Easegill
Through Trip - Saturday 30th. September 2017
Party: Malcolm Hughes, Dave Matthews, Jeff Croston
This trip had been planned for some time and started with Malc & Dave nipping in County Pot to drop a ladder down
the pitch for our exit. (Lockable ladder from the impressive new store !)
Stage two was a descent of Wretched Rabbit and then a crawl down the
Spiral Staircase (downwards is easier!) to Trapdoor Chamber then the high
level route via Green & Smelly Passage down to Holbeck
Junction. Malcolm then guided us unerringly through the streamway and Stop Pot
to climb the boulder slope up towards Main Line Terminus traversing the huge
greasy blocks on the way. Our next objective, soon located, was the well
decorated passage heralding the start of the Manchester Bypass. This route
is a tortuous series of very tight and awkward crawls from chamber to chamber
culminating in Battle of Britain chamber after a great deal of effort. A timely
reminder perhaps that this route is primarily intended for emergency use in
flood conditions and not perhaps for recreational use !
Battle of Britain Chamber lies alongside the stream just a few yards
from Spout Hall so the navigation was successful and complete. A
straightforward walk to Oxford Circus and thence to County Pot pitch and the
awaiting ladder to the surface soon found us back in Easegill.
A longish trip involving some hard work but nevertheless very
satisfying. Our next project is Top Sink to Boundary Pot - bring out the surveys
!
Jeff Croston