Well, it does not seem that long since I sent Mark the master copies of my first ‘newsletter’ and here I am writing the second one. I can tell you this though, the instance you have put them in the post box you find something wrong with your copy. It never pays to be a smart-a*se either, when I did my little intentional mistake for Steve Knox’s article I was inviting trouble. There they were, spelling mistakes all over the place, who could have done them?. I know it’s Keith’s wife Chris, I can blame her, but alas when I read through her typing, it was impeccable. Then at last I found the villain it was that bloody ‘spell checker’ on my computer. It has a mind of its own, if for example I misspell the word EERIE (as I did last month) intending it to describe to you something ‘weird or uncanny’ what does it do? It decides that because I missed a letter off the beginning of the word, I must have meant “The Nest of a Bird of Prey’ (or is it pray) or alternatively the name of a big lake on the American/Canadian border. It knows sweet sod all of any use, it doesn’t correct me if I use the wrong (Two, To or Too) neither does it spare me the embarrassment of (There, Their, Of or Off) the list is endless. We really start getting into the realms of fantasy when it decides that I live in America and inserts ‘Zeds’ or is it ‘Zees’ at random into words which (or is it witch) I always thought con- tained an ‘S’, but what (watt?) really C.C.P.C. Newsletter for April 1996 tires me out is when it changes tyres to tires. So I have decided that from now on, any errors are not mine and shall be deemed to be the fault of the ‘Microsoft’ corporation. Ed, PEPE Et ti TTT ttt tri tet trie t tt Iam pleased to say that my appeal for articles for inclusion in the Newsletter has met with some good response. In particular the articles and information coming in from sources other than my regulars, (the ones I usually depend on) It is great to see the effort that is put into each contribution whether it is the time spent writing the article, typing it up or putting it on a disk for my convenience, it is all appreciated so keep them coming. If possible I try to leave the article untouched so that what you see here is what I receive (plus an illustration here and there). They are not necessarily my own views, opinions or choice of words. The same criteria must also apply to any comment made by me, that is to say they are my views and not neces- sarily those of the clubs. SOR GG a ook aio a ik ok ok kok N.C.A. ‘SPELEOScene’ carried the following snippets of information. KNOTLOW POLLUTION DCA are working with the National River’s Authority to try to track down the sources of the pollution which regularly affect Knotlow. Unfortu- nately this is a major undertaking since there are a number of different sources active at various times and it will be some time before the problem can be solved. In the mean time, mindful of the possible dangers of gas or bad air due to pollution, warning notices are to be placed inside the mine. Thanks to Paz Vale and Eldon P.C. for organiz- ing this. NETTLE POT There is an extremely unstable pile of boulders perched above the head of Elizabeth pitch and, although it has been looked at and rattled around in an effort to stabilize it, it is still in place and must be avoided. The more direct of the two DMM routes lands you on top of this pile, the alternative route by-passes the pile, although you still end up below it later. The Bolting Co-ordinator, Mark Lowe, has been consulted and for the present a notice will be put next to the two DMM’s which should be avoided, advising that you rig the alternative route. (The DMM’s will be left in place so that, if and when the situation stabilizes, they can be brought back into use.) MANDALE MINE GATE Following the rescue last year and at the request of English Nature, the adit is now gated. It will require the same spanner as the Knotlow bolts or alter- natively, a large adjustable. Please en- sure that you “lock” the gate behind you when you go in to avoid problems. ROBINS SHAFT MINE This has now had DMM’s placed throughout, thanks to Crewe C.P.C. AO OR RoR A RIG IK It is with regret that I have to report the death of Mick Stratford. As I did not know him personally, I will use a quote from Ralph to be our farewell to him. “Mick will be remembered by our older members for a cheerful, happy go lucky approach to life and for ob- session with rapid abseils down ‘big pitches’. He almost certainly held the record for the fastest free fall’ (al- most) down GG main shaft and Long Rake was