The title could have used some more thought, but it’s penned now.
I woke up at around 7am this day, the Friday having been a tired one with training ending at 10pm, all of us trainers being fairly knackered, though we all still went for a pint. Waking myself up with a cold shower, I rapped on Carla’s door at 7:50am as requested the night before. She started getting ready as I lugged my gear into the back of the hire car. It was a relatively clear morning, the cold seeping into my skin, going right through my jumper. Every now and then I found myself shivering. Carla came out soon enough and put her stuff into the back, though went back in to grab some gloves of mine that’d fit her better than me. As she did, I investigated why I couldn’t seem to find any controls for the rear window wipers. Stepping outside, I found it was because you can’t control what doesn’t exist! There were quite simply no wipers there. So I used my hat and hoped it wouldn’t rain.
Sorting out the freshers when we arrived at the Chapel only got more chaotic as time went on. Some ended up without helmets, though that was no issues, thanks to the helmets we’d rented from Inglesport. In between those minute-periods of directing freshers, I stood with my legs on the radiator, feeling very happy about no longer being cold. Soon, though, it was time to go to Ingleton. I gathered four freshers into my car, three of whom I’d taught the evening prior. They were completely new freshers and, it seems, already very good friends, two of them being on the Music… Analysis society? I’ll look it up now.
…
Music Album Review. Alright then. Anyway, they sat in the back, a man named Dan with me in the front. Dan was familiar and I soon learned that he had been with us a year prior, but had then been on placement. As we drove, I put my music on, though it was drowned out by the chatter of the back seats. Eventually I got to talking about our various caving games as well as the expeditions that were available. I highlighted the Austria expedition as well as Matienzo, doing my best to go over the differences despite never having been to the latter of the two. Bringing up the “naked caving” at Mendips was interesting. Dan must have already known about it but one of the others was shocked how people could find it fun. I didn’t really have a coherent answer ready, but the other two seemed to have that sorted.
We arrived in Ingleton after an hour and a half, give it maybe fifteen more minutes. Parking reasonably well, we headed into Bernie’s to say hi to Brook, though we quickly left to pursue a full breakfast at Inglesport. Sorry Kristian! We’ll come to yours in the future, I promise!
Due to the sheer number of people, breakfast came slow and I noticed, maybe due to the looming threat of Bernie’s, they’d renamed their breakfasts. The Vegan Breakfast was now a Vegan Caver’s. As I waited for my food, the three that were in the back of my car mentioned that they actually had been paying attention to the songs on my playlist, saying it was an interesting mix. I got the vibe of “tonal whiplash”.
After we’d all finished, we had to head in and out of Inglesport quite a bit to find the people for each car. Dan’s food had arrived late, but he’d tucked in and we all piled into the car in good time. I passed all the other parked cars and turned around in a side road, pulling up behind a line of vehicles near the footpath to Great Douk. We all got dressed and I overheard that another caver needed medication at 3:30pm. I took it in my drum and thus resolved to bring my tackle sack with me. As I recounted to a fresher the fun times I had with Yichen, I saw everyone lining up for a group photo! I rushed over and soon found myself on Snowball’s shoulders, arms wide for the camera.
We then began to split up for the different caves, mine being led by John Holloway and Ane Appelt.
Our plan was Middle Washfold to Great Douk, then Sunset hole, then High Douk Holes. After passing the Great Douk entrance, we seemed to lose the path, going over quite uneven terrain! As a result, the walk felt far longer than it actually was. We came to a limestone pavement with a tree, right next to a dry stone wall. I was sure this wasn’t it, but John and Ane were looking around for the entrance nonetheless. In hindsight, I should really have piped up sooner. When I did, I waved in the general direction of Ingleborough; my recent solo caving down this cave had my memory of the exit fresh and I knew we needed to be closer. We moved on and found a stream flowing underground and whilst that hole wasn’t a familiar one, we found the true entrance only a few seconds away, the notable feature for me being a crack many people could pop theirs heads out like gophers.
The others all headed in until it was just me, Ane and a man named Farris. Farris was very uncertain about the flat out crawl spoken of in this cave. He crawled in but soon realised ’twasn’t his jam. Ane followed the rest of the group in, with me leading Farris back to Great Douk so we could do the non-crawling half. I handed Ane my bag in case the group spent a bit too long in the cave and the medication was needed. They didn’t, but I’m a worrier, sue me.
