Gaping Ghyll
- The Far Country
I did a nostalgic Disappointment-Bar exchange via Clay Cavern during the Craven winch meet with Johnny Wilkinson. The trip itself was unexceptional, other than far the presence of a squad of RAF cadets from Cranwell. We gave them an hours start & passed them just after the first pitch, and eventually caught them again on the big pitch in Bar. You cou1d say they were taking their time, but to be fair they had very little experience for the most part. They were polite to the, last as we helped to haul them out through the greasy slab & up the entrance and we were constantly amused by remarks such as, “I say, could you give me a hand, I’m so awfully tired that I don’t think I can manage this bit - etc, etc”. The amusement wore thin as one of them gut jammed for fifteen minutes at the top of the entrance, but we all got out somehow.
Anyway the point of this article
is not to talk about the trip, but to publicise the Far Country itself. It has a
lot to offer as a tough caving trip and it has good potential for extensions. It has a reputation, as grotty
low & lengthy trip, which it is; but I have to confess to being an
enthusiast. I see looking back, ‘that I went there I7 times in 1974 and averaged
11 hours a trip in the search fur passages leading towards
Currently the extremities of
the system - Clay Cavern, India Chamber & Mountain Hall come up smack
against the Hurnel Moss Fault. This area of shattered
blocks, fault breccia, etc. is the key to a dry
connection with
Finally as a carrot to
induce you to go and really check the place out, organize a lone, leisurely
photographic trip. Along with the grot are Some
formations of. fantastic quality not just in
comparison with their surroundings but as objects of beauty in their own right.
Particularly to be recommended is a group in Northgate by the junction with
J. Sheldon.