Digging close to Yordas Pot

[Dalton]

We have been a few weekends going to the Ingleton area from Glasgow and visiting some of the caves with our three children. Last weekend, we digged close to the Yordas Pot and we found a small opening. There was cold air coming out from it. The next day we kept digging and we removed a medium size rock that was collapsing the entrance. Now the pot is accessible though quite narrow. Theres a slight ramp of approx. 6m long and apparently it turns right but we haven't managed to pass through the turn yet as we were going back to Glasgow the same day and we had to go. It is the start of a meander, with no danger of falling loose rocks.
We went to Inglesport to purchase rope and a few other things to remove the rock blocking the access and we spoke with the owner, who advised us to post the digging here. We're sorry for not asking his name, but from here we want to thank him for the information and friendly service we received.
We are Spanish, but we are living in Glasgow. We have a lot of experience digging pots around Catalonia area and we would like to continue our digging in the next weeks.

 

[Ian Ball]

That looks promising! good luck.

 

[cap n chris]

Ref No.24 of the OLD1004553 for the Whernside SSSI may have relevance here.

 

[Fulk]

!Buena suerte!

 

[Steve Clark]

There are also two collapse areas almost directly on the path between your hole and Yordas Top Entrance. The one lower down the fell looks older and has sealed with mud. The one a bit further up is directly on the path and it looked pretty fresh when I first noticed it about 2 months ago. Round hole, 5-6ft in diameter and had dropped down about 2ft. You could see some undermining in the direction of Yordas heading north-east. All in the top soil.

 

[alanw]

Are these photos of the areas you are referring to? Taken in July 2020

 

[s_allshorn]

Dalton have a look at https://northerncaves.co.uk/cavemap/ what you might be working on could be Sloping Cave.
This it what it looked like when I visited. Not sure why the photos aren't on the website (need to look into that). A copy of the book can be purchased from Inglesport or Starless River, but the book doesn't have all the entrance photos. It was found to be 18m long and 6m deep in 1972 by BSA and HWCPC.

 

[Pitlamp]

Great to see folk interested in digging Dalton! Just checking; you did leave the hole securely covered didn't you, so there's no chance of farm animals falling down? Just saying, as the farmer is a good bloke and we'd not want anything accidentally souring relations with cavers.

 

[andrewmcleod]

Ref No.24 of the OLD1004553 for the Whernside SSSI may have relevance here.

This rather cryptic (and not terribly useful response) is because the dig/cave location is in the Whernside SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest):

SSSI detail

designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk

This means that as well as landowner permission to dig, the landowner also needs consent from Natural England (a government body) to carry out what used to be called 'potentially damaging operations'. Namely, in the list of 'Operations requiring Natural England's Consent', number 24 is:

"Modification of natural or man-made features (including cave entrances), clearance of boulders, large stones, loose rock or scree and battering, buttressing or grading rock-faces, infilling of pits and quarries, modification of cave shakeholes or other natural depressions."

Fortunately the CNCC has very helpful people, and this guide to digging on an SSSI:

Digging Guidelines: How to get permissoin to dig on a SSSI

If you want to dig a cave entrance you should follow these guidelines.

cncc.org.uk

 

[Dalton]

Great to see folk interested in digging Dalton! Just checking; you did leave the hole securely covered didn't you, so there's no chance of farm animals falling down? Just saying, as the farmer is a good bloke and we'd not want anything accidentally souring relations with cavers.

We didn't cover the hole because we didn't know it. However, there's no risk of falling. The access is a sloping depression and the hole we opened is very narrow, with no risk of falling. However, we will keep it in mind for the next time we go there, thanks for your advise.

 

[Dalton]

This rather cryptic (and not terribly useful response) is because the dig/cave location is in the Whernside SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest):

SSSI detail

designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk

This means that as well as landowner permission to dig, the landowner also needs consent from Natural England (a government body) to carry out what used to be called 'potentially damaging operations'. Namely, in the list of 'Operations requiring Natural England's Consent', number 24 is:

"Modification of natural or man-made features (including cave entrances), clearance of boulders, large stones, loose rock or scree and battering, buttressing or grading rock-faces, infilling of pits and quarries, modification of cave shakeholes or other natural depressions."