The way back was along a nice worn footpath and far quicker than the way to Washfold. On the way I described the nature of the entrance and, upon getting there, gave him the choice of climbing up the waterfall and crawling in through that little slot on the right. He chose the latter, so I started crawling to demonstrate. Half way through I realised that caves are dark and so tried turning my light on. Tried is the operative word because my HM70R decided not to. As I waited for Farris on the other side, I took off my helmet, unscrewed the light and pulled on the spring, replacing it soon after. My light worked well after that but I noted that tin foil would be necessary to keep it from happening again.
We set off walking and every now and then I gave a small talk on cave formation and straw formation, also giving a basic talk on not touching formations. Three times in one sentence, wow! Soon my wellies were full of water, Farris’ following suite not long after! At one point I stopped and told Farris to keep quiet. My intention was to show him how running water sometimes sounds like voices, especially in the echoey caves. This was thwarted by John, who was talking in the distance. We’d met the other group! We let them all pass, about to join on the end until Ane suggested she lead Farris further in. I said sure and joined the result of the ground on the way back, grabbing my tackle sack from Snowball.
Being at the back, I was unsure how the queues actually formed, but there were periods I was just waiting. we came eventually to the break in the roof, sunlight flooding in along with the grass, moss and bracken. Someone asked Ane for a picture of the sight and she was more than happy to oblige. Eventually it turned from a picture of the opening to a picture of all of us, of course with the wonderful view in frame. It took a while, as cave photography often does, but it was well worth it! We moved swiftly on and reached the entrance, another queue forming as people prepared to go down the waterfall. I suggested the crawl instead and Farris forged ahead!
On the outside, I finished off my trek bars, having had one already while in the cave. Snowball went about offering everyone sweets. As George inquired as to Great Douk Pot, I picked up some litter, stuffing it into my tackle sack. John explained how the Great Douk Pot was joined by a channel in the Great Douk System that we didn’t explore. The dig ended at a choke, unfortunately. We set off for Sunset, again not quite following a set path, instead largely going over large rush mounds. We joined a path somewhere in the middle, but left it soon after, walking past dozens of hikers on their way up Ingleborough. As we walked over the more rough terrain, I could feel my hip and knee acting up again, like when you play the piano and accidentally hit a chord with all the wrong notes. I kept it quiet, as it was nothing serious.
The others quickly headed into Sunset soon after we arrived, me near the rear once again. 3:30pm had well passed by this point, so I’m not sure why I opted to take the bag in. Newton’s first law, I guess. There was a lot more stooping but overall it was straightforward. I slid down the climbs as I met them, the waterfalls giving me a wet butt. We found however that the third climb wasn’t rigged! I’d led the freshers to it, telling them it was only a short walk (it wasn’t short. Well, it was, but in the context of how short the walk is from the third climb to the pitch, it is). John and I climbed down and stood at the bottom like frogs in a pond, gawking up at the human observers. We spent a few minutes there before climbing back up, having to help the freshers on the climbs up.
Outside Sunset I wanted to just lay on the grass forever. It’d been a long time since I’d done such a thing and I knew a nap in this grass would send me away for a good hour or two. Nonetheless, I was spirited away to High Douk Holes. John’s arguments towards me going and not sleeping being convincing.
It appeared a more awkward hole in the ground than the rest and John was able to point out the general area we’d leave, the cave taking – according to John – approximately ten minutes. It was straight on, for the most part, with low sections demanding we get nice and wet. At a point we saw sunlight and believed we were out, but it was something John had described before, a rock to climb over. We did so and slid back down, continuing onwards! More straightforward stuff and we were out and I looked up to see many of the freshers staring at me. I turned to see Snowball, welly in hand. Aimed at me. Oh dear. He got me on the arm and I clambered away as he got me again with his other well. I tried to seek revenge, but mine were empty!
On the journey back I was pleased I’d gone down all three and not napped, as I now knew High Douk Holes (though to be honest there wasn’t too much to know). I also grabbed two mushrooms, one I’ve now identified as a glorious Meadow Waxcap. I took it home and it’s still in my room! Not sure why, it’s not doing much.
