Bye George Pot
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Met Tom for a quickie through Bye George and out of Mistral. Started at the Ingleton chippy (once it opened) with chip butty, curry sauce and scraps for Si and Sausage (battered) and chips for Tom.
Drove to Leck Fell to be met with the most amazing views. It was the most clear evening and had been a really beautiful sunny day, and the west coast looked awesome.
We left the cars/vans at 6:40ish and headed off for Bye George. Neither of us had been through here before and there was much excitement when we almost walked straight to the entrance! Once down the entrance tube, the first pitch is easily reached and from here the rest Smasher passage and it’s excitement follows quickly. Tom was on uber form and led through the passage, bravely navigating the Backbreaker and subsequent passage first and then taking any tackle and other pap from me to make me feel brave.
Soon enough we arrived at the top of the Grand Cascade pitch, which is pretty awesome. We quickly descended and then head off down the canal (up to the nips – nice!). Once Leck Fell lane was reached we were in home territory and headed for the entrance to Mistral. A fine starry night was awaiting us on the surface, and the cars reached by 10:20pm after a git of a walk back up the fell.
The drive back was memorable as I accidentally purchased a 150g bag of large sized dairy milk buttons, ate them, and then felt really ill for the remainder of the journey. Why isn’t caving an olympic sport when it’s participants are clearly such well trained athletes?!?