County pot - first srt trip
So the day started with apologising to room mates for waking through the night, as I was up most the night to and from the loo (drinking in the marton arms the night before probably wasn't the best idea). Once we was ready to get out and about we headed over to inglesport for a breakfast with mark and Jess.. full with breakfast we made a move and was soon parked up and getting our kit on at bull pot farm. Heading up through the moors following markers for the pathway we soon arrived at the entrance. We sat for 5 minutes then got our srt kits on, liz was worried about caving in her brand new srt kit as she didn't want to get it dirty or scratched
. We was soon making our way down into the shaft, into the small winding passages before we got to our first pitch. Mark rigged the pitch and down went liz, well not with ease, after being nervous being her first ever pitch in a cave she did her checks and took her lock off, and... nothing, no movement at all, being an older rope and new decender combined with liz being so small and light she couldn't get going. Eventually she reached the bottom which then was my turn to take the rope. In went my cows tails as I made my way to the head of the pitch. I threaded my descender and down I went, I'd done my first pitch in a cave which was a good moment. Jess descended and we were back on our way.
Carrying on down passages we soon came to 'the spout' despite being told we were doing a dry cave, we climbed down into the water with our wellies soon filling up. Next up was poetic justice, mark flew up there, liz gave it a shot but didn't have the reach to get up... Mark made it look so easy I thought I'd do it with ease. Couldn't have been more wrong, my first attempt was a fail, sliding down sideways whilst half way up. This didn't put me off, it gave me more determination, and with plenty of effort I climbed to the top, where I sat and got my breath back whilst waiting for liz and Jess to get up using the rope. Into a short crawl we was soon at our second pitch, mark went ahead and rigged the pitch.. liz was called up and got ready to make her descend, this time having marks 8kg camera box attached he'd to her.. yep she still didn't go anywhere. After a short wait I was soon at the bottom and we were on our way. We was soon crawling through shallow waters entering pierces passage, climbing up and down the canyons. Soon passing wretched rabbit and into eureka junction, this was where we turned around and made our way back... on the way back mark got his camera out ready to take pictures, and wow was they worth it.. after ascending up both pitches (liz for this easier than descending) we started making our way out, me and liz carried on as mark and Jess de-rigged. Liz was in front as we made our way up the climb for the exit, but again as she's so small she couldn't lift the lid so I had to make my way past to let us out... we sat and gathered our thoughts whilst waiting for mark and Jess to appear. Once they were out we headed back for the vans back at bull pot farm... wanting to help I offered to carry a bag. Choosing the bag with the wet rope wasn't my brightest idea as it was heavy. But it's all part of the fun and that it was, getting back to the vans we got changed and headed back to the yss where we was joined by mark and Chloe. We finished the day off with a curry and good bit of socialising. Like all trips I've been on i sure did enjoy this and being my first ever srt trip it was like no other I've done. I was thirsty for tomorrow's adventure.
So the day started with apologising to room mates for waking through the night, as I was up most the night to and from the loo (drinking in the marton arms the night before probably wasn't the best idea). Once we was ready to get out and about we headed over to inglesport for a breakfast with mark and Jess.. full with breakfast we made a move and was soon parked up and getting our kit on at bull pot farm. Heading up through the moors following markers for the pathway we soon arrived at the entrance. We sat for 5 minutes then got our srt kits on, liz was worried about caving in her brand new srt kit as she didn't want to get it dirty or scratched
. We was soon making our way down into the shaft, into the small winding passages before we got to our first pitch. Mark rigged the pitch and down went liz, well not with ease, after being nervous being her first ever pitch in a cave she did her checks and took her lock off, and... nothing, no movement at all, being an older rope and new decender combined with liz being so small and light she couldn't get going. Eventually she reached the bottom which then was my turn to take the rope. In went my cows tails as I made my way to the head of the pitch. I threaded my descender and down I went, I'd done my first pitch in a cave which was a good moment. Jess descended and we were back on our way.Carrying on down passages we soon came to 'the spout' despite being told we were doing a dry cave, we climbed down into the water with our wellies soon filling up. Next up was poetic justice, mark flew up there, liz gave it a shot but didn't have the reach to get up... Mark made it look so easy I thought I'd do it with ease. Couldn't have been more wrong, my first attempt was a fail, sliding down sideways whilst half way up. This didn't put me off, it gave me more determination, and with plenty of effort I climbed to the top, where I sat and got my breath back whilst waiting for liz and Jess to get up using the rope. Into a short crawl we was soon at our second pitch, mark went ahead and rigged the pitch.. liz was called up and got ready to make her descend, this time having marks 8kg camera box attached he'd to her.. yep she still didn't go anywhere. After a short wait I was soon at the bottom and we were on our way. We was soon crawling through shallow waters entering pierces passage, climbing up and down the canyons. Soon passing wretched rabbit and into eureka junction, this was where we turned around and made our way back... on the way back mark got his camera out ready to take pictures, and wow was they worth it.. after ascending up both pitches (liz for this easier than descending) we started making our way out, me and liz carried on as mark and Jess de-rigged. Liz was in front as we made our way up the climb for the exit, but again as she's so small she couldn't lift the lid so I had to make my way past to let us out... we sat and gathered our thoughts whilst waiting for mark and Jess to appear. Once they were out we headed back for the vans back at bull pot farm... wanting to help I offered to carry a bag. Choosing the bag with the wet rope wasn't my brightest idea as it was heavy. But it's all part of the fun and that it was, getting back to the vans we got changed and headed back to the yss where we was joined by mark and Chloe. We finished the day off with a curry and good bit of socialising. Like all trips I've been on i sure did enjoy this and being my first ever srt trip it was like no other I've done. I was thirsty for tomorrow's adventure.
