tdobson
Member
For my mother's 73rd birthday, she told me she wanted to do a harder trip. Offers of Giants Round trip were ruled out, and we settled on the idea of a trip to Bagshawe Cavern.
Bagshawe Cavern is one of the longer caves in the Peak District, but a tourist trip there (as we have done *many* times) would not show you the very very less trodden corners.
Our goal was to pass the french connection - an unmarked connection on the survey, and find our way to the fixed up rope in Madame Guillotine. We spoke to EPC, who control access, and were advised that the Connection "was definitely sumped now", we set off anyway.
From the Hippodrome, up the Snakes Pyjamas, through the dug connection to Taylor's Way and up to Full Moon Chamber. There we paused to cool down and get our breath back, before following the conservation tape to admire The Great Aven before then returning to Moose's Revenge, down the slope, and descending its glory til we reached Finn's Pot.
Finn's Pot is graced with some ancient ceiling bolts on each side, and one traverse line later, everyone was complaining about crossing... until they'd got to the otherside, they proclaimed how much easier it was than they'd been expecting.
From Finn's Pot, I lead the way into the French Connection proper - feeling claustrophobic as I entered the downward sloping mud tunnel. After a while, I hit a puddle, and pushing onwards, I came to what looked like a sump.
Calling Nadia to watch (so she could pull my ankles if required), I lay on my back, and sung as I slid head first, face to the ceiling, into the muddy puddle.
# I'm walking in the air #
Airspace was never a problem, but pushing on the muddy bottom with my feet was slow going.
# I'm riding in the midnight blue #
After what felt like an age, the roof opened up into a hole... with enough room to turn around in it! I clambered and slithered and stressed and pulled myself into Wave of Apathy...
A look up spotted some scaffolding - a very positive sign.
I advised Nadia to suggest that my mum didn't follow through the duck - as it is not a place where one could easily support someone - and whilst the duck would probably have been within her reach - the scramble up to Wave of Apathy may have been very hard work.
Note: shortly above the water, once you escape the tube, is a hanging boulder that blocks the route to Wave of Apathy. This could do with hauling up the slope as it is loose and at risk of falling, hurting someone or probably blocking the exit in a very difficult to unblock way.
In the end only Nadia followed me through to Wave of Apathy, and up the scaffolding to Madame Guillotine where we admired the up rope, santa gnome, pristine gour pools, spacious area and solid scaffolding.
The vertical pitch at Madame Guillotine looks to be about 15-20m but it's hard to judge for sure. As we had no SRT kit, this was the point we turned around.
On the return journey, the descent from wave of Apathy into the duck was quite exciting - as we'd decided we wanted to again do it on our back (to keep our face out of the water) and head first (to allow for each propulsion). This mean launching down the muddy slope head first in a slide, with a quick flip onto ones back at the bottom. In the end, this turned out to be faster, slicker and funnier than had been expected, and almost made the nose to ceiling mudbath more enjoyable on the way back.
Soon me and Nadia were returning up the long, low, mud tube slog to Finn's Pot, feeling surprisingly tired - where we found the others waiting.
After zipping back across the pot, and up Moose's Revenge, we sped down Taylor's way, reaching the Snakes Pyjamas in no time and were soon back in the Hippodrome.
Everyone feeling thoroughly shattered, we headed back to the stairs for a long needed calf workout.
Happy Birthday to my mum! Hope this was an adequate present!
Photo: the mothership crosses Finn's Pot.
Bagshawe Cavern is one of the longer caves in the Peak District, but a tourist trip there (as we have done *many* times) would not show you the very very less trodden corners.
Our goal was to pass the french connection - an unmarked connection on the survey, and find our way to the fixed up rope in Madame Guillotine. We spoke to EPC, who control access, and were advised that the Connection "was definitely sumped now", we set off anyway.
From the Hippodrome, up the Snakes Pyjamas, through the dug connection to Taylor's Way and up to Full Moon Chamber. There we paused to cool down and get our breath back, before following the conservation tape to admire The Great Aven before then returning to Moose's Revenge, down the slope, and descending its glory til we reached Finn's Pot.
Finn's Pot is graced with some ancient ceiling bolts on each side, and one traverse line later, everyone was complaining about crossing... until they'd got to the otherside, they proclaimed how much easier it was than they'd been expecting.
From Finn's Pot, I lead the way into the French Connection proper - feeling claustrophobic as I entered the downward sloping mud tunnel. After a while, I hit a puddle, and pushing onwards, I came to what looked like a sump.
Calling Nadia to watch (so she could pull my ankles if required), I lay on my back, and sung as I slid head first, face to the ceiling, into the muddy puddle.
# I'm walking in the air #
Airspace was never a problem, but pushing on the muddy bottom with my feet was slow going.
# I'm riding in the midnight blue #
After what felt like an age, the roof opened up into a hole... with enough room to turn around in it! I clambered and slithered and stressed and pulled myself into Wave of Apathy...
A look up spotted some scaffolding - a very positive sign.
I advised Nadia to suggest that my mum didn't follow through the duck - as it is not a place where one could easily support someone - and whilst the duck would probably have been within her reach - the scramble up to Wave of Apathy may have been very hard work.
Note: shortly above the water, once you escape the tube, is a hanging boulder that blocks the route to Wave of Apathy. This could do with hauling up the slope as it is loose and at risk of falling, hurting someone or probably blocking the exit in a very difficult to unblock way.
In the end only Nadia followed me through to Wave of Apathy, and up the scaffolding to Madame Guillotine where we admired the up rope, santa gnome, pristine gour pools, spacious area and solid scaffolding.
The vertical pitch at Madame Guillotine looks to be about 15-20m but it's hard to judge for sure. As we had no SRT kit, this was the point we turned around.
On the return journey, the descent from wave of Apathy into the duck was quite exciting - as we'd decided we wanted to again do it on our back (to keep our face out of the water) and head first (to allow for each propulsion). This mean launching down the muddy slope head first in a slide, with a quick flip onto ones back at the bottom. In the end, this turned out to be faster, slicker and funnier than had been expected, and almost made the nose to ceiling mudbath more enjoyable on the way back.
Soon me and Nadia were returning up the long, low, mud tube slog to Finn's Pot, feeling surprisingly tired - where we found the others waiting.
After zipping back across the pot, and up Moose's Revenge, we sped down Taylor's way, reaching the Snakes Pyjamas in no time and were soon back in the Hippodrome.
Everyone feeling thoroughly shattered, we headed back to the stairs for a long needed calf workout.
Happy Birthday to my mum! Hope this was an adequate present!
Photo: the mothership crosses Finn's Pot.