Fortunately the CNCC has very helpful people, and this guide to digging on an SSSI:

Digging Guidelines: How to get permissoin to dig on a SSSI

If you want to dig a cave entrance you should follow these guidelines.

cncc.org.uk

Thanks for the information, we will have a look at the steps we need to follow as we didn't know it when we opened the hole. Thank you very much!

 

[Dalton]

Dalton have a look at https://northerncaves.co.uk/cavemap/ what you might be working on could be Sloping Cave.
This it what it looked like when I visited. Not sure why the photos aren't on the website (need to look into that). A copy of the book can be purchased from Inglesport or Starless River, but the book doesn't have all the entrance photos. It was found to be 18m long and 6m deep in 1972 by BSA and HWCPC.
View attachment 13135

We went with no GPS, but it might be. If we manage to keep digging, we will see if the description of the Sloping Cave is the same as this hole. With the picture is difficult to say, as none of the plants at the middle / right of your picture were there. If it is the Sloping Cave, it was completely blocked. I have attached another picture before we opened it, where I just removed a few small rocks and some earth (as you can see at the left of the picture) and I was checking the amount of cold air coming out from it.

 

[Pitlamp]

Great to see the youngsters involved!

 

[Ian Ball]

This is quite exciting

 

[topcat]

Great to see the youngsters involved!

useful probe

 

[Dalton]

There are a few things I would like to comment and ask:

1 - Does anyone know who is the owner of the land where we are looking to explore? Or how can we find him / where should we ask?

2 - We are interested in joining a caving group, focused mainly in digging. My English is not great, and my wife helps me writing this, but I've been most of my life digging and exploring cavities and as we are living in the UK, we are planning to move to North Yorkshire and I would love to keep digging in this area.

3 - My name is Alex Serrano. Dalton is the nickname my brothers and I are known within the caving world due to our discoveries in Catalonia. My brothers and I (The Dalton) founded our own caving group (nowadays we still keep its Facebook but the group is pretty much dissolved as I am living in the UK). I would like to share some of my diggings for you to know me better, with the intention to join a caving group and help digging in the Yorkshire Dales:

http://espeleobloc.blogspot.com/2014/08/avenc-de-la-pleta-sitges.html

http://espeleobloc.blogspot.com/2013/03/record-de-fondaria-al-garraf-esquerra.html

http://espeleobloc.blogspot.com/2010/03/ses-del-ger.html?view=flipcard

https://docplayer.es/45198121-A-l-avenc-de-l-esquerra.html

https://www.espeleoindex.com/crearPDF.php?id=1495

http://espeleoume.blogspot.com/2010/04/iii-jornades-despeleologia-del-garraf.html

https://www.facebook.com/S.E.SdelGer

The links are in Catalan, but the images give an idea of the diggings.

Any comments will be much appreciated, as I am really looking forward to start digging in the Yorkshire Dales! 🙃

 

[Badlad]

Hey Dalton. Come join us. Digging in the Dales twice a week - western side. You can see a few of our efforts if you look at the links below. Contact me by PM to swop details if interested.

Mayday Hole - New SRT trip in the Dales

A recent extension has turned this ?collectors only? pothole into a great little all-weather SRT trip. I?m hoping to write up the story of exploration blog style as time allows so here is the first instalment. Mayday Hole is located on Dowlass Moss, Ingleborough. Its small streams are thought...

ukcaving.com

Fing Hopeless Pot - diggers rewarded

We wanted to tell the story of our latest dig, Fing Hopeless Pot. Much in the way we related our discoveries in May Day Hole earlier in the year. It is an ongoing project so please, please respect our openness and leave it to us for now. So why Fing Hopeless? Well I am of course being polite...

ukcaving.com

Worth noting that we're not normally this successful

 

[Badlad]

Just to let forum watchers know that we met up with Dalton and his family yesterday and took him digging. We hope to see more of them in the future. See here - https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?threads/five-ways-pot-dowlass-moss-ingleborough.28023/

Also, for those like Cap n Chris who are concerned about digging activities on SSSI's etc, Dalton has been in touch with both the landowner and Natural England about a dig near Yordas.

 

[braveduck]

You might like to mention to them that the Winch is running at GG next week ,they might like to visit .

 

[Badlad]

We already have, but I think they are not around. While we are here, have you any buckets we can have? Got no drag trays or haul buckets left ☹️. Cheers