Brief catch up with old caving friend Lionel

 I was in the office when I received a text from my old friend Lionel, saying that he was on his way to North Wales, with the Plymouth Caving Group. Was I around?

It was a Friday and I had already been wondering how I would organise all the things I wanted to do with my weekend. On Sunday, I would be running the Caernarfon half marathon. After that, I wanted to see Neil. On Saturday I wanted to see Kate, who I hadn't seen in a while. I also wanted to run the last lap with Jacko. That Saturday was his last day! And on top of that; the Ring O Fire race, a 210 km ultra doing the entire Anglesey coastal path, was in progress. Two of my friends were running: Louise, Lionel from the track, and Tony, who is in the Eryri Harriers. I had hurt Louise mention that if people come to support her it really helps, so I wanted to go in cheer them on at some point as well. Altogether I had a lot on! And I still wanted to take it so easy on Saturday that I would be rested for my race on Sunday.

Long story short: we decided to go for dinner on the Friday. They were staying at Ty Powdwr, the hut of the Karabiner mountaineering club, as is the default. And I drove down to pick him up. 

It was good to see him! The first thing he did was say that I hadn't changed a bit. But who was talking? He hadn't either!

Back in the days, and I am talking 2010-2013, we quickly developed into the duo that you would contact if you had a slightly irresponsible caving adventure in mind. We were up to all sorts! And had loads of fun. He was also instrumental in getting me to join the cave rescue team. And he's been back up in Wales several times since. Nowadays we are more likely to do an hill walk together. That's fine too! And there is no time for any of that stuff, we at least try to get a coffee together in. 

When we got to town it was still quite early, so we first went for a pint in the Heights. After that we went to Pete’s Eats; it has the same name as before, but everything else seems to have changed, and I wanted to know what it was like now. It is absolutely totally different! But the food was fine. 

We caught up about all the things that had changed in our lives, and those that had stayed the same, since the previous time we saw each other. He is quite busy with his house and all the grounds around it, and the animals. I told him about my kitchen project. And we talked about the recovery of our mutual friend Rick, who had had an unfortunate incident on his motorbike. And we talked about running, and mines we had and hadn't been to, and things like that. Enough to discuss!

When we were done I brought him back to the hut. I don't know when I'll see him again, but I am confident I will!

No underground trip

There was another ladies’ underground trip in the diary, on a Monday. Then things got complicated. There were two! One during the day, and another in the evening. I wasn’t sure why, but there was an Eryri Harriers committee meeting scheduled in the evening, so I was committed to the daytime. I took the day off. 

It was a hot day. And I was particularly non-heat-resistant. I had been careless in the mountains the day before, and got sunburnt. So I set off in long trousers and a long-sleeved shirt to keep my skin out of the sun. 

I drove to the Gwydyr Forest without issue. But when I got to the junction to the actual mine, I found a ‘road closed’ sign. Oh no! How to get to it then? I decided to drive on a bit, to get myself out of the way, and have a think. There was a parking lot nearby. And it turned out that everyone else had done the same. I parked up and joined the others (in the shade). 

Trouble!

We considered our options. Maybe we could drive around? That is quite the detour. And would complicate the planned pub lunch between the underground trips. Another option was to just go to a different mine, but that wasn't really popular either. The last option was to just suck it up and walk from the parking lot we were on. That was the most popular option, but not with me. I couldn't expose my skin to the sun yet, so I would have had to at least wear my furry suit. In that kind of weather. I did not fancy that at all.

In the end, the group stuck with that decision. And I decided to just go home. I had done that mine many times before! Never with this splendid group of ladies, but for me, the circumstances were just not right. And I had plenty to do at home. Better luck next time!

First general UCET trip

I had been underground with the UCET ladies quite many times now. I had never done a conventional trip, which is open to all. But that was set to change when there was a western trip for everyone. It is a mine I like, and I thought it would be nice to show my face to the men of the club as well.

I showed up to a somewhat midge-infested meeting place. It was not a big trip; only eight of us would be there. And when we had all got kitted up we were keen to get in, leaving the midges behind.

