How well do you know your caves?

Caver Keith

Caver Keith

Well-known member
I think it will have to be a point to Tritim230 and one to langcliffe.

Here's tonight's.

DERBYSHIRE DALES
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Cave Q was opened by the Derbyshire Pennine Club with great difficulty. The first part was cleared by cavers hanging head downwards and scooping out handfuls of mud; later gelignite was used. The first 60-foot pitch to the little ledge called the 'sentry box' is fiendishly narrow and uncomfortable. One novice unwisely went down with a party; by the time he had reached this ledge he had had enough, and insisted on being pulled back to the surface. But so tight is the passage that he reappeared on the surface without his nether garments, which remained wedged in the shaft.
 
Caver Keith

Caver Keith

Well-known member
YORKSHIRE, THE POTHOLER’S PARADISE
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The older name for cave R was Helln Pot. I was attending a 'meet' at which it was planned to descend the pot via another cave, which connects with the big rock bridge halfway down. The climb down was to be done by rope-ladder; we were to be spirited up for 180 of the 272 feet to the surface by motor winch, in a boson’s chair, like theatre fairies pulled up to the wings by wires. From a distance, however, the pot looked as if it was on fire, with smoke pouring from it; this was the spray from the swollen stream which was pouring into it with a majestic roar.
 
BigDyl

BigDyl

Member
Caver Keith said:
YORKSHIRE, THE POTHOLER’S PARADISE
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The older name for cave R was Helln Pot. I was attending a 'meet' at which it was planned to descend the pot via another cave, which connects with the big rock bridge halfway down. The climb down was to be done by rope-ladder; we were to be spirited up for 180 of the 272 feet to the surface by motor winch, in a boson’s chair, like theatre fairies pulled up to the wings by wires. From a distance, however, the pot looked as if it was on fire, with smoke pouring from it; this was the spray from the swollen stream which was pouring into it with a majestic roar.
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Alum pot - same as Cave G
 
Caver Keith

Caver Keith

Well-known member
YORKSHIRE, THE POTHOLER’S PARADISE
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Some caves are named after prehistoric heroes, like cave R, in Kingdale. Inside, this is one of the loftiest caves; in it, the legend says, lived the old British giant who had a special taste for small boys whom he captured and brought in to eat; he ground up their bones in a mill and baked them into bread. Downstream in this cave is a way enclosed in honey-coloured stalactite looking rather like candy (with a dry back way in); this passage ends in a sump. Upstream is the 'Chapter House', where the river enters from the roof; descending the three pitches from an alternative entrance outside is the best sport in the cave.
 
BigDyl

BigDyl

Member
Caver Keith said:
YORKSHIRE, THE POTHOLER’S PARADISE
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Some caves are named after prehistoric heroes, like cave R, in Kingdale. Inside, this is one of the loftiest caves; in it, the legend says, lived the old British giant who had a special taste for small boys whom he captured and brought in to eat; he ground up their bones in a mill and baked them into bread. Downstream in this cave is a way enclosed in honey-coloured stalactite looking rather like candy (with a dry back way in); this passage ends in a sump. Upstream is the 'Chapter House', where the river enters from the roof; descending the three pitches from an alternative entrance outside is the best sport in the cave.
Click to expand...
Yordas
 
Caver Keith

Caver Keith

Well-known member
andybrooks said:
If Cave O is still unsolved, might I suggest Gautrie's Hole?
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An good guess but this one has already been claimed.

Here's this evening's.

YORKSHIRE, THE POTHOLER’S PARADISE
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In this area is one of the easiest potholes in which to start rope-ladder climbing, Sunset Hole. A still easier and most interesting beginning to ladder pitches, followed by some difficult and intricate caving, is given by cave S at Birkwith, Ribblesdale. A single thirty-five-foot ladder pitch leads down to the stream and the two Dry Laithe Caves apparently so called because they are so wet). Downstream, the Lower Cave has some remarkably shaped erratics (helictites) on the right; instead of growing straight down or up they grow sideways and outwards in all directions, in grotesque shapes which would make the blood of a show-cave guide run faster as he thought of all the absurd articles which he could pretend they resembled. There are many wafer-sharp rocks in this cave, and on the left two blades of chert (impure flint) are set in the limestone like blades in a safety razor which is not so safe; I cut my hand badly by unwittingly touching them. Eventually the stream disappears, but the passage continues straight on, narrowing to a low crawl. Where the roof is quite low, a small opening can be seen on the left, which opens into a very tight bedding-plane (perhaps less tight for the young than for the middle-aged). Squeezing along this and continually bearing right, eventually one drops down (if the word 'drops' can be used of a process that feels like being extruded from a mincing machine) into another cave.
 
Caver Keith

Caver Keith

Well-known member
SOUTH WALES
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This really easy one only needs this short description.

The Neath Valley cave T has been famous for centuries. If the stream is low, entry under the wide arch is easy. Straight ahead a patch of white calcite, ‘The White Horse’, gleams in the darkness.
 
Caver Keith

Caver Keith

Well-known member
SOUTH WALES
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21. The best group of caves, which includes two of the finest in the British Isles, has been left to last. These are in the beautiful Tawe Valley between Glyntawe and Abercrave. Cave U is a ‘super-severe’ pothole of the Yorkshire type, going down for 310 feet, with five pitches taking 225 feet of rope ladder, and lifelines and belays in addition. It is a very tiring cave, with streams drenching the man on the ladder, and awkward and hazardous passages between the pitches - leave this pot to the experts!
Answers for the first 20 caves:

A Lesser Garth Cave
B Eglwys Faen
C Agen Allwedd
D Goatchurch Cavern
E Bagshawe Cavern
F Stump Cross
G Alum Pot
H Llygad Llwchwr
I Peak Cavern
J Ogof Rhyd Sych
K Sidcot Swallet
L Pant Mawr Pot
M Bridge Cave
N Town Drain
O Giant’s Hole
P Eldon Hole
Q Nettle Pot
R Yordas
S Calf Holes
T Porth Yr Ogof
 
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