Present: Maria Buckles, Lydia Miller, Ian Walker, Hannah Walker
Duration: 5 hours 30 minutes
3rd times the charm! We set off from Durham around 8:30 to meet Ian and Hannah at exactly 10:36 in Inglesport as arranged. After some quick scran, we set off towards the Kingsdale Valley, parking and getting changed rather quickly. There were 2 goals of this trip: 1- to finally reach the bottom after not having enough rope the last time; 2- to make sure Lydia was confident in her rigging skills in case she was voted to be the next president! After a very hot walk up the hill, Lydia got started with rigging the 1st pitch, whilst Hannah and I sorted out the bags so we didn’t end up taking 4 down, and Ian got changed from his shorts into his oversuit. Ian went down next, so he could make some notes about the rigging, then Hannah, and then finally myself. At the start of the second pitch, Ian decided to climb up some of the walls to make notes about the various bolts that seemed to offer an alternative high traverse route for times when water was high. So I followed Lydia down the 2nd pitch which she had rigged amazingly, and we chilled at the slot pitch ready for Hannah and Ian to follow. Once they had decided that we were just going to rig the alternate pitch on our way out, Lydia and myself started down the 3rd pitch through the slot. I do have to say, this pitch is actually one of my favourites from the last couple of trips I’ve been on, with a very convenient ledge for the rebelay, and just overall enjoyment of going down and up it. Once at the bottom, we started towards the fourth and penultimate pitch, one that I remember not thoroughly liking due to the deviations that seemed so far away. Last time, on the 2nd trip down during Dinnermeet, I remember having to use a lot of energy to move the deviations from below to above me, but this time, it was a breeze! Lydia and I then progressed to the start of the final pitch where we waited for Hannah, and then Ian, to join us and have a quick snack and water break. This is where we got to last time, and we identified that the drilled thread which we used last time, was just randomly placed and indeed not part of the route, thus wasting 6-8m of rope (the amount Josh estimated we were short of last time). This time, instead of staying high and doing an odd floorless traverse, we opted for low, finding better placed bolts and the correct amount of rope was used. There was some chatter about doing a knot pass – which I absolutely despise – but ultimately, down Lydia went, with enough rope to reach the bottom so yay, no knot pass was needed. Once at the bottom, we chilled, with us looking at the crystal clear water of the sump/duck. Like, it was so clear, 3/4 of us did not realise there was water there till a bug floated across the top of it!!! After recovering from the amazement, we started our ascent with Lydia going first since she had been down the longest, followed by Hannah, followed by myself, and then Ian de-rigged, getting some extra time to make some final notes. We carried on out, without really stopping, myself only stopping at the bottom of the slot pitch so I could take a full bag off Ian (omg was it heavy) so he could carry on de-rigging with only one bag to carry. That bag felt like it was my body-weight, so ascending became a very sweaty and hot endeavour, with a notable quote from me to Lydia telling her to “prepare the water” for when I finally got off the entrance pitch in the sunny weather that made it so much more hot. Ian had decided that he had got what he came for, so no longer wanted to rig the alternate 3rd pitch, so once he surfaced, we walked back to the car, oversuits half off, quickly got changed, and then headed to the Marton Arms for a nice pint (+soft drinks) in the sunshine – although Ian got us a table in the shade… Overall, I don’t think I have ever come away from a trip so happy and I was beeming the entire car ride back to Durham. I was so impressed with Lydia, with her rigging, and her caving in general. And I was so happy that Hannah and myself had finally bottomed Bull Pot after more than one attempt. All I can say is, what a banging trip and it’s one I’d go back and do (unless it was really wet since some of those pitches would’ve been unpleasant/hazardous).
Maria Buckles