almost renamed after him! ” Our sympathies go to his family. Everyone involved lies, A culture of = mendacity surrounds the medium and those who work there live it. breathe it and prosper by it, ae | oe =, FALSE: Everything in television from the control room to the studio it monipulated Having just read the above article, I thought you might be interested in this letter to the B.B.C. Anne Robinson Points of View B.B.C. Television Dear points of view, Why ? oh Why ? oh Why ? do those silly people at your police 999 rescue pro- gramme insist on getting it all wrong ? First of all you insist on giving us all “i” strain by only show- ing two people who kept saying “i” all the time, according to my sources ‘Miss smarty pants Robin- son’ there were forty two other people involved and are we really expected to believe that half of Der- byshire was held up with only a “Teapot” to stop those poor boys from being crushed.? It is also obvi- ous that you used actors to play certain parts, as on one occasion I spotted two “Robbie Coltraine” look-a-likes standing near to a fake hole in a hillside and Pretending to be part of the famous “Mat- lock Fire Brigades, Expert Rope Team” they looked more like a bunch of potholer’s to me, scruffy sods. Wasn’t it lucky that those brave lads had a packet of “Woodbines” with them instead of warm clothing and the presence of mind to ‘light up’ despite the JSact that they could have blown the crap out of those trying to rescue them. I was biting my nails as they got down to their last fag, what if that man had not been able to smell the smoke in that rabbit warren of passages and hidden tunnel’s, they might . never have found them. The weather looked awful, snowing one minute and sweltering hot the next. But what really spoiled it for me was that you included some fake amateur video that contained footage of people who had nothing to do with this rescue at all. It was plain to see by their scruffy unkempt ap- pearance that they had been sleeping rough in that mine, you could have found them by the smell no doubt, at least those other people looked tidy. Thankfully they were only shown briefly. Otherwise an excellent programme showing the rescue work of the R.S.P.C.A. Yours faithfully, Isaac Hunt North Staffordshire. C.N.C.C. TECHNICAL GROUP INFORMATION CIRCULAR BULL POT Due to a number of parties descend a couple of metres having difficulty during to an Eco anchor out over the ascent of the final 0 the pitch. pitch, the eco anchor arrangement in Bull pot Kingsdale has been changed. A short sling is required for the spike belay, and two slings, (1) short and (1) long for the deviation. The anchor beyond the small rock bridge has been removed. The final pitch can be rigged thus; initial belay point is the large In addition, an additional deviation has been installed on the 4th . pitch, this addi- tional deviation is about 10 block at the start of the metres below the first devia- pitch followed by a natu- tion, at the natural bulge in ral spike above head the shaft. height, with a deviation from the small rock bridge; As an option to the C.N.C.C. rigging guides they. are pre- paring a series of rigging cards. These will be slightly larger than a credit card as indicated on the right. They will be encased in plastic and REVERSE SIDE as well as the cave route, they This will contain all the will contain all the other in- information required for formation required to plan the G the trip. trip, locate and descend the cave. Only the more popular and complex caves will be covered. Already on sale at Bernie’s and Inglesport. LSE eree REPORT THEFTS TO C.N.C.C. Their news letter reports that thefts from vehicles inthe |.. Yorkshire Dales are on the increase. In an attempt to com- bat this they are asking that you report any incidents to them by contacting the C.N.C.C. secretary or by phoning the information in on 01695 728673 giving the date, time and location. They will attempt to collate the information with a view to staking out vulnerable places and hopefully to catch the culprits red handed. A BLAST FROM THE PAST As promised in the last newsletter, the following two articles are taken from some old club journals belonging to Ralph. I believe that the first one was written as a tongue in cheek response to all the planning for the “Berger trip’ and the second was an equally wry follow up of the first article. PLANNING A SUCCESSFUL EXPEDITION TO AXE HOLE (WITH APOLOGIES TO J. GILLETT) The first question you must ask your- self when planning an expedition of this kind is WHY? Well, why not! Seriously though, Axe