kay
Well-known member
rob_ said:Can someone tell me about Thistle and Runscar Caves please
Thanks.
Rob xx
At Ribblehead. Park in the layby that's on the other side of the road from the bacon butty van and almost opposite (just a bit further up the road - ie not the car park down by the pub). Look straight across and you'll see a small limestone scar. They're both up towards there. They're both basically linear caves with several entrances along their length, running from the area of the scar roughly back towards the pub. Runscar is near the scar, Thistle is parallel and nearer the viaduct.
Both have one of their entrances in big shakeholes, Runscar has a low entrance below a tiny cliff, and an entrance below the scar itself. Poke around and see what you find - none of the entrances lead to desperate flat out crawls, which is a useful identifying characteristic.
Above the scar you might come across a hole at the back of the pavement which is the old entrance to Scar Top, and which may be open. It's a bit of a wiggle to get in (and more of a wiggle to get out with gravity against you if you're a large male and not a small female) but it's a very worthwhile cave. It has another entrance in the boulder cave which forms the top end of Runscar, which is a bit of a challenge for navigation - hint - keep left, then drop down the impossible looking slot behind a rock flake.
If you go down to the where the path goes under the viaduct, and just before you get there take the obvious old raised track, you'll see an abandoned linekiln to your right and a an obvious low cave over on the left. That's one of the lower entrances of Roger Kirk, another one worth exploring. If you go in through the bottom and carry on up (traversing in the ceiling when the stream gets too grovelly) you'll get to a point where there's a flake of rock to your right. Ahead, the passage goes over a boulder choke and into West Sink, which gets steadily lower and smaller. Instead, look behind the flake for a hole in the wall - the Tube - carry on through there for an easier way out.
P.S. i'm considering caving books, what book have you got?
As Dunc and Damian say, Northern Caves 2 is invaluable. Or join a club - Bradford are doing the Ribblehead Caves next Sunday (not sure which ones). It's a really good way to learn where caves are.