Red Rose Cave and Pothole Club - Newsletter Vol 6 No 3 - July 1969
COUNTY POT
I must apologise for not naming the party members
(six) but two were first timers I haven't seen before, one a L.C.M.R.S. deserter
and two just appeared from the Top Sink lot. I arrived at the farm expecting a
hard trip from Top Sink to Cow Pot but was horrified to find a party of novices
threatening to attempt County Pot led by a certain L.C.M.R.S. member who hadn’t
even been in Easegill before. At this point I made the great decision that
probably affected those lad’s lives (i.e. lengthened them)
and offered to lead them to Easter Grotto.
We laddered Lancaster Hole entrance pitch first for
Duncan's team who after much discussion had decided on one way. Top
Sink - Lancaster ole trip then made our way to County. The descent
went smoothly until Poetic Justice where cries of agony suggested a novice in
difficulty. I returned through the crawl to find a very frustrated L.C.M.R.S. member
sliding up and down the chimney with no visible means of support and pleading
for artificial aid. In the end we de-laddered the pitch and laddered the Showerbath side of P.J. In all, I negotiated the crawl
a grand, total of 8 times0.
Further such incidents were conspicuous by their
absence I didn’t even get lost once, until we met Duncan’s team on the
climb up to Easter Grotto. A quick look round, a rests, and a
barley sugar piece and we began the return trip upon
which I promptly made a wrong turn and came to a screeching ha1t fifty feet
above the Assembly Hail floor. This directional inconsistency was
immediately rectified with an automatic demotion of myself to No. 2.
presently to regain my former status when Pete tried to lead us
upstream from Assembly Hall.
Next stop, Stop Pot where I found our party
had dwindled to one novice, the two from the Top Sink lot and myself.
A quick calculation of four plus nothing does not equal six and I returned
through the boulder choke to find one lamp and two misguided
individuals groping upwards into the nether reaches of Lancaster
Hole. One of the new lads was tiring slightly and had no lamp part of
the time so Pete lent him his spare and I retired to the rear. Whilst
the party was close together our system worked
without hitch as I could shout instructions
to Pete at the front like "turn
left Pete", Eureka Junction and Pete would turn
like an automaton but by the time Trident Junction was reached
the party was quite spread out and I arrived at the collapse below Three
Fag to see Pete thrashing about in the stream bed. I readjusted his
directional stabilizers and he promptly climbed the boulders and into
Trident passage. A final adjustmcnt and we eventually reached P.J. where the awful
warning was tied onto the ladder or otherwise it could be called a threat.
"Hodge" it read, "do not remove this ladder OR ELSE
and signed BIG ROGER followed by a PS, "If this note is not here ignore it
we’ve gone out". Willingly I left that and the next pitch laddered.
I conclude with an entry in the records of the useless information Bureau. That is the maxim a number of mistakes was made by Pete:- one each at Assembly Hall, Stop Pot, Poetic Justice, Confusion Corner, Snake, and two at Trident Junction.
D Hodgson.