27th Dec 2007 - Wilf Taylors Passage

A wet dismal evening saw us tramping over the moors to Lancaster hole, our original plan for a Lancaster Hole to Wretched Rabbit Passage changed due to possible flood waters. We decided to go and look at Wilf Taylors Passage, and the Montague West area. However reaching Lancaster hole we were held up for a long time by a slow ascending group - 3 cavers of which two were young novices. After about 40 minutes we heard the leader shout down to the the slowly ascending last member who was having problems of some kind: "Take your time" - that was the last thing we wanted to hear! Almost hypothermic we eventually made it in. Were the photos worth the wait? Let us know!

20th Dec 2007 - Lost Johns

This trip started with John and his lost long Johns. Then direct to Lost Johns, before John got lost in Lost Johns (with Alistair). Ground was still frozen from previous week, so virtually no water in the cave. Good turn out, Phil, Alistair, John and Tom. A few good photos again in the main shaft (mud pot?). Alistair can you name pitches?

14th Dec 2007 - Link Pot & Easy Street

A long trip , but worth it for the great photos we got. A very cold night outside the cave, and warm air from the caves created a thick freezing fog for our return walk, blocking out what had been a great display of shooting stars.

Easy Street is certainly a great bit of passage way, and not visited very often, it's only the second time I've been there, and even some TNC members have still not been there! (Bruce!)

The photo of Alistair on the main Serendipity pitch really gets the atmosphere of the place. Click here for a full screen slide show. Click here for some sumptuous sump sounds!

Alistair on Serendipity pitch

13th Dec 2007 - Digging in France

Keep up the good work. Its inspiring.

The only hole I'm in is the one in the garden for drains i'm putting in and I'm racing against the arrival of winter.

Also I should give up with GPS. Dick led me directly to Notts in the middle of the gritstone! OR take a shovel!

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Digging

After making a concrete lintel I tested its strength by tunneling underneath and pushing on until I hit a solid wall. The draft goes off both to my right and left, even upwards. Next I need to fire off about 20 charges [in one volley] to clear a bit more space.

Half a metre of snow to wade through is slowing the approach time. Oh to the days of rain in the dales. At least you only get wet, rather than stuck....

Paul Mackrill

7th Dec 2007 - Lancaster Hole

Some more pretty pictures taken down Lancaster hole on this trip, some experimentation with flashes worked out very well as you can see by the slideshow below. You can click on any picture to go to larger sized versions. Or click here for a full screen slideshow!

6th Dec 2007 - Where's Dale Barn gone?

Where's our cave gone?

On Thursday night we went to take some pictures in Dale Barn Cave in Chapel-le-Dale.

We found where we thought it was and it wasn't there.

We looked around for a bit more and still couldn't find it.

We drove further down the valley and looked again, finding ourselves in the place we thought it was first time round.

The cave though still wasn't there.

We really hope we're wrong but we've got the feeling that someone's filled it in.

The real irony of this is that if this is the case you'll now have to dive through from Illusion, the cave they dug down into to prevent you having to dive through from Dale Barn.

If you have seen this cave please could you let us know as we quite liked it.