Brown Hill Pot
Sunday, 27 January 2008
Met up with Tom and Hodge at 9.55am on Saturday morning in Ingleton. This outrageously early start was due to me having to back in Leeds and clean for a posh meal at 7pm, surely no chance of me being late for that!
We all had uber efficient breakfasting (Tom notably switched into diet mode with Chilli and Chips beating the usual Sausage, Egg and Chips!) before heading off to Kingsdale.
A quick change, sorting of rope and walk up the hill saw us get to Floyds entrance by 11.45ish. We quickly entered the cave and got to the traverse bit where I usually grovel along the wet cobbly floor passage. This I did again whilst Tom and Hodge patiently walked in the passage behind me.
Soon we reach the first pitch, where we kitted up and descended with ease. Onwards to the chamber with waterfall that I can’t quite remember the name of, before heading through the rift to Puits Ian Plant (via the usual exciting route selection).
After descending the split pitch we continued to the final pitch and the sump, where 2/3 of the party celebrated with a piss. Without further ado we headed out with good speed (stopping briefly for a chat with Martin and John from the Craven and Mike and Sam Allshorn at the first pitch). Got to the surface by 4ish in time for getting changed and arriving back in Leeds in perfect time. Who’d have thought it!?
Cracking trip – sorry for being a little late in the morning guys!
Oh and Noah I stood up through the rift on the way out!
Comments
Whilst the above was taking place, Sam Allshorn, dan and myself went to find and re-open the original entrance, which has been blocked for quite a few years.
Around an hour or so of digging saw us down to the sheet of wire covering the entrance and stopping most of the soil, turf, sheep carcasses, mugs etc from falling down the first pitch. This was carefully
lifted out of the way, and a bit of work done stabilising the top with rocks, and clearing debris off ledges below the entrance.
I then descended the narrow and free-climbable velcro pot to have a look at the nasty blockage we were expecting to find at the bottom. Thankfully, only a small amount of shingle and a few small rocks
had to be removed from the entry to the flat-out le boyau crawl. There isn’t a lot of room at the bottom, but inserting oneself into the crawl wasn’t as awkward as I was expecting from the description.
The first few metres of the crawl needed some of the shingle shifting out of the way and is very low, through pools of water. It then improves slightly and after around 30m, a small chamber is reached. A short squeeze and crawl over holes in the floor leads to a narrow rift. Progress is then made at the top of the rift in a washed out shale bed.
Soon enough, a ~4m climb down is reached, and an awkward narrow section over loose rocks brings one out headfirst over the top of a pitch. This is the second pitch of Floyds. It is possible here (and best) to climb up to the large ledge at the bottom of the first pitch and rig off the p-hangers.
Met si here and after a quick chat Sam Allshorn and myself returned to the entrance, removing some old wire as we went. Returned to the cars via Yordas, where a few seconds were spent under the chapter house waterfall to wash off. Rather effective!
The original entrance provides a fine, slightly harder alternative to Floyds!
Mike Bottomley
Sunday, 27 January 2008