The plan had been to split into two groups. There was a pitch down and, a bit further along, a pitch up. I was happy to be on the group that went up, with Gw.yneth, whom I know, and two of the blokes: Oggy and Greg. Never having been on a standard club trip I obviously didn't know them yet. And after going up we could later swap around and go down the other pitch.

It's a nice little pitch, and there is a bit of a level to explore when you get up it. Of our little group, I was the only one who had done it before. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it! And then we went down. Oggy went first. Me second. But then something unfortunate happened. I accidentally nudged a stemple with my shoulder. And  dislodged it.

Greg coming up 

Greg and Gwyneth on a traverse

You always try to leave a mine as you found it! It is industrial heritage, after all. I had a good go at wedging it back in, but I just couldn't make it work. And I was scared that if I would manage, it wouldn't be very secure, and it would come down a next time. Maybe with someone underneath it. I decided I had to send it down now, as I could control if there would be anyone underneath. I shouted really loud at Oggy to get out of the way, and then I dropped it down the pitch. I felt really bad about that. But I would have felt worse if later down the line, someone would have got hurt.

When we were all down, we had a look what the others were up to. It didn't look like they were imminently coming up, so we headed further into the level. We got to a beautiful stope with a lovely ladder in it. From there you can keep going, but it is quite wet. Nobody seemed to fancy it! So after some dawdling we went back. By then, the others were coming up. There had been a bit of a kit mishap and they hadn't got down all the way to the bottom.

Gwyneth in a high stope

Two ladies who had come up were keen on going even further up, so they headed for the pitch we had just vacated. Mary figured she had done enough SRT. Greg and Oggy went down. I wasn't all too. bothered about it; I had been there many times, and if people wanted to get out I didn't want to keep them. And when everyone had seen what they wanted to see we indeed went out again.

Outside we took a group picture, and then we went back to the cars. The midges and mosquitoes had beaten us to it! We thought they had been out in force before we went in. We hadn't seen nothing yet. I changed back into my civilian kit, and decided to then say goodbye and leave. The others were going to the pub afterwards, but their choice of pub was in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go, so I left them to it. 

Group picture

It had been a modest trip! But quite enjoyable. Very successful as my first trip with the general UCET crew! 

Shuttleworth

I woke up old-fashionedly early. I sort of have that habit. Also when I am in a YSS caving hut in the Dales. Gwyneth is the same. When I got up I found her in the living room. I had my breakfast there, and a nice chat. And I went to get my stuff ready for today's trip: Shuttleworth. I didn't know the place. I know it only takes two ropes to get in.

In dribs and drabs, the other ladies appeared. And after a while, we all made our way back to Cowan Bridge, and from there to the same parking place we had been the day before. And I thought I'd just get kitted up as the day before. I did not! Looking at my bucket I realised I had left my furry suit in the hut. Stupid! But I had been a bit warm the day before, so I could clearly wear less, if it was a vaguely comparable trip. I decided I would just wear my regular clothes underneath my oversuit and that would have to do. But the other ladies weren't having that. Gwyneth offered me mountain biking leggings, and Ellie a thermal top. That was kind! 

It was a longer walk to the entrance, but still not cumbersomely long. The entrance looked a bit like a raised covered manhole. Open the cover and you see a tube with a ladder in it. At the bottom of the tube a hole was cut in its side. 

Ellie would go in first. There was a bit of faffing. The hole in the side didn’t lead to a level, but to a pitch. There was no floor outside that hole. It seemed a bit difficult to rig. 

It was one thing to rig it, and apparently another to go down it. It took people forever to vanish out of sight! And there was a cold wind blowing. I was missing my furry suit. But the other ladies, who were wearing what they had intended to wear, were cold too.

When I could finally go in I was at least out of the wind. But progress was slow. But the cave is quite narrow in its upper reaches, so I had no idea why. That's frustrating! If you can see what's going on, you can emphasise with it, but if you have no idea what's going on, the only thing you can do is be bored.