Hole, being the deepest (or possibly the second deep- est) on Stanley Moor, holds some kind of fascination for most dedicated cavers, and our expedition was plan- ning to be the first successful team ever (I think) to do the whole cave using SRT only. I believe the first expedition to try this mammoth task were the West Bromwich Brownie Troop Speleological Section, who were turned back at the entrance by a par- ticularly vicious looking spider. I already hear the sceptics amongst you cry “impossible”. Well you may be right (who am I to doubt) but our plans are simple (they have to be otherwise most team members couldn’t under- stand them) with an assault team of approximately sixty cavers we will use siege tactics and hopefully get three or four to the bottom. After asking yourself WHY? Your second question must be WHOO? - easy - anybody. Anybody that is who can afford the expense. I took meticu- lous care over the financial aspect of the expedition, and programmed all relevant information into my son’s abacus and came up with what I con- sider to be a reasonable cost unit per person, somewhere between three yellow beads and two red ones. While discussing finance I should mention sponsors. I contacted several but none of them seem enthusiastic, it may well be that they consider the task before us too difficult or doomed to failure - NEAR SIGHTED DIM WITTED FOOLS! My only success was the Post Office GIRO BANK, who donated £4.65p ( actually I emp- tied my savings account, but I intend to recoup this when they use some of Cliff Jones our photographs on their next issue of commemorative stamps). Well now, we’ve answered WHY and WHO, next WHEN? I have consulted several experts on this question and their opinion has been unanimous - during the ‘Dry Season’. Thinking this answer a little ambiguous, I checked further, and discovered the ‘Dry Sea- son’ falls between 3 pm and 7 pm on a Sunday, when I’m assured its impossible to get a drink anywhere in Buxton. After WHY? WHO? WHEN? comes HOW? As I’ve mentioned before, we hoped to be the first successful team to bottom the cave using SRT exclu- sively, but we will be taking along a few ladders in case of mishaps. The problem of underground communica- tions caused us a severe headache. We planned to have a telephone link from Camp 1 to the surface, and to save us time and money, we contacted the experts - BRITISH TELECOM. Remembering how well we had done on sponsorship from their cousins the Post Office, we expected big things, only to be told that we would have to pay an £80 connection fee and 10p a call thereafter. RIDICULOUS!! PR NOE) caing wets idea that could be worthwhile pursu- ing in the future - HOMING PIGEONS -. We spent many a long day trying to iron out the wrinkles in this one, but we were fi- nally beaten on two counts: E The pigeon invariably flew home to Stoke, which meant a 20 mile round trip to find out the message and, 2 The pigeon struggled a little on take-off wearing an Oldham battery and caplamp. I still believe the idea is a sound one, and once these problems are over- come someone will make a killing. ‘HOMING BATS?’ were also audi- tioned (illegally I’ve since learned)but with no success. Tin cans and string was the only method we found acceptable (the old ones are still the best) but this too led to problems. While testing, we found the string often broke because of abra- sion, as the string had to be laid around several sharp bends. To com- bat this problem we used very thick 7 mm cord, but as we were also using lightweight 8 mm SRT rope this led to some confusion on pitches, where people would sometimes use the wrong rope (or cord) to climb on. Very often one could hear a shout from above “Can you please get off the line, I’m trying to make a call”. WHY? WHO? WHEN? HOW? The next question must be obvious WHERE? Does anybody know where Axe Hole is? RREKEKKEKKKKEKKKKEKKEKEEK excellent little tale that was, now read on for Ralphs view as to how the problem could be solved. (ed) UNDERGROUND TO SURFACE COMMUNICATIONS PART 1 By Ralph Johnson Having heard on the grapevine of Cliffs attempts at under- ground communications using carrier pigeons equipped with miner’s cap lamps, I decided that an intellectual approach to the problem was called for. The ‘Think Tank’ (often referred to by jealous juveniles as the ‘Stink Tank’) were drafted in and the problem placed before them during their monthly meeting on the geriatric ward. For the members unaware of the existence of this powerful group I will enlighten you - it consists of a select band of our elderly members