Rod's pot / Bath swallet thru trip

[Coxie]

Planning to do it tomorrow, having never been in either cave before.

I know I need to rig a line in Bath swallet first and was hoping to find a survey but no luck as yet.  Have got a copy of Mendip underground with Rod's in but can somebody tell me where the connection is?

I'm guessing the 3m drop area?!?  :-\

 

[graham]

There is no detailed survey of Rod's - Bath published as yet, I'm afraid.

 

[Peter Burgess]

There is no detailed survey of Rod's - Bath published as yet, I'm afraid.

Isn't the challenge of finding your way around without knowledge of the layout an extra piece of the fun of cave exploring? Oh, and I like having a survey to hand so I am not saying we shouldn't use them! In the absence of a survey, try searching this forum for all the old posts about the cave and learn what you can from them.

 

[Les W]

Hi Coxie,
the connection is in the main chamber in Rods.
From the entrance continue down the rifts and over the twin pots. Continue down to the Main Chamber. As you enter the chamber the connection, Purple Pot, is up to the right a short way then across the chamber and down a bit at the back.
It is not where the 3m drop is. Don't go straight down in Main Chamber
The way to Purple Pot is down through a small hole and on down to a pitch head where there are some P bolts.

Hope this is of some use

 

[Aubrey]

Bath was VERY wet last night!

 

[graham]

Bath was VERY wet last night!

Not surprised. The water came up about a metre in the three hours we were in Gough's, 5 pm - 8 pm.

 

[tony from suffolk]

Never known a dry bath myself.

 

[Roger W]

Shenzhen during the 90's.  During the rather frequent power cuts we had in those days, since the pumps didn't work that pumped the water up to the tank on top of our tower block, we enjoyed dry baths quite often.

Varied things from time to time by taking a dry shower instead.   

 

[Coxie]

Thanks for the info, we're doing Tynings as well I think. Should be fun with all the water 

 

[Les W]

Hi Coxie,
I believe the low crawl after the connection from Rods to Bath can flood and become impassable when there is a lot of water about (like now). Make sure you have the means to climb back up Purple Pot in case this is the case. Perhaps it would be wise to send somebody through to check it is passable before you pull any ropes down behind you.

Every time I have done the connection it has been bone dry but it wouldn't take much water to make it quite nasty.

 

[cap n chris]

Purple Pot can be, and has been, freeclimbed by back-and-foot technique and/or combined tactics.

In times of genuine desperation it would be eminently straightforward.

 

[Coxie]

Thanks for the warning, we'll have a little look-see before we commit ourselves.   

 

[whitelackington]

Tyning's Barrows Swallet
Both spits for the pitch immediately after the concrete entrance tube
are in good working order, there is another good order working spit about four metres
before Pyramid Pot on right hand wall @ knee height.
Take special care with the two / three metre drop through large boulders 30 metres down from the entrance, they are now hanging in space and will dramatically wash out SOON.
Have fun, you've chosen a couple of crackers.

 

[Burt]

An easy way to do this would be go down Bath swallet first, pull through the ropes on shower pot (or leave them for later  if you're not a confident climber, although it's not a difficult climb) then as capn C says, freeclimb purple pot. you will then pop out into main chamber in Rod's and the rest is easy peasy.

 

[mrodoc]

I was mildly amused by this thread as Rob Harper and myself decided to have a go at this last weekend. Found Bath entrance (never been in it), found the pitch and tossed a couple of ladders in then set off for Rod's. Last trip in there was over 40 years ago for both of us. Seemed bigger than I remember. Went to the bottom then just followed the draught for Purple Passage plus you do notice the purple rocks. Purple Pot had a rope on it so we did a flying angel slither down it. It reminded me of a more vertical version of Struggle Passage in St. Cuthberts and would be a pig to get up without tackle. Found the route to Bath Swallet then after some piccies shinned up the shaft until we met the ladder near the top. You could get away with a couple of long slings or an etrier here if you can climb. Was very impressed with Bath Swallet and interested to know if the downstream is still active. Also has anybody been upstream past the hanging death boulders - looks promising. Where does the water go when the cave floods? Some photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=254186&id=772704810&l=09f5697d7e near the end of the album for those who haven't been in either cave.

 

[Andy Sparrow]

My preferred way to do the through trip is to abseil down Bath using the existing bolts to pull through.  Being fairly small eye-bolts the pull through doesn't always work that smoothly and at some time in the future purpose-positioned bolts would be desirable (in my opinion anyway).

When we first dug Purple Pot is was very greasy and not easily free-climbable.  Since then it has dried out (probably due to the draught) and is now a much easier climb - especially since persons unknown left a rope in place.  So, having pulled down the rope through Bath, it's no real problem to exit through Rod's.

There have been some references to flooding in Bath.  In fact almost the entire length of the low crawl leading to Purple Pot floods to the roof - as clearly indicated by the tide marks of flood debris.  The pitch in Bath (Shower Pot) is a very cold, draughty and hostile place when the stream is in flood.

I'm glad people are enjoying this trip.  Give us a couple of years and I think the chances are now pretty good for the Drunkards connection...

 

[Coxie]

Thanks for all the info.

We didn't get around to it this time but it's definately on the agenda next time I'm up that way.

We did Tynings on Friday which we found enjoyable.  We did everything but Velcro passage and found Mount Batton chamber to be quite interesting.

On Saturday we did Eastwater which was superb.  We did Dolphin pot and and then the round trip via the Beechem Series which was very entertaining.  We were tantalisingly close to the mud escalater but didn't have a rope and thought better of it.  We also think we might have found a bypass to the 35ft pitch, a chimney climb just to the right.  It looked a bit worn until the very top of the climb and it had a loose bouldery ceiling.  Hard to tell but it might come out in the small rift on the right at the base of Dolphin pot.

A great weekend

 

[tony from suffolk]

On Saturday we did Eastwater which was superb. 

Ah! A man of great discernment!

 

[Oceanrower]

On Saturday we did Eastwater which was superb. 

Ah! A man of great discernment!

Eastwhere?

 

[whitelackington]

Have the C.S.C.C. bolted Bath Swallet?
Hope to do this next Saturday.
Yes I've done it a couple of times before and yes I can do it without "P" Bolts, it is just that someone said they thought it had recently been "P" bolted.