After that first short pitch there was a short traverse to a short pitch through a narrow gap down onto a ledge with a bit of a sideways pitch to a next shelf. Progress was so slow! As I was just waiting I didn’t get warm. After that shelf there seemed to be a long pitch, but even that took forever. Once Gwyneth, who was the one in front of me, was on it, I could see it had yet another rebelay. But after that, it was straight down. 

The pitch in the narrow gap

The final pitch(es)

That brought us into a rather large chamber. And in there, we crawled to a different part of the chamber, which has nice dripstone information. That is what we had come for! We walked around, admiring the scenery, and taking lots of pictures. That is; the others did, as we had decided to leave our bags behind by the crawl, and that is where I had my phone. So all the pictures were taken by those who had kept these on them.

Beautiful curtain 

Group pic

Looking at drippies

It was nice but for me, it hadn't been worth the long cold wait and the being home late. But that's the thing about caving; sometimes you're committed! So at least I was warm now, as the crawling warmed me up, and I just enjoyed the views and the company.

When we had seen it all we went back to our bags. Sharon suggested the snack break. But I was conscious of time. I hoped to have a little bit of evening at home! And I know the cat would be getting impatient. So I suggested I start making my way up. That was accepted. Sharon would come after me, helping Mary up. And then the rest would follow.

I thought I'd wait at the top of the little traverse, but they took quite a while. Before Sharon had reached me I decided to go all the way out. The first thing I wanted to do is check that no prankster would have closed the cover of the cave, locking us in. Probably not! But you never know. And the second thing was; one of the things I wanted to do at home was phone my mom. But I could just as well do it right here. As long as I was outside.

I got out, found a sheltered spot, and phoned my mum. That was nice. I also tried to phone Neil but he didn't answer. And by that time I could hear Sharon behind me. She suggested I come back into the tube, in order to shelter more efficiently from the wind. I did that. And together we helped Mary out. 

Out! 

Mary turned out to have all the car keys on her. They gave them to me and sent me ahead. So I could change back into my civilian gear and have a leak. And not much later, the others started to appear. This was the end of our trip! But it was already 5 pm, and it is almost a three hour drive.

We said our goodbyes and headed back to Wales. It had been a great weekend! I had really enjoyed the Lost John’s trip, and going for a meal afterwards. But now it was time to get back to the little cat! I am sure we will do things like this more often. 

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

Ladies’ trip to Cwmorthin

I saw on WhatsApp that the lady who organises the female-only underground trips wanted to go into Cwmorthin on the first Monday of the Christmas break. That sounded good! I only later realised that was the day before I would travel to the Netherlands. But that’s ok! 

We met for breakfast at the lakeside cafe. I had already had first breakfast; we met at 9:30, and that is too late for me to break my fast. But a second breakfast would conveniently fill me up so I would manage the trip without getting hungry five meters from the entrance. And it was good to see the ladies! There were seven of us. Sharon would lead it. She sometimes works for Miles, leading trips, so she knew what she was doing, whatever we would choose. 

We had all been told to bring tandem pulleys, so ziplines were in order. Plenty of those down there! And we chose the route of one of the commercial trips. I had tried that when it was new. We started with the steps followed by the catwalk. Then we went down the incline, and to the corkscrew. I hadn’t done that in years! 

Catwalk 

Corkscrew

After the corkscrew we hit the remains of a bridge that now functioned as a balance beam with a safety line. And then we got to the first zipline. A big one! And it was at a funny angle so you had to get onto it from what was known as the diving board; a beam sticking out into the void. It felt very exposed. 

Beam

When I pushed off I rather hesitantly started trundling towards the other side. I got about halfway. I had to grab the wire and pull myself along. That was ok; I made it to the other side. Everybody else just zipped across. 

At the next zipline, there was space to take a run-up. I did that! It didn’t help. It was starting to become clear my pulley is a bit stiff. But that’s ok. I can pull myself across on the wire. And I am at no risk whatsoever to go too fast and crash into something on the other side. 

Zipping

There is one zipline on that route that is known for being slow. It has a rope rigged next to it for pulling yourself in. But I only got halfway! I couldn’t reach the rope from there. Someone managed to flick it, though, and then I could pull myself across. 

