Present: Ian W, Al C, Stacey A, James C, (Pete H)
Met at Inglesport at 11.30 (we all arrived within five minutes!). James and Al chatted with Mr Shop Owner downstairs (“If you can get across the beck, you should be alright,”!). Lamps were hired and off we went (minus Pete who ran off with a bloke he met at Bull Pot Farm the previous night). Naturally it was too wet for James’ cave (it had been raining steadily for a day or so) so we changed tack and went for Slanting Cave instead, if memory serves.
We had a nice sit in the sun whilst James enthusiastically dug away spoil from a tight wriggly entrance in the bottom of a small shakehole – “Fame and fortune await!” From a glance in the guide book it appears to have been Sloping Cave.
Unfortunately we couldn’t find Slanting Cave so we dropped into Yordas Pot instead, a 24m daylight pitch into a damp aven with a bedding plane crawl through to Yordas Cave. Stacey remained on the surface as a substitute for a call-out; Al descended only the entrance shaft and returned to the surface [Presumably he thought sitting with Stacey in the warm sunshine more appealing than crawling into the stream at the foot of the shaft…] Once inside the cave bedding plane gives way to streamway. Turning left at an inlet, there is a rather fun plunge pool and cascade to scale (from the top of which diffuse daylight can be seen). Downstream from the inlet is Chapter House Waterfall – a drop of 9m and not to be attempted without our kit! Whilst we didn’t know it, this falls into the main chamber of Yordas Cave (55m long, 15m wide) and can be bypassed via the inlet. We ascended the shaft and walked down to the lower entrance (ie Yordas Cave).
The downstream section enticed James and Ian in with its foam covered walls and roof (it was rather wet) whilst Al and Stacey explored the main chamber. After weighing up a pointless duck/sump thing we left by a yet lower entrance – an awkward pebble and stone bank which moved down instead of us going up! We ran round again to enter without our SRT kits to have another look at the sump, but it was really cold so we left. A swift change in the rain followed and we headed back to the farm for a party.
Ian W