I don't know if it's still there, but at some point I'm sure there was a page of either the Wezzie Gazette or the Craven Herald framed in the Royal Barn's gents toilets. The article described the discovery of a new pothole on Leck fell and how features of it had been named after various Kirkby Lonsdale brews. The accompanying photo was a terrific shot of a caver on Monumental pitch so called after a pint popular with the diggers. As this is also the favoured tipple of both the other members of our usual Thursday caving team, a visit seemed in order.
A GPS brought us within a few metres of the entrance, but in the end it was Mike's sharp eyes that found the boarded entrance in a shallow sink hole. Boards quickly off and he was away down the impressively scaffolded shaft to join the natural streamway at the bottom.
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| The impressively scaffolded entrance shaft |
A short squirm along the stream and then over some boulder debris brought us to the first of the Kirkby inspired features, Orange Tree chamber. (I think I'm right in that, pre The Royal Barn, the Orange Tree pub was the tap for Kirkby beers). A couple of small stall were definitely on message sporting subtle orange hues.
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| Orange formations in Orange Tree chamber |
Our rapid progress was brought to a shuddering halt as I swapped over with Mike to rig the first pitch. Sensing that this could take a while if he didn't help, he quickly found me a natural thread to start my rigging from and pointed out a couple of spits. Having rigged the first y-hang from these, I then found another and re-rigged the pitch head. Finally I was off down the pitch, but 3 metres later I failed to find the deviation bolts and spent further time rigging off a couple of natural spikes. As it was huge, I did manage to find the ledge 10 metres above the bottom of the pitch and for once, ended my descent in the right place.
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| Mike descending Monumental pitch |
An interesting little climb led down into Constellation Hall and a number of ways on. The bolts at the top the aptly named Loose Head pitch were placed so that even I could see them, right in front of me at head height. Part way down I was once again rigging off a natural before noticing the rebelay spit.
Following the stream once again the top of Stanley's pitch was soon encountered. Unbelievably I spotted a spit straight away, but where was the other? Moving back a couple metres from the pitch head and lying in a convenient stream Mike found the errant spit and rigged it for me.
The short pitch lead to a small rift and the sump, but after a brief nosey I reversed making some excuse about having a camera in my pocket. Oddly neither Tony nor Mike fancied a look and we instead began the upward journey.
The plan had been to test out a faster photo protocol making use of both Tony and I having relatively bright lights. Shouting direction down the pitch to Tony I didn't realise I was placing him directly under the water and when he arrived at the pitch head he was behooded and slightly damp.
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| Mike ascending Monumental pitch in black and white |
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| Mike ascending Monumental pitch in colour |
The moors were clear and bright when we emerged and it was a brisk walk back to the car. There was now only one thing left to do, find a couple of pints of Monumental in the Barn...
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| Tony and Mike replacing the boards on the entrance shaft |
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