who have celebrated their 40th birthday - several times in some cases - de and are easily recognised by the absence of, or gray tinge to, their hair. It has been suggested that this disfigurement has been caused by inadequate blood supply to the brain aggravated by hardening of the arteries as a result of alcohol poisoning. However, lis, A back to the main point of this article, AS communications. The Oldham idea was obviously doomed to failure due to the weight of the battery and the difficulty in getting the correct size of helmet. (Caving Supplies were approached but Phil Brown was doubtful of the commercial value of stocking helmets of this size). The prototype system involved equipping the birds with secondhand ‘Jones Lighting System’ minus the ‘Willy Warmer” as this was thought un- necessary, since not even male pigeons are equipped with the required appendage. (These lamps can usually be bought cheaply from the designer or even ex- changed for a small quantity of Ruddles County). Unfortunately, due to wiring difficulties the “Willy Warmer” wire coil had to remain in place, causing the birds difficulties on starless nights since the coil produced a magnetic field canceling out the Earth’s magnetic field, thus making navigation im- possible. Even on clear nights or sunny days when pigeons revert to normal techniques (for pigeons that is) the peaked helmets caused further problems by shading the bird’s eyes and when the peak was removed the bright light from the cap lamp seemed to confuse the birds, who seemed to find difficulty in distinguishing artificial light from sunlight. Pigeons weren’t the answer. A number of other animals with homing instincts were considered, but each time the age old problem of lighting reared its ugly head. The solution finally came during the monthly committee meeting, once again held on the geriatric ward - BATS!! Unfortunately, British Bats are protected by law, so it be- came necessary to import foreign specimens from a dubious source in Transylvania. These arrived in an odd shaped wooden container, reminiscent of the lower passages in Knotlow which has already proved useful as a container for carrying bulky equipment and doubling up as a comfortable ‘bivvy’ should the need arise. I’m sure that the more intelligent amongst you will already have spotted the flaw - Bats don’t ‘Home’. This was over- authors). The idea was to persuade the bats to return to the desired roost each time they were released. The wooden box was made more attractive by the addition of a red velvet lining, and a number of experiments proved the ideal food to be a mixture of pig-pudding and liquefied raw liver. Despite repeated attempts to feed the animals on pro- prietary bat food consisting of bed bugs (SWCC) and cockroaches (OCC) they seemed disinterested in anything but the evil looking concoction supplied by the local abattoir. The conditioning worked well, it was only necessary to release the bats underground. (They seemed to work best after dusk, becoming inoperative round about dawn, which for- tunately coincides with one of the ‘dry’ periods mentioned in the previous article). With the attached message the bat will then fly to the open wooden container (equipped with an adequate supply of pig pudding etc.), placed close to the cave entrance, The system has not been without its teething problems and one of these seems to be the quality of operator. So far all those involved have disappeared without trace during their first mission, no doubt the attraction of the bright lights of Buxton have proved too strong, but at least the bat popula- tion appears to be increasing despite assurances that all those supplied had been neutered. No doubt these minor problems will be solved before the next issue. For Sale The ideal furry pet for Christmas. Ring CCPC Clo S-o-T Quantity of small caving helmets. Apply One ‘Jones Lighting System’. Name and ad- dress supplied. Large quantity of Bat Guano. Equipment Advisory Panel, CCPC Apply Wanted Experienced bat operators. Ring Newcastle 666 Lost Forty seven experienced cavers. Equipment Advisory Panel CCPC Contact we 5 eet up at’thée P8 car park 10 am DO 72470 Be ERE Ralph has the usual items for sale, although no one has yet approached him regarding the ‘F” cells. May I remind you that the ‘F’ refers to their type and not their condition. Excellent value at only £6.50 New fleece lined mitts £11.00 per pair. Gloves £1.50 per pair. New sweat shirts £10.00 each ‘Gortex’ bib and brace over trousers £38.00 per pair. Fleece trousers £5.00 per pair. New rugby shirts £10.00 each Orpheus Caving Club Cottage, comfortable cottage, up to 18 people midweek, changing rooms, hot showers WCs, lamp charging parking and camping space. Only £3.00 per night. Phone Jenny Potts on 01335-370629 Don’t forget to let me have your for sale, Swaps or unwanted items. 