We also came across a commercial group. We let them pass. It was actually quite fun to see them zip along. And Sharon knew the trip leaders. 

After the last zipline we were almost back at the incline. We tried to do a group picture by the cart. Sharon took it with a tripod, her phone on timer, and a torch. The first time she hurried over to our side and fell down a hole. The second time she obscured me. Third time was lucky! And then we headed back up and out. 

The group pic with Sharon (far left) vanishing into a hole

It had been a lovely trip! Even with my slow pulley. I think the others had a bit more of the intended experience. But that’s ok! I am hardly a speed freak. And it was nice to see all the ladies. But I didn’t go to the pub with them. I had to go home, pack for my trip, feed Chris’ cat, and spend a last evening with my own! 

Additional group pic (with Sharon) by the entrance

Ladies’ trip into lead mine

The ladies were coming to the west again! I had skipped the previous trip, as the venue was something like a 1:20hr drive to the east. That just wasn’t feasible on a week night. But now we would do a mine in the Gwydir Forest! That’s not far. And I like that mine. 

It would be a big tight; we would meet at 18:30, and I would be teaching until 18:00. But I know the place; I could rock up a bit later, and get to the entrance on my own. I was sure I would find them. But my lecture was done a bit before 18:00, and there was no problem with traffic, so I actually rocked up pretty much 18:30 on the dot. The ladies were still there! And I quickly changed. 

We walked up the hill to the entrance all together, and got in. Some ladies hadn’t been here before. And those who had been, hadn’t necessarily seen it all. And even if you’ve seen it all, it’s nice to see it again! So from the entrance chamber we all had a lovely time. 

We first explored the level we had come in on. Plenty to see! It’s a very diverse mine, where you never know what will be around the corner. And it’s full of drippies in all sorts of colours. 

We then shimmied up to a higher level. That was nice too! And then back. Sharon had belayed those that wanted that up and down the vertical passage, and before coming down herself she threw the rope bag down. It sounded like a human crashing down! Several hearts almost stopped. Luckily it wasn’t a human. 

Then we went back out. I was home by about 10:30. It had been a lovely trip! 

Near the entrance

Big chamber

Scurrying down the vertical passage 

Group pic

Another underground trip with the UCET ladies

I forgot to blog about this! And that means that this post comes a bit out of sequence. This took place on the Monday before the wild camping.

There was another evening trip on with the ladies, and it wasn't far from me! It was a venue I had visited several times before, including with the Yorkies, but I really enjoyed the company of the ladies, so I was keen to join, even though I knew I would probably not see anything new. The venue is not very extensive.

I just walked to the meeting place. And from there we walked to the entrance. Because the venue was not very extensive, I didn't think I needed to bring much. I just had a water bottle in my pocket. I decided to leave my bag, which I had used for bringing my helmet and warmer clothes, as I would need these underground but not on the walk there, by the entrance, as stomping around underground tends to be nicer without lugging luggage around. 

We went in. It is quite a walk to get to where the artefacts and features are. Occasionally we stopped for pictures. And several of the ladies had never been here before. It was lovely be able to introduce this place to them. And I wasn't leading this trip; a lady called Karen was, but it is nice if you know that there are good things there, and you can share that with friends.

Adit

Pretty geology 

More tunnel

Artefacts!

L

Ladder in flooded winze 

Group pic by Sharon

I had expected we would come out the way we had come in, hence that I had left my bag. But then the idea was floated to come out the other way. There are disadvantages associated that, but we decided to just accept them. It is nice to see different things on the way in and out. In this way we had a considerable surface walk back to the cars, but that is ok.

There was talk of going for a swift half. And we did! And that meant I peeled off; if I wanted to get out of my soaking and muddy footwear and become presentable for a pub visit, I needed to go home to change. The other ladies changed by their cars. And we did have a nice swift half in the village pub. Several of the ladies still had quite a drive home, so we did not stay long.

I don't know when or where the next trip with the ladies will be. I hope I will be able to make it. I am enjoying this crew!