope Technique
Saturday, 12 April 2014 – Sunday, 13 April 2014
Me and Nathanael were on our way back from Wales, where adventure led us to explore a shit hole (see last rant), when we had the idea of getting the train out to Horton and caving the next day, having missed out on pretty Gower caves with Phil due to potentially dangerous tides. At Skipton, a banana boarded the train with some chums and a fucking huge onion which they proceeded to eat rather messily. The banana didnt like the colour of Nats face (“healthy (to me); unhealthy (to Nat)). Walking to the Bradford, all the lambs were frolicking in the fields and the sunset was pretty special. It was nice to be away from the noise of cars for a bit!
After some waiting Mike and Cardiff members returned from Sell Gill, where it had been Meshs first time rigging. Warren and more Cardiff members then returned from Bull Pot of the Witches. Hedge Alex made chili, which was very nice and healthy, and me and Nathanael began our weekend of pilfering and scrounging by eating large quantities of it. A relaxed evening in the luxury of the Bradford followed.
I was up at 9, after Kristian burst in to shout something about his phone before driving off with Warren. I proceeded to start cleaning up. After bacon sandwiches and tea, we decided on Alum Pot for the days caving, entering (allegedly) via Long Churn. Everyone was in except Pete and Hedge Alex, who decided on mountain biking instead, and Driver Alex who went for a walk. We were underground by 1, an improvement on the half 3 of the previous day. Mike and Tom got rigging while Nathanael did some improvised guiding and I did nothing, having been absent from all previous trips into Alum (“I cant move my legs).
We arrived at Dolly Tubs soon enough, which was well rigged by Tom. Ben, Anna, Cathy and Henry were all relatively new to SRT, so we set about helping them avoid death and have a good time in the process. Everyone got down safely despite my inadequacies, and next it was the Greasy Slab, which commanded a fine view. Due to time and temperature constraints, we didnt go past the Bridge, and all ascended without too much mishap. However, Nathanael proved himself to be less trustworthy than we thought when he was found to have lied to all the party, as the entrance we had gone in was not Long Churn but Diccan with a funny bypass. Mike showed him the real entrance series to Long Churn, and I fell in one of the pools.
We returned to the hut to clean up again, and Cardiff kindly dropped us off at Long Preston station. We were back at Mayville by about 11, and I was back home by half 12, thus enabling me to change my t-shirt for the first time in 9 days.
Awesome weekend. Thanks to Cardiff for putting up with my pilfering, the Bradford members for not hating us for being students and to Nat for being a thorough guide. Maybe one day I will actually get to the bottom of Alum, and even do Long Churn.