Lost John’s with the UCET ladies

The underground ladies had organised another caving weekend. The previous one had been really lovely, so I was keen to go again. This one would be in Yorkshire. I wasn't very picky about where to go. I hadn't done much in the Yorkshire dales. 

I had decided to drive up on the Saturday morning. Then I could do the whole day of Saturday caving, and whatever it would be we would do on Sunday morning, and then drive home. That would be maximum caving for a minimum number of nights away from the cat. 

If I drove straight to the venue. It would be an early start! So what venue? And it turned out that the group would split two. One trip would be Lost John’s cave. That was one of the very few I already had done, back in the days with the YCC. The other one was Sunset Hole; I had to look that up. It looked a bit unchallenging. So in spite of having done it before, I decided to go for Lost John’s. 

With our little group of four we had we decided to meet in Cowan Bridge, and then car share to the actual cave. So I got up at 5:45, left about 6:20, and was in the village about 10 minutes before the agreed time. Travel has been flawless! But by that time, a great time had moved up half an hour, for reasons of the ladies already having spent the night in Yorkshire not quite managing the original time. That was OK; I bought my Saturday Guardian in the village shop, and just sat in the car reading it, and doing some more eating and drinking. It's always good to be well-fuelled when you go underground. The less you have to carry with you, the better it is!

Soon, Ellie and Gwyneth appeared. Liz would also be coming. I had caved with all of them before. At least, that’s what I thought. Gwyneth and Ellie asked if Liz was there already, and they said they didn't know what she looks like. I was really surprised! But it turned out we had two ladies called Liz on this weekend, and the one who would be coming with us was a new one. And there she was. Liz and I jumped into one car, and then we drove to where we would park. It was in the middle of the Dales. Beautiful!

Where it started

Lost John's rigging guide

 

We got kitted up, and walked the very short distance to the entrance. And then it began! We walked into an active streamway. And after not much time, that streamway changed into a rift. A rift! Ever since having been in my first one I've hated them. It's something with depending for your life on balance and friction. But I've done them before and I can do them again. This one was, as rifts go, not a bad one. But I was glad to get to the other side of it.

The entrance. Pic by Ellie 

The rift

Then followed the first pitch. Not a very long one. Ellie and Liz were happy to rig it. Gwyneth and I were quite happy not to. All went smoothly. And then we got to some short drops. That required a bit of spotting each other. And then we got to two more pitches in short succession. And more level and more scrambles and then some more ropework that was a bit more convoluted. Gwyneth managed to do some impressive knitting which required her to do the splits in mid-air to get out of that. She managed it! And a bit later I saw my nemesis in front of me. Another rift! This one was a lot less straightforward. It was also rigged, for that reason. But even when rigged I didn't like it. Liz was already out of sight. Ellie was still within shouting distance. 

Me coming down the main pitch. Pic by Ellie

Slightly more convoluted pitch. Pic by Ellie

I started to make my way into it. But I knew that if I committed, I would have to do it twice! And also do the one near the entrance. Plus all the other things to deal with. I gave it some thought. I knew that I could do it; after all, there was a rope. But I decided I preferred not to. There is a limit as to how much adrenaline I want to produce in a day! And we also needed to be out on time for our booked pub dinner that night. And I suggested to Ellie I bail and just wait for the others. 

Gwyneth doesn't like rifts either. And she said that she feared her headlight was running out of battery power. So she decided that if I would bail, she would bail. And we decided to bail together. We would start making our way back, but not go all the way out; we would help the others carry all the ropes out. So we wished them a lot of fun; they were heading all the way to the bottom of the cave. And we headed back to where Gwyneth had left her little bag behind. That was where she had her spare battery. And we could have a snack and a drink while we were at it. 

We were sitting down by a gaping hole in the floor. I warned Gwyneth that she should hold on to her stuff. Anything that would slide down into that hole would never be seen again! And she heeded that. But when we were done, and got ready to move on again, I wondered where my left glove was. Surprise surprise, I had let it fall into the hole! So that was lost. Oh well. 

Together we managed to sort out the scrambles. Some of them don't have much to put your foot on, but together we were fine. Gwyneth sometimes appreciates a Hand of God! 

We went to the top of the two pitches in close succession. The first was quite long. Quite a workout!  I went up first, and then waited for Gwyneth. It was a workout for her too. I decided to sing a song for her. Maybe that would keep her entertained on the boring way up! And I can't sing, but acoustics in a cavern like that is so good you can't really tell. I ended up singing three Tori Amos songs. She didn’t complain. 

We went up other pitch and waited for the other ladies. We had enough to talk about! And they were so fast, it didn't take them long. In hindsight we probably should have waited one pitch lower. I could have hauled up their bags! But I hadn't thought of that. At least I could haul up their bags on the second pitch. And then take one of them to get back to the entrance.

It wasn't far now. The only thing of note was then the rift. I let one of the fast ladies go first. But negotiating it was not an issue. And then we were outside again!

Me in the rift. Pic by Ellie

We changed, got my car back, and went to the YSS hut. I needed to find myself a place to sleep. It turned out that Liz was in a room with no one else, so I joined her, until I realised she had been quarantined for reasons of having a noisy cough. I didn't like that very much! So I just joined all the others. That would be not quite ideal, but better than being coughed awake all night. 

I also had a shower and a cup of tea, and then we were ready to go to the pub. The food was nice and the company was great, so that was fantastic. And when we got back I went to bed quite early. A long but successful day!

Well-earned pub meal