Team: Giles Barker,
Natalie Carter, Liz Daniels, Ray Duffy,
Paul Wilkinson.
This was
only my second trip underground and very nearly my last. It was a typical
morning at Bullpot, everyone getting in each others way while trying to cook
breakfast but after a serious amount of bimbling by
everyone Ray, Giles, Liz, Paul and myself set off for Lancaster Hole.
It was a
lovely day to be underground because it was rather wet and windy on the top!
Having reached Lancaster Hole entrance we rigged it and Ray went down first, I
was to be next. Of course when you are a beginner you do not know how to use
SRT, instead I was lowered down which can only be described as a fate worse
than death (you didn’t have the big numb sad Ed.) It would be a couple of
months before I would do the same trip but using SRT for myself. All that aside I finally reached the bottom of the pitch
soaking wet, someone had not told me to put my hood up- Paul!! I then moved out
of the way to allow the others to abseil down and we then set off for Diamond
Hall. Paul did a quick detour for me so that I could see the Colonnades and it
also gave me an opportunity to empty my wellies from
a load of water.
We finally
reached Diamond Hall with only a couple of bimble
stops from Ray and Giles. I was to learn from later trips that bimbling about by Ray and Giles was very common and
annoying at times. As soon as we arrived it was time for a brew or even a coffee,
I don’t normally drink it but it is amazing what Diamond Hall does to the taste
of the stuff I Before any digging could be done we had to rig up the trays so
that a proper pulley system cold come into being. That done it was down to some serious hard work by (almost) all. By this time we had
been joined by Charlie, Christine
and Lee who helped us as well.
When I got to the front I was helped by Charlie who ended up doing most of the
digging while I put the debris into the trays. It was tiring work but at least
it warmed me up a bit. I eventually gave up at the face after some digging as I
was rather tired and also in need of the toilet really desperately.
Of course
going to the toilet underground involves a lot of skill and accuracy especially
if you’re a woman! Enough said! Unfortunately I was caught in the act by one
Ray Duffy with his camera - what a pervert! Fortunately for me and maybe
unfortunately for him the photo did not come out. What a relief (in both senses
of the word). Anyway, luckily for me he won’t be able to do that one again in a
hurry, by the time he has bimbled about, got everyone
into position with his flashguns and taken the photo I would have been long
finished. Never mind Ray. After a couple of hours digging it was decided to call
it a day, Charlie, Christine and Lee left first but we couldn’t do that because
of my great lack of SRT knowledge so we were to go out of County Pot via
Manchester Bypass.
This, for
me had to be one of my worst nightmares. For those who have not used Manchester
Bypass it is full of long miserable crawls and tight rifts, It
is not exactly one of the places you would want to take a beginner like me.
Things were going pretty well until I managed to bang my knee extremely hard
against a piece of rock. To say it hurt is an understatement but It brought tears to my eyes. We eventually reached Broadway
and we had soon made our way out only to be met by the elements. This time it
was horizontal rain, gales and fog. Great!! It was just what we needed for our
trip back across the fell but aided by Paul holding one hand and Liz holding
the other we stumbled across the fell and back to the farm managing to fall in
every bog possible.
To say
that the lights of the farm were a welcoming sight was an understatement, we
were glad to go back and into the showers even if though they were not very
hot. All in all a good trip despite the minor epic getting
out.
Natalie Carter.
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