Present: Julia, Anthony, Al
Some more short easy caves to check out for novice trips. Managed to blunder several times before even finding the cave. We met Al in Middleton in Teesdale driving the other way, but saw him turn round so assumed he’d follow us. Waited for quite a while but saw no sign of a Solmek van, so we turned round, headed back for Middleton, and naturally met Al going the other way again! Still, driving past him a couple of times did serve to remind Anthony of the essential bit of gear we’d forgotten – Al’s gear! So Al caved in Anthony’s gear, Anthony caved in jeans (good thing we’ve nearly finished this log book – novices might get the wrong idea…) and Al’s site jacket, and I had my own gear; such a pity that I’m such a short arse and my gear’s too small for everyone else…
We’d asked permission from the farmer before changing, but as we were walking up a car pulled up and asked if we had permission from the landowner! Whoops, well it wasn’t in the guidebook. Found Moking Hurth then carried on up the hill in search of Moking Pot. Bumbled around looking at loads of shake holes and eventually found it. Rigged ladder and line off dodgy metal spikes, with a back up to an old bit of wood and descended tight pitch. Moking Pot was dead short, but prettier than expected: straws and flowstone etc. Found the connection to Moking Hurth, Sheasby’s “Fucking cold shit hard duck.” It looked just that – a very narrow rift with a slightly wider bit at the bottom which was full of water. Had a look and decided it looked far too miserable, so we went out, derigged the pitch and went to Moking Hurth.
This has apparently got four entrances, although we only spotted three, and it is not a cave for lard arses. Or short arses for that matter, so not quite sure what I was doing there… Some rather tight rifts, and wide gaps between the chockstones/pieces of wood on the traverse, but there was a rope so it was ok. The other end of the connection looked equally revolting, although I’m sure we’ll be able to persuade some people to go through next time. On the way out, Al and Anthony took great pleasure in calling me a novice, just because they won’t be able to for much longer. The caves are a bit short alone, but together they make a good trip.
Julia Bradshaw