YCC Blog
Coolagh River Cave
Matt Ewles | 6 June 2010
It was interesting to take a trip down Coolagh River cave again, as it was amazing how well I remembered certain parts from four years ago, and how badly I remembered others! It was a lovely sunny day, we parked on the verge at the crossroads and walked down the road...
Cullaun Five
Catherine Moody | 4 June 2010
I'm fairly sure the Selected Caves description for this cave was written by a very short person, as we very much disagreed with the statements of "walking-sized" canyons. The cave caused quite a bit of back-ache and was relatively uninspiring until near the end where we found some very impressive...
Coolagh River Cave
Catherine Moody | 3 June 2010
Fantastic trip! A rather unpleasantly wet entrance followed by some mildly difficult traversing (for me anyway) led to some scrotty bedding plane crawls and canals to avoid the pitch at the end of Gour Passage. Definitely would not have wanted to be in there if there was any chance of rain....
Doolin River Cave to Fisherstreet Pot
Catherine Moody | 3 June 2010
A cracking cave to start off the weekend... Matt and Gary left early to pre-rig Fisherstreet Pot whilst the rest of us got ready at a leisurely pace. On their return we did a couple of shuttle runs and after a couple of wrong turnings we all made it to...
Doolin River Cave to Fisherstreet Pot
Matt Ewles | 3 June 2010
A thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing trip down a magnificent cave! After efficient pre-rigging of Fisherstreet Pot and a check of the water level (air space was approximately 50-60cm, far more than stated in the guide), we were underground before midday on a lovely warm morning, and soon making progress through the...
Birks Fell Cave
Matt Ewles | 9 May 2010
Another excellent trip to Birks Fell! After an early start in Buckden, we were underground by 11:30am. The cave is very easy to find - simply follow the tack up past Redmire Farm, and then after going through the gates, come off the path and follow the wall on the right...
Penyghent Pot
Matt Ewles | 25 April 2010
Fantastic and efficient trip down Penyghent! Staying at the YSS hut on Friday night (thanks to Rich and Nikki for catering), we made a hungover early start and were up at Brackenbottom by 9am, and at the entrance by 9:45am!!! I have never even seen a cave entrance this early in...
Hurnel Moss Pot
Chad Bullivant | 20 April 2010
A cracking trip down Hurnel moss :) The weather was beautiful, which meant that it was a little warm on the long walk up. We came across what may have turned out to be Grey Wife hole first (?) thinking that was our pot - alas no. So more walking, but...
Hunter's Scar Jet Mine
Gary Douthwaite | 5 April 2010
Promised so much, but delivered so little. Reports on this mine looked good, however the reality was rather different. After meeting up in Great Ayton, we all headed up towards Captain Cook's Monument and after the third stop, found the right car park! An easy walk up the forestry track followed...
Tatham Wife Hole
Matt Ewles | 28 March 2010
A pleasant and uncomplicated trip down Tatty Wife. Parking at the quarry layby, we headed straight up the hillside and towards the scar of the Tatham Wife Fault, in line with the lower slope of Ingleborough where the shakehole is found at the far end of the scar (my first...
Boxhead Pot - Lost Johns Pot
Mark S Sims | 8 February 2010
Matt & Gary arrived 10 minutes early, and amazingly I was already packed and ready to go. After a diversion back to their house (!) to pick up the rest of the descriptions, we were on our way to the Dales. Bernies was reached 20 mins ahead of schedule, and...
Boxhead Pot - Lost Johns Pot
Matt Ewles | 8 February 2010
A superb trip, one of the finest I have ever done! We were really efficient, arriving for breakfast at Bernie's for 9:45am! Mark, Gary and I were joined by Rich, Steve and Ellie. The intention was originally just Boxhead Pot however the decision was made to go for the exchange with...
Kildale Mine & Christmas Meal
Matt Ewles | 30 January 2010
On a very snowy day we met up with the Scarborough guys in Stokesley for breakfast, following large amounts of snow over the previous week. We headed up towards the village of Kildale, thankfully following a tractor which was gritting the narrow road. A trudge up the hill in the...
Lost Johns Pot
Matt Ewles | 30 January 2010
A pleasant trip down Lost Johns following Boxhead being too wet at the bottom of the entrance aven. We got down to the meeting point for all routes (via Centipede and Catherdral routes) where we swapped routes for the journey out, reaching the surface after only a couple of hours...
Devis Hole Mine
Matt Ewles | 9 January 2010
An excellent trip that didn't look like it was going to happen! We had an early start and John, Gary, Ade and I met up with Rich, Nikki and Tash up near snowy Leyburn. We found that the road between Leyburn and Reeth (which the mine is near) was closed at...
Jean Pot
Gary Douthwaite | 1 December 2009
A quite unexpectedly enjoyable trip! I started the day with thoughts of 6 hours of tight squeezes and waterfall filled awkward pitch heads, but it was quite the opposite. There are some awkward parts and a couple of crawls but not at all as nasty as the guide book suggests. A lovely...
Boxhead Pot
Matt Ewles | 30 November 2009
With the weather being typically wet on the Leck Fell Microclimate system, ropes were packed in the car. We eventually plucked up the courage to venture out and get changed and made our way over to Boxhead. The entrance is an impressive plastic pipe sticking out of the ground, below which...
Jean Pot
Matt Ewles | 29 November 2009
After the long walk up from Clapham we quickly found Jean Pot (initially mistaking Car Pot for it, but the description of the Shake Hole in Not For The Faint Hearted is very accurate). The first pitch took a little while to rig, as it is only just below the...
Spectacle Pot - Vesper Pot (not quite an exchange!)
Matt Ewles | 13 October 2009
After a leisurely breakfast at Helwith Bridge we made our way down to Kingsdale for a Vespers - Spectacle exchange. Chad, Tom, Gary and I were on Spectacle and Mark, Cat and Chuck on Vespers. We arrived at our respective entrances around 1pm ready for action! The entrance pitch...
Croesor Rhosydd
Laura Bennett | 23 September 2009
This was a fantastic trip, definitely one of my favourite this year. I woudl definitely reccomend it to anybody visiting the area. The mine is like an underground adventure playground with zip-wires, lakes to cross in an inflatable boat and the bridge of death. We followed the description written by...