For all the non-divers who can't fit through the gours in Bull Pot of the Witches now's the time to see the short but interesting bit of cave upstream. The Trap has dried up and you can walk straight through.

How do I know this? Cos I just dragged two cylinders through it for no reason whatsoever!

Thanks for the notification.

I had figured that the sumps between the downstream end of upstream BPoW and the upstream end of the downstream section of the cave would be open after the prolonged dry spell we?ve had, so had planned to go there and check them out. Saturday (6/5) we set off down, via the two scrappy little pitches that take you to Long Gallery and then to the stream, where a bit of easy hands and knees crawling leads to the first sump. Sure enough, when we reached the first sump (am I right here; are there two sumps, or is it one with an air-bell?) it was totally dry, a phreatic tube about 1.2 m in diameter that dips a bit (as you would expect). After a few metres you come to the second sump (or second part of the only sump), but here there is a ~3 m slope to descend before you encounter another ~1.2 m diameter tube. Obviously the floor here can?t be solid rock ? unless there are tiny cracks and fissures that can only transmit a small amount of water ? I think that the downstream passage must be maybe 4 m tall, but crammed with rubble of one sort or another (see diagram below). On Saturday there was not quite enough water left to come over the top of one?s wellies.

Anyway, once through the sump(s) we continued to the upstream sump and out via the Gour Chamber, to complete an entertaining little round trip tha?ts only possible in dry weather (for mere mortals).

Here are some snaps:

The 'first sump' encountered:

BPoW 'first sump' encountered by John Forder, on Flickr

The second sump:

BPoW 'second sump' encountered' by John Forder, on Flickr

Schematic diagram:

BPoW Sumps schematic by John Forder, on Flickr

I see the last one has been truncated ? there should be a bit more on the right.

I did a round trip on my friend's first caving trip through those dried up sumps, going in via the gours. He is a good climber so found climbing up the pitches easier than I did.

It dries out like that after a couple of weeks. I don't believe it has rain for a month now.

Really nice photos Fulk - as ever, from your lens. 

Aye very nice photos

Thank you.

The two sumps you mention are effectively one. About halfway along the rope goes off and is tied off to a boulder. That usually has a small air pocket.  Sometimes, the first section is unroofed but usually its one sump from where the rope starts. There is often a low airspace duck just before it when coming from the long gallery.

P.S. For those looking at the rope in the pics, just to be clear that although we put that black SRT line in, its so we can haul on it when carrying crap using cylinders and its not a free dive.

In the current conditions one doesn't need to crawl along Long Gallery. Once below the pitches, instead of climbing into Long Gallery, drop straight down into the water, and go upstream. There is normally a sump, but this too drains to become an easy duck.