No escape from Titan!

[cooleycr]

All,

yep, me again, no sooner do we re-open a section of Peak we then close another!

Sorry to inform you all but the connection from Titan to JH/Speedwell (FSE) is now so full of cows arse worms that it is currently impassable so if you go down Titan, you'll have to be prepared to go back up.
The Peak Cavern Keyholder team, in association with the DCA, are formulating a plan of action to try and restore this route but for now....watch this space

 

[Cantclimbtom]

Horrible!

🐮🐄 🪱 there are so many Smilies you could've used in that post, missed opportunity... (unfortunately the worm one isn't red)

 

[Fjell]

I’m sorry, but could you clarify what a CAW is, exactly?

 

[wellyjen]

The connection between the bottom of JH Mine and Far Sump Extensions in Peak, made again in the 1990's, has a low section that is variously dryish, a duck, or sumped. It tends to collect what are probably earth worms, but are known as cow ar$e worms, so CAW. No one wants to get the species properly identified, just in case they turn out to be very rare and scientifically important, or actual cow arse worms.

 

[AlexR]

Whether we're talking helminths or not, the medium these particular invertebrates dwell in has a very distinct aroma associated with agriculture.

The water coming from above is most definitely not fit for human consumption, aside from my younger self I know of at leat one more idiot who has drunk water from R2D2 - an oil barrel in JH collecting water from above, on which some inventive sadist had placed an enamelled tea cup.
The result was much the same in both of us, i.e. an exceedingly unpleasant week of horrendous GI distress with all the trimmings. You have been warned.

 

[wellyjen]

Had to look up helminths. My new word for the day!

 

[danthecavingman]

One could always dive out through Far Sump..... 😜
Incidentally when was the last time anyone went through Far Sump out of interest?

 

[Fulk]

It was bone dry when I did the trip from Titan to JH . . . but very smelly, and we were very glad of the water that had been directed downwards in some sort of pipe.

 

[pwhole]

Here be wormz - the 2012 generation anyway. This is in easily passable conditions. We were once at this point (checking the wormstock), with only an inch of airspace ahead of us when Moose opened the lid on Titan, during the shaft-repair job. The whoosh toward us was incredible, and the worms were practically Surfin' USA on the wavelets it made

The last time I was there it was seemingly clear of worms, but it still stunk of diesel and manure.

 

[RobinGriffiths]

Just imagining a giant David Lynch Eraserhead style worm popping out of that.

 

[Tangent_tracker]

Here be wormz - the 2012 generation anyway. This is in easily passable conditions. We were once at this point (checking the wormstock), with only an inch of airspace ahead of us when Moose opened the lid on Titan, during the shaft-repair job. The whoosh toward us was incredible, and the worms were practically Surfin' USA on the wavelets it made

The last time I was there it was seemingly clear of worms, but it still stunk of diesel and manure.

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How would you describe the worms Phil? Slowly wiggling near the bottom or hovering at the top to wiggle down when disturbed?

 

[AlexR]

Red-ish, appear to kind of stick together in clusters or maybe just quite long single worms looking like a group. Only ever encountered them stationary, I'd say near the bottom. But the places I saw them are so shallow I couldn't say whether they seem to have an affinity for the surface or bottom.
Behaviour once disturbed will be difficult to describe, as soon as you're in the wet muddy section you a) wouldn't want to stay there any longer than strictly necessary and b) visibility is instantly completely gone in water, so no idea what the worms are up to but wouldn't want to dwell on it

 

[LarryFatcat]

Is this something more than high water levels?

 

[AlexR]

From chatting to those involved, yes. Despite people saying CAW does sump, in the 12 years or so I've been caving there I've never seen it properly sumped even once. As Charley says, things are in motion to address this blockage but it may require somewhat major works and an assessment of the water diversion structures in JH, too.

 

[Samouse1]

From chatting to those involved, yes. Despite people saying CAW does sump, in the 12 years or so I've been caving there I've never seen it properly sumped even once. As Charley says, things are in motion to address this blockage but it may require somewhat major works and an assessment of the water diversion structures in JH, too.

It was definitely sumped in December 2019, the water levels were part of what caused the haul from the bottom of Titan! It must have been about 1.5m above the passable mark then based on a trip I went on more recently. I don’t know if the water levels on the day affected it though

 

[skippy]

Last time I went through..Jan 2020, the infestation was the best/worse I've ever seen it. On of the fellas with us(Tobyk I think) woke the whole of the Chapel up in the early hours with his screaming nightmares of the CAW's.🤣🤣🤣

 

[Cantclimbtom]

Would a big fistful of water purification tablets chucked in and left for a bit make matters marginally less bad, or would the water just get replaced/exchanged with fresh worm infested filth too quickly

 

[Chocolate fireguard]

Memory plays tricks, but I don't remember the worms or the farmyard smell in the first 5 years or so of trips through from Titan, and I was doing that a few times a year.
Perhaps I was lucky.
After it started it seemed to be a regular problem.
I wonder if the people who dug open the route between FSE and Leviathan had to contend with it?

 

[al]

Like CF, I've never met the worms in any of my trips through there, although I have heard blood-curdling stories about them. I always assumed it was a Yorkshire "bogey man" sort of thing, a bit like the fate which apparently awaits those who venture out onto Rombald's Moor without headgear?

 

[pwhole]

I went through less than a year ago, and it definitely wasn't sumped then, so I suspect this is mostly due to a lot of water (it's been a very wet few months) taking fines into the passage and blocking the small amount of drainage that is still there. As R2D2 isn't really working any more due to the Tea Rooms dam being blocked, everything is going into the FSE connection rather than Speedwell.

This situation is mostly down to the lack of a proper maintenance crew willing and able to work on stuff like this - the above two posters are exempt from any further work due to the amount of work they've already done - and retirees shouldn't really need to be asked, what with all these 'young cavers' about. Let's not forget that most of this drainage system was also installed by students, but something has clearly gone awry since then.