Red
Rose Cave and Pothole Club - Newsletter Vol. 6 No. 5 - October 1969
Nine days of Caving - September 19th. to 28th.
Party: - John Kyle, Gerald Williams, Tony Coghlen
and guest. KNOTLOW MINE Derbyshire Sept. 20th,
For the third successive weekend, we arrived a Knotlow Mine, Monyash for a further attempt at the shaft that has so far eluded us.
Arrived with maypoles, ladders, and ropes, it was decided to send Tony and
Martin straight down Four Ways Shaft (180
feet) to ferry the tackle along the second coffin level to the crawl, while
John and I descended the orthodox route.
After John and I had laddered 75 feet into Pearl Chamber John's light
decided it was exhausted so we retraced our tracks to change it. Down again in
Pearl Chamber we continued
down through the 60' boulder choke to the waterfall pitch. (now fairly
dry) and then through what is reputed to be one of the finest coffin levels in the country, emerging at the bottom of Four Ways shaft. Picking up the remainder of the tackle, we continued into the second coffin level, at the end of
which we found the other two members of the party. John and I then ferried the maypoles and ladder through the tight crawl, which
proved delightful with all the loose deads hanging around.
After setting up the
tackle in the shaft I then ascended it to the passage above. Once inside the top
passage I called for John to follow, as he was waiting eagerly. The smile on his face was quickly wiped off when he was
confronted with the bones of a dead cow and a blocked shaft 10 feet along
the passage. Disappointed, we returned to the
surface. The trip had taken us 5 hours,
This mine has great
potential and further trips will be made
G. Williams.
September 24th. County Pot,
Party: - John Kyle, Gerald
Williams, Tony Coghlan Neil Boulton, Simon Wilbourn. With the arrival of the other two guests
(both novices) a trip to the Master Cave was thought to to
be a good introduction, The trip was completed without any mishap in about 3 1/2 hours.
G. Williams.
Sept., 25th, (Thursday) Alum Pot.
Party:- Gerald
Williams, Tony Coghlan, Neil Boulton, Simon Wilbourn,
After paying our sixpences
we descended via Lower Long Churn, by the
60 foot pitch. Certain
Members of the party who shall remain nameless (+++), showed us
how to ladder the pitch without belaying the ladder, and behold - no ladder. By unanimous decision he was elected to go and fetch more ladder. From there on the trip went without incident,
John Kyle.
Friday September
26th
Due to inclement weather, the
trip to Simpson's was postponed and the day spent
repairing wet suits. However with a burst of
energy a party of 3 went
into Bull Pot of the Witches,
John
Kyle.