Beginners trips

[Mr Fell]

From thirty to forty, if a man lives right - it`s twice in the morning and twice at night

 

[LoneRanger]

Nice cave how far can you go beond the water fall ?

A good long way, see my trip report on this forum.

The original cave is 1km, but a good part of this is beyond the sump and the bit between the current opening in the middle of the field and the cliff seems to have been lost.

Most of the cave is before the sump. The bit between the cliff and the main entrance has not been lost, but the through trip has.

 

[andymorgan]

when you do it 4 or 5 times in a year
as we did in 03 you tend to not want to see it again for a loooong time!!!

.. you wouldn't want to be a professional caving leader then?.... 8-10 times in a week is more like the frequency of visits in popular caves on Mendip.

I'm a bit of a caving slag, I get bored of a cave after about 2 trips, and always like to find new ones to do!

 

[cap n chris]

... Aha, but I'm a subterranean tart; if you pay me, I'll do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't involve uphill caving.

 

[kay]

Most of the cave is before the sump. The bit between the cliff and the main entrance has not been lost, but the through trip has.

Where exactly is the entrance to that bit? We looked around the base of the cliff area but couldn't find it.

 

[LoneRanger]

Where exactly is the entrance to that bit? We looked around the base of the cliff area but couldn't find it.

just to the right of the left hand building.

 

[kay]

Where exactly is the entrance to that bit? We looked around the base of the cliff area but couldn't find it.

just to the right of the left hand building.

Hmm ... trying to remember the layout ...
We found fairly eaily, to the R of the LH building, the entrance to the rift cave which isn't Skirwith (NC: '14m N of rising at old car park is entrance into rift cave which terminates in a small chamber after 39m").
NC describes the Skirwith entrance as "above rising under small cliff is low bedding plane into rift passage. This emerges ito daylight at collapse above cliff ..." and we couldn't find a bedding plane entrance.

How easy was it to spot?

 

[LoneRanger]

How easy was it to spot?

Easy enough, and it did nicely fit the NC description.

Are you sure that the cave that you found was not Skirwith lower entrance? Did you go to the end?

The terminal chamber in the cave that I found was full of junk that could only have come directly from the surface and not through the cave. This makes me think it was definitely the right cave.

I've just looked in NC2 (1991) and can't find any mention of the the Rift cave that you reference. What page are you on? Have you got a different edition of NC2?

 

[kay]

Easy enough, and it did nicely fit the NC description.

Are you sure that the cave that you found was not Skirwith lower entrance? Did you go to the end?

Well, it's beginning to sound as if it must have been! I didn't go right to the end. What I remember is an obvious opening about 3 ft high immediately becoming a narrow sideways rift for a few yards which then turned sharply continuing as a narrow rift - I didn't go further as I hadn't caving gear with me - we were just entrance-spotting. Seeing the bit in NC meant that when we came back we didn't bother with it. Expecially as I wouldn't have described the entrance as a "low bedding plane".

I've just looked in NC2 (1991) and can't find any mention of the the Rift cave that you reference. What page are you on? Have you got a different edition of NC2?

1996 reprint of NC2 (1991). Page 229, the last sentence of the Skirwith Cave description. It may be that I'm reading it wrong, but it seemed to me that p228 "Entrance above rising under small cliff is a low bedding plane" and p229 "14m N of rising at old car park is entrance into rift cave which terminates in a small chamber after 39m" are describing two separate caves ... mind, I'm assuming that the flat area under the cliff where the buildings are is the same as the 'old car park' - that's where my mistake may be! In which case what I found would have been Skirwith and not this other mystery rift cave.

 

[LoneRanger]

I've just looked in NC2 (1991) and can't find any mention of the the Rift cave that you reference. What page are you on? Have you got a different edition of NC2?

1996 reprint of NC2 (1991). Page 229, the last sentence of the Skirwith Cave description. It may be that I'm reading it wrong, but it seemed to me that p228 "Entrance above rising under small cliff is a low bedding plane" and p229 "14m N of rising at old car park is entrance into rift cave which terminates in a small chamber after 39m" are describing two separate caves ... mind, I'm assuming that the flat area under the cliff where the buildings are is the same as the 'old car park' - that's where my mistake may be! In which case what I found would have been Skirwith and not this other mystery rift cave.

Yes, found it in my guide now. Thanks.

So, we need someone from this forum to mount a new expedition to find this mystery rift. There's 39m of caving to be had if it can be found.