6 Dear all, I have been to several of your gatherings in recent months and heard the clarion call for articles. Now not professing to have any journalistic or even literary skill I though you might be interested in my experiences with thrusting down dark places from the novices point of view. Just to be different I thought Pd tell you about my second brush with oles rather than the first, The reason for this is that you must all be bored to tears with first timers going on about how weird and wonderful it was and how they can’t wait for a second go. Well not me, for my second hole I knew it was going to be cold, I knew it was going to be wet and above all I knew that bruises would appear on parts of my body that day light very rarely ventures. To set the scene for the beginning, we start in that mixture of cavers alladins cave / transport cafe upstairs some where in Ingleborough , a place which as far as I remember is miles from anywhere.. What a strange place I must say. Good memories of tucking into a cavers breakfast with a bunch of people who could hardly be described as city types or even vaguely cool. This is obviously the land of fleece jackets, where tales of I’ve been colder and wetter than you have, are shared. This cavers breakfast can only be de- scribed as the artery clotter special with additional flatulence inducing juice for good measure, mmmmm me thinks, so this is how we are going to keep warm, but what about those peo- ple with carbide lamps, they could get blow back and internal burns in places where you shouldn’t really get them. Anyway on with the tale..... It was a cold winters day and the drive to the hole was treacherous indeed, mainly because we couldn’t see it as it was covered in snow. Out of the car we jumped and into the bondage gear we slipped. This was to be my first go with SRT down a cave. The first party led by a man I had come to know as Brian went up the hill and I was as- sured that we would meet again later. COND |; 4 oF ©) + A contribution by Gideon Ruth, who I know and I were led to our hole by Ross who I don’t know. 20 minutes later, up on this hill and feeling knackered already we located the hole, who is affectionately known as Swinsto by all his / her friend, (I’m not sure if pot holes have genders?) and down we went. Ross shot of say- ing we would meet again. Got to the first pitch and there was no Ross to be found, so we SRT’d down, (presume that’s the expression), only to find another hole which was pre- sumably the way, on the premise that neither Ruth or I were going to fit any of the other available crevices. I have now been reliably informed that this is not the best approach to navigating a hole, but it seemed like a good idea at atime. On with the hole, next was a bit of walking, crouching, crawling and finally nose against the ground / water before we came out to another pitch. I can remember hearing the roar of the water fall as I approached. Ruth was behind me at the time, but we don’t like to talk about it like that!!!!! Cats tails on, Decender on, Ruth checks me over, (come on boys and girls I meant Ruth checks my rig, nothing else), and down I go. Pitch two out the way. A bit more crawling and pitch three, Pm getting good at this and down I go. Now we came to pitch four, much the same affair, rapidly followed by pitch five, we seemed to have come down an awfully long way, only hope we don’t have to go up again!!! Onward from pitch five and we meet some of the party coming the other way. Now in my appalling memory, I’m sure they went to the top of the mountain like we did, so I guess we have some going up SRTing to do. A few more crawls and we meet Brian, 7 remember Brian? The came the news that I was actually on the easy route and supposed to be coming out of a place called ‘valley entrance’, now my geography isn’t great, but I know that valleys are in general lower than mountains, oh goody no up bits, then Brian said “valleys shut we have to go back up the way we came”. What does he mean shut, can’t we go and pick the locks or break the door down, just because it’s a Sunday. Now either pot hollers are very law abiding citi- zens, or may be the entrance was ac- tually impassable and I had a nasty feeling it was the latter of the two. Back to pitch five, one frozen Mars bar, one look upwards, one