8th June 2008
People present - Duncan Jones, Daniel Jackson

Weather - very warm and sunny.

The permit for this outing had been obtained at the start of the year, many a previous plan was hatched to visit but had stumbled and ultimately failed for numerable reasons. Today was looking promising, the weather had been mostly good all week and there was no sign of rain. Unfortunately this usually means a long hot slog up to the entrance, and this we got!
Passing a walker on the way up he couldn't believe we were going underground on such a fine day as this, Dan told him it would be nice to get underground and into the cool of the cave - nice it would be, shame it was such a long walk to get to it (about 2miles of it)

Our hot sweating masses arrived at the fine entrance to Hunt Pot and quickly sought shade provided by the steep sides of the shakehole. A brief rest was had and we started kitting up. Dan wanted to rig so off he went after some considerable faffing with his gear, whilst I found a perch where I could take some pretty photos, it was at this point I commented on the fact that it was like a 'mini Alum Pot'. Once Dan was out of sight I trundled round to the rope to await the cry from below.

As 'rope free' echoed from the depths I set about leaning over the edge and getting a proper look down the shaft, a fine sight indeed. The pot is equipped with P-bolts, which sit alongside the older in-situ bolts, these still appear to be in good condition. As I arrived at the broad ledge Dan shouted up about adding a deviation as the last section was slightly wet. A quick scan around and I found a partial solution which took us out of the water a little bit more, even so it was still damp on this last section and this was dry weather - this is one place I would not like to be in wet weather!

After a quick look at both ends and the interesting climb over to Shrapnel, which we didn't bother with as we were going down Shrapnel afterwards, we set off out, both us taking a few photos on the way. I was de-rigging and this gave Dan the opportunity to take some photos from the surface, after various fine poses by myself Dan spotted some birds and started taking some snaps of them - the feathered variety before you get any ideas! Neither of us being ornithological types we just guessed at what this mildly colourful bird might have been, I took a guess at it being a wagtail, due to its tail wagging slightly. A quick search on the internet revealed the Grey Wagtail (with yellow underside) to be the culprit!

Once out we had a short lunch break before heading to Shrapnel Pot. The entrance series of this is somewhat mobile and movement down the slope results in lots of debris clattering downwards, so for the first part we stuck close together so as to avoid kicking anything on to each other. It was my turn at the rigging this time and starting from a scaffold pole I dropped down a slot and did some gardening of the worst of the loose stuff, Dan was above questioning our choice of potholes. At the bottom the next pitch head is reached after a short shuffle (it's all on one rope with no passage to speak of between pitches) and this reminded me of Bar Pot, slight slope to narrow pitch head and then it opens out. And opens out it does, probably of similar dimensions to Hunt Pot shaft, but in the dark this time. It was about this point that most of the looseness had gone, only some minor small stones here and there, some of which I gardened again!

There is more rigging involved in Shrapnel, which makes for a more technical descent, although it is all easy SRT. At the bottom of the main pitches there is a scrappy looking 7-8m pitch, with lots of looseness at the top. This pitch landed on a bouldery floor with only a short crawl to where the water disappears, we decided not to bother with this section as it wasn't inspiring, we had seen the best bits already!

With Dan de-rigging this time I was first up the pitch, about halfway up I was asked to hang around whilst some photos were taken - Dan had left a slave flash at the top of the pitch in the hope of gaining some good photos. The fact I had to hang around for a few shots suggested that on camera they looked good - hopefully they turned out well enough to be shown here..
At the top I scuttled off up the next pitch a few metres to a ledge, whereupon I got off the rope and followed the short passage to a climb (or pitch, it had bolts in-situ) that connects to Hunt Pot, there was just a hint of daylight visible. The reminder of our exit was uneventful and we emerged into a rather hot afternoon, we then had a pleasant stroll back after our pleasant days potholing.

Duncan Jones

Photos - One by Duncan Jones, the rest Daniel Jackson