Present: Ian W, Jamie G, Ben B, Alexandria J
Duration: 2 hours
Sunday trip for Chrimmermeet 25. After a confusing morning of sorting out which cave to do, we finally settled on Bull Pot of the Witches without SRT (I was not a huge fan of this cave before Sunday, mainly due to believing that I had been cursed by the witch in the cave). This is because our group were dropping like flies, so we were left with one fresher and three leaders. The ratio must be a DUSA record.
We drove up the notorious road to Bull Pot Farm, thankfully, no more cars were lost to this section of road. We arrived to find it very busy with cars everywhere, but this was no worry since the hills had been dusted in snow overnight, so it made the whole atmosphere very pretty.
The silver lining for us was that the sun was beating down, and for once, I didn’t feel cold while changing. It was just lush. We got all our things together and went to find Ian so we could head on down the cave. Thankfully, he also had the rest of the gear that we definitely hadn’t forgotten to bring.
The traverse was rigged (using very lovely new bolts – (trying to score brownie points here as they were Ian’s handywork)) and we trekked our way down to the first pitch. We then rigged another rope as a safety measure for the climb down the chimney. Sadly, no time for chimney sweep reenactment, we were on a mission to grant Alexandria’s goal of cave climbing. From here we followed the upstream route into the cave.
In an attempt to lift the curse, we paid our respects to the witch at her altar. She had been given numerous offerings ranging from the heel of a welly to a mars bar wrapper. With our budget the way it is, we had nothing quite as special to hand over – only words from our hearts. Somehow though, I think this worked since after this, I didn’t feel any sense of tension between us. My opinion of this cave has also been changed, but I’ll come back to this.
We pushed on past incredible calcite structures and hopped over boulders to find ourselves lost, or so we thought. We were faced with a squeezy climb down a stack of boulders. Believing our navigation had led us the wrong way, we read the route description again multiple times, only to realise that no wrong turns had been taken. The only option was down. The climb led to a flat out crawl, while squeezing through, I thought I was going to get stuck but Ian encouraged me along leaving me no choice to not. I’m glad he pushed me on because it really wasn’t that bad, and we were greeted by two toads on the other side. I do wonder whether one was the witch and the other was her buddy. She must have wanted to see who was wandering around her stamping ground.
We followed the hading rift for a couple of meters until we were once again greeted with a climb. This time it was upwards. It was tighter and wetter than the previous. It took a bit of grunting and huffing for the larger of the group (me) but we all made it through.
What a sight we met at the top. It was the most beautiful cave formation I have ever seen. Stunningly preserved gours. The limestone terraces trickled their way down this chamber with such beauty. Truly incredible. 100% worth a visit if you can make it through the squeezes.
Our next challenge – Upper Gour Chamber. The way in was another tight squeeze, Ben and Alexandria made it through with ease. Next up Ian. Delayering was necessary here but with quite a bit of pushing, pulling and wriggling he popped his was up into the chamber. I delayered and attempted the squeeze, but unfortunately, I couldn’t make it through.
Getting Ian back out was the next challenge. After a slight worry that he was stuck in there for eternity, we managed in a team effort to free him.
The return journey. We headed back through the gour chamber, down the squeezy climb along the rift, back up the boulder climb, over the big boulders, up the stream, to the waterfall, up the chimney climb, along the traverse, and we were out. Alexandria derigged the rest of the traverse – getting practice in early for the leader course, I’m sure. Then it was back to the farm to get changed in their luxurious changing rooms and have a cup of tea in the warmth. (Don’t forget to pay the £2 charge. Very worth it.)
A lovely way to finish off Chrimmermeet.
Well, not quite finished yet. We still had the drive home. Joe drove us back in the newly named car – Chunsey. What a beautiful name. Strong DUSA links to long churns and the sickly drives across the country.
It wouldn’t be a DUSA trip without the usual McDonald’s stop for a bit of scran. The journey felt short as we had Christmas and white girl music playing to keep us entertained. Almost felt like we were back in Klute, enjoying an SNK.
Notes to remember: read route descriptions before going into a cave. Always pay respects to the witch, it’s not worth getting cursed. And one from John Klute, don’t Quaddie and drive.