load of “oh shit”, know what I mean, this was go- ing to be a challenge. One of the re- turnees held the rope out form the wa- terfall whilst the other shot up and it looked an awful long way. I think it was Andy who shot up. Then there was a shout, “Gideon its your turn” oh big shits. Chest jammer on, hand jammer on and slowly but very un- surely I edged up. This was knacker- ing, a quarter of the way up I was thinking my legs had gone and more importantly to me at the time I was thinking that I was affected by that famous adjective, you know the one. Newton said “what the **** was that” when the apple fell, Custer said “where the **** did all those Indians come from” and Damon hill just says ««##*” every time he gets beaten by Schumacker. Well as for me at the time I was thinking how the bibbly- bopeep am I going to get out of this, (ha ha, you though I was going to say “##**”, so you were wrong - smutty minded so and so’s). Well I took a few breathers and slowly inched my way up. If this is number one of five......oh shit!! Got to the top and no Andy, at least I don’t remember, but I got off the pitch and connected myself up to number 4. Number 2 was cold and wet, I think I managed to get off this pitch OK and waited for the others. The others came and shouted, ‘you go on with Andy’ so I did, but I omitted to tell them that Andy had buggered off and was no bits how it wouldn’t be necessary to ter about 5 minutes I heard, (and felt) where to be seen! Pitch 3. UpI went, — wash our kit out, on the basis of how a muted brrrrup, followed by a larger just about mastering SRT, now that I wet we were, I think I understood what more potent one. Ah the flatulent mi- had started to remember to use my feet he meant at the time. crobes from the mornings breakfast to hold the rope, a small fact that had had obviously been in hibernation and made the last two rather hard work, Pitch one, up I went, negotiated the top now I’d warmed up were compus plus the fact that my chest harness was _ with my hand jammer, menatus and doing their stuff. What a expanding as if it was expecting a warm feeling that was, god knows rather large breast implant or perhaps what scorch marks it was going to another body. Now got to the top of 3 leave on a certain part of Dave’s wet and could I figure out how to get of Suit, but I cannot say at the time that I this pitch, could I hell. Tried this, tried was thinking about that much. that, all ended up with me spinning on the rope, cats tails attached the right bits. Eventually the others caught me up. The next thing I knew Brian was Out pops Ruth and whatshisname and we trooped of back to the car, What- shisname ran off - flash git. On the on his way up and all I could see was way down, the snows had started to this carbides lamp aiming straight for melt exposing mud with the colour my bum, better not fart now, could be and consistency of Cadbury’s choco- late spread, (buy some if you don’t understand what I mean, and if you don’t like it pass it on to me because I do!), but no doubt not the taste of Cadbury’s, A couple of minor slips and covered in the stuff I was, so much for not having to wash kit out Brian!!!!! explosive!!! Well with Brian’s help off the pitch I eventually got, thanks Brian. Pitch 2. Up I go, Brian holding the rope and to the very top I got, got cows tail on, disconnect jammers, (yes Ralp* in the correct order!), looked over the hole and I’d come up through the wrong one, to high.....bugger. Well And that’s about it, (yes I know you managed to climb over the hole and shouldn’t start a sentence with the down to where I should have been, word ‘and’), Got to the pub, after we loosing a glove in the process. Well I (a tip from Brian no less!), and on- had changed of course. Met up with didn’t loose the glove, in fact I know wards I crawled. I know it wasn’t far © Andy, who was looking a bit sheepish, exactly where it is, just that I took it to the entrance but it felt like it. Day thought that pot holers were supposed off to release my chest jammer, and light appears and up I pop, much to the __ to stick together with more than the having got over the hole, was inapo- annoyance and disgust of a nearby adhesion associated with ‘post it’ sition where retrieval could be de- rabbit who was having a crap at the notes! scribed as “very silly idea” Anyway time. of to pitch number one to the tune of Will I give it another go, you bet!! “Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to work we Brian wasn’t much later, telling me be- _ But only after the bruises have gone, BOncnae fore running