County
Pot to Wretched Rabbit via Whiteline Chamber
19th January 2019
Trip Members: Ian Walker, Gwen Tawy, Al Cook, Kristian Brook
(me)
Ian, Gwen and Al had
arranged a meet up to go down County for a relaxed adult trip. I got in the
way. I had arranged with Bill to go down Ingleborough Cave (Nee Clapham Cave)
but Bill didn’t turn up for what I could only assume was a rift appearing in
the ground and swallowing him whole. If this is so I look forward to seeing the
survey. After a two hour wait I went to
the farm to collect some VHS tapes of dubious origin for…. technical purposes.
Tapes collected I proceeded down the hill to go home and carry out my technical
deeds all afternoon. I was stopped by Gwen who told me of the plan to go
caving. I decided a trip is a trip and asked to join and was accepted much to
my surprise. After the usual faff and a cup of coffee we all set of for County
and got underground for 1:13:26PM. Arrived
at the County pitch at 13:30:56, we found BPC had rigged it and so we used
their rope to go down the pitch (it’s the BPC, who cares). Gwen went down first
and did not die so the we decided the rope was safe. At the bottom we decided
to load all the rope (for the descended pitch) and SRT kits into one bag and
Gwen volunteered to carry it. It was very heavy so made for an excellent
training aid.
Gwen, Ian and myself
went down Snake Passage where as Al opted to take the easier route to Confusion
Corner. In Snake Passage I decided to help Gwen by suggesting she wrap the
donkeys dick around her ankle, this was found to be useless as the flat out
crawl did not last long and the ankle wrap proved hindering in the stooping
section. In the meanders the tight sections proved too much for the others so
they had to crawl where as I managed to stay upright the whole time (diets
working). Met up with Al at 14:01:03
and went from Confusion Corner to Whiteline Chamber via Battle of Britain
Chamber and Splash Hall (minus the splash on this occasion). Navigation was
simple as both Gwen and myself had been to Whiteline on new year's day with
Toby Speight so had the route fresh in our minds.
We proceeded to the
traverse into the parallel passage and the new stemples on the traverse were
observed and… commented upon. We went down the passage and after observing some
interesting climbing techniques by Al and Ian we rejoined the Whiteline
streamway and followed it down to Wretched Rabbit Junction.
It was debated if we
should go anywhere else but Ian was keen to go back and get a curry in his
mouth so we headed out of Wretched at 14:19:23 with some short pauses for
photography and Al cooling off (overheating due to being in a dry PVC). Out of
the cave by 15:53:47. The walk across the fell was full of debate regarding the
installation of the stemples near Whiteline, some agreed with them, others did
not. Back to the hut for 16:04:20 and a run to the Co-op for all the reduced
section items. Good trip. Good company.
Much friends
Kristian Brook photos: Ian
Walker
