North York Moors valley to valley trip becomes a reality

Valley to valley connection established in North York Moors

Back in July 2025, we established an audible connection between Tree Root Chamber at the far reaches of the 2020 Covid Extensions of Jenga Pot (in Hutton Beck valley), and the surface in the next valley west (the River Dove valley). A ferret tracker confirmed the distance between the underground and surface teams was only about 15ft (4.5m).

This was all reported in our previous blog entry.

Since then we managed to gain some limited and sporadic permission for a surface dig.

We started work digging downwards at the point the ferret tracker indicated the closest connection, quickly sinking a 2m hole. However, this proved to be a tricky site as it is on the steep lower slopes of the valley and is through loose soil and rocks, with a tendency to come loose. Much of our early work was undone by collapses happening between visits.

We were given a two-week window of permission in February. We were able to get a shaft sunk about 3m which was enough to allow a length of plastic pipe to be installed.

Thank you CNCC for supplying the pipe – much appreciated!

A small chamber was quickly dug at the bottom of the pipe. This was easy digging, mostly removing loose mud and small rocks, but by the end of our February window, the walls were becoming more solid and were starting to pinch-in. Progress with hand-tools was becoming more difficult. Furthermore, we had reached the depth at which we expected to meet the cave, but no signs of any voids or draughts. Had we gone wrong?

The previous ferret tracker locating was only possible using the ‘search’ mode which gives only a distance. This allowed us to identify the closest approach, but not a direction. The ‘locate’ mode which shows the direction only functions over much shorter distances.

We were going to need more drastic digging, and ideally some clues about what direction.

Our next permission came for a slot this April. Last Wednesday we returned with a breaker, which made swift work of the rock walls, and then ended the session with a visit from Dr Nobel. Thanks to the recent dry weather (the joys of being east of The Pennines) we had also set to work a week earlier getting the Jenga Pot pumps running, topping the generator up with several tanks of petrol through the week to empty the sumps. We hoped that we could return to Tree Root Chamber with the ferret tracker close enough to use in ‘locate’ mode.

We returned on Sunday 12^th April to continue the mission.

Toby Buxton and I fired up the generator and headed down Jenga Pot at 10:45am, with the ferret tracker receiver and a walkie talkie. Gary Douthwaite, Sparky Edwards and Andy Brennan went down to the surface dig in the next valley to clear spoil while listening for us.

We found Sump One to be just about empty, with the pump slurping away the small amount of water which had pooled since it was run yesterday. This pump has sat for 8 years in that sump, is rusted, and was half submerged in slurry, yet still every year it continues to work. We cleared the winter silt buildup from around the pump and headed on to Sump Two to do the same.

Leaving the eerie whirring of the pumps behind, we made quick progress over Sump Three (thanks to the excavated bypass) and down Pandemic Passage. After a gruesome thrash through the canals and the duck, we found ourselves at Tree Root Chamber by 11:45am and made our way to the far end where we had previously achieved the audio connection.

No sooner had we arrived, we picked up Andy (who was on the surface) through the walkie talkie with a much clearer signal than last time. We could even hear Sparky shouting from the bottom of the pipe without the walkie talkie! The ferret tracker was deployed and showed only two feet of separation and helped to indicate which side of the shaft the surface team should be digging on. The breaker was then deployed which made a hell of a racket and allowed Toby and I to identify where in our chamber they were directly above.

We’d gone down the cave with no expectation of the breakthrough happening while we were down there, but we found ourselves wondering whether it might just be possible.

To keep warm, we started frantically using a shovel to prise rocks and mud from the roof of our chamber. The sound of the surface team seemed so close, we could even feel the roof vibrate as they hacked away. Could this really happen, here and now?

Suddenly the end of a crowbar pierced the roof of our chamber and in came a stream of daylight which was flooding down the surface shaft. A finger then poked through the hole, and I quickly recognised the glove to be that of Gary. We exchanged a ‘finger shake’ before frantically digging the hole larger. Ten minutes later, Toby and I exited the cave via the new entrance, completing the first ever valley-to-valley underground through-trip in the North York Moors.

A celebratory beer awaited (thanks Andy), a particular celebration as we didn’t have to go back through the cave!

The Jenga-Excalibur Pot system in Hutton Beck valley has now been connected to the River Dove valley to the west, almost 19 years after the system was first discovered.

This new entrance (The Peep Hole, as one of the rather concerned estate managers referred to it) allows access to the far reaches of the Jenga Pot Covid Extensions without pumping out two sumps and will make it much more realistic for divers to reach Sumps 5, 6, 7 (which are all spacious and undived sumps). It will also facilitate various digging efforts in that area.

Access to the new entrance is tricky as it is on private land with no public access and is very conspicuous. For now, we plan to finish the entrance, landscape and tidy everything up before starting discussions on access. We’re hopeful that something can be arranged.

We had such a great day!