off that Ruth was at the got some absolute stunners! bottom on the last pitch looking Well this was down the crawl that I knackered, a feeling that was not to GR remember shooting down on the way dissimilar to what I was feeling at the in. Now I was feeling very knackered, time, at least I was at the top SE GER a ai oe aaioiek dot tadok tet] dehydrated and the old ticker was do- though!!!!! It seemed like ages, (and This is what we want, swashbuckling ing its bit to add to the tension, now probably was before the last two came _tales of mates sticking together, risk- this was hard work. It seemed to take out, (can’t remember his name, but he ing their necks for each other, all for for ever to get to the final pitch and it has a funny beard and mustache - you one and one for all. An excellent con- was probably at this bit that I was know the type who only shave the tribution, keep e’m-coming (ed) questioning my own sanity, a pretty parts of the face outside the centre 2.5 pointless exercise as my sanity can inches anyway that’s the only way I PS. slightly concerned about the ref- hardly be said to be rational or even can describe him) and Ruth. In the erences to cats tails, nothing to do existent, more degrees of madness meantime I walked around in the virgin _ with the current hysteria regarding would be a better description. I can snow forming an ever decreasing circle B.S.E. I hope? remember Brian saying of the very wet i an attempt to warm myself up. Af- P lease Chreck if your suss sn se overdue i ESE DELL ED LIE EEE TTD TE ETE EAE IES PETES cresianestanipeteneais ~ i ee ee JACKPOT When we got to p8 at 9.30. We got dressed ready to go in the cave. We checked our lamps and went in the cave. My dad helped us in, so did Ralph. We were not half way in the cave and I got my wellies wet. I could feel the water inside my wellies. When we were about half way in we had to climb down a ladder, I nearly fell in but Ralph cought me. We then climbed over the boulders. Then we crossed over two holes to the top of a fixed iron ladder. We climbed down the ladder Me and my dad had a look down this hole, while my brother Jonathan and Ralph were in front. When we had a look down the hole I nearly went the wrong way, but my dad told me where to go. There are a lot of holes that I could fall down so I had to be careful where I put my feet. My brother Jonathan was in front most of the way so he was first going round this horrible bit, my dad told me to stay where I was a minute. I tried to get ready for when my dad came but I nearly Jell so I stayed where I was until my dad came ( note always do as your dad tells you ) I got past the horrible bit, it was OK. I was thinking how people would Jit threw the holes because they were that small, but we went the easy way. We got to the end of the cave where some people had left some diving equipment, we then turned back. On the way out we saw Steve knox and John Preston we stopped and had a chat for a minute. Just after the iron ladder we saw two more cavers who were going in to dive the sump. When we came to the ladder we decided to go up with my dad pulling me that worked out easily. When we got to Idiots Leap Ralph clipped some rope onto me. Then I walked up the wall while my dad pulled me up. When we got out I said to my dad “it is hot out here” my dad said “it is be- cause the cave was cold”. After we got changed we went to the Wanted Inn for a drink. I thought it was good but a bit cold in places, and muddy. My brother thought it was ace and can't wait to go again. BY JULIEANNE & JONATHAN HOLDCROFT Absolutely brilliant, now that should shame one or two people into putting pen to paper, it was even put onto a floppy disk for me! what you See, is as it came, although I decided it deserved a nice border. MAY Sat 4th Sun 12th Mtrs. Sun 19th 107 JUNE Sat 1st Sun 9th Sun 16th Sat 22nd FORTHCOMING MEETS DAN Y OGOF , South Wales, Swansea Valley, Grade 3.5, Len ROWTEN HOLE, Yorkshire, West Kingsdale, Grade 4, Length ALUM POT / LOWER LONG CHURN, Yorkshire, Grade 3, CASTER / EASEGILL, Yorkshire, Grade 3.5, Length 5 VE RESCUE PRACTICE , Derbyshire, Meet on P8 Car L MOSS POT, Yorkshire, Gaping Gyll, Gr: SCAR CAVE, Yorkshire, Grade 3.4, Len To Lancaster 10 Km (approx) I thought you may like this topographical 3D map of the Yorkshire cave areas showing their relationship to each other, plus a section map of the Gaping Ghyll system etc. Could be useful to new members maybe? Ed. 10 tngieborough, 9° 710 = 200 meTRES Plan of the Gaping Ghyll system showing the Porcellaneous band (the inked—in passages) WORTH