A wet Thursday afternoon finds me stuck on the M50, trying to get to Dublin Airport for a 6pm flight to Leeds, to start off our Easter trip to the Yorkshire Dales. Thankfully, the traffic's not as bad as it looks, and I'm soon standing at the check-in desk with 11 other like-minded UCD Cavers.
UCD Caving Club has many experienced cavers, but for reasons unknown tends to hang out in Clare and Fermanagh - apart from our annual canyoning sojourns, we have only ever organised one club trip abroad (South Wales in 1999). Hopefully, the success of this trip will mean more frequent trips to the UK - as someone pointed out, it’s quicker to fly to Leeds and drive to Helwith Bridge than it is to drive from Dublin to Clare for the weekend!!
We were delayed in Dublin for a while, which allowed for the consumption of several pints. Ryanair eventually decided to fly, and after a bumpy landing (everyone-bounced-out-of-their-seats-bumpy), we were soon in hire cars, driving towards the Dales.
We arrived at the Schoolhouse, and quickly dumped our bags in the rooms and headed across to check out the local tavern. We were delighted to learn of the long opening hours, even though most hit the hay fairly early in anticipation of the caving ahead.
Next morning, we woke and made plans - two groups heading to Alum (one doing direct, one doing Long Churn to bottom) and a group heading up to Jingling Pot. We all however headed first to Ingleton to fill ourselves with tea and fried goodness in Bernies. Several people set fire to their credit cards buying gear, with several members deciding to come over to the PVC coated brigade, having suffered long enough in worn cordura suits.
The Jingling trip was uneventful, though they failed to find the lateral cleft route. The group doing Alum direct also had an easy day, but as for the group doing Long Churn - a comedy of errors!! First, they had to figure out which surface hole was the entrance. Then they split in two to search around and lost each other. Then they tried to head down Diccan, only to be informed by an over-zealous instructor that "it was a grade V" and that "they were going to kill themselves". Eventually, they found the way, and as we were exiting the direct route (having grown tired of waiting for a crossover), we saw them arriving at the greasy slab. They also bottomed and exited before dark.
Saturday arrived, and we all headed up to Kingsdale - three groups of four, doing Bull Pot, Jingling Pot and Rowten Pot. A quick breakfast at Inglesport was required (in the interests of fairness - for the record, I prefer the Inglesport cafe...).
Bull Pot was descended but not all the way - a combination of water and a devious deviaton persuaded the group to give up. The Jingling group missed lateral cleft on the way down, but bottomed, surfaced again and rerigged it to gain access the second time - a interesting diversion down the Polltullyard of Yorkshire. Rowten was the winner on the day, receiving rave reports from all involved - however a return trip was guaranteed due to a hauling strap failing on one of the YSS tackle bags, sending a first aid kit, a camera and Lorenzo’s lunch (Noooooo...) tumbling down the 40m pitch and then down the 60m pitch ...
After many pints on Saturday night, we awoke on Sunday to a winter wonderland - the dales were white with a fresh coating of snow several inches thick. We sent groups to Sell Gill (Wet Route), Alum (via Long Churn) and Rowten (on bag retrieval duty).
Sell Gill was uneventful, Alum was a photo trip which suited the level of traffic in the cave and the guys returned from Rowten with the missing bag - the only casualty was the lunch box, as the camera and first aid drum miraculously survived the fall!
On Monday, fatigue was starting to take its toll, with a few cavers having a lie-in. Apart from them, we sent the four who hadn't seen Alum yet down Long Churn while the other six split into two groups and did the Sell Gill wet/dry crossover. A good time was reported by all, but no time to waste - we needed to eat, clean gear, dry gear, pack and get back to Leeds airport for 8pm.
A frantic gear repacking exercise in Leeds airport ensured we were mostly under the small Ryanair baggage allowances on the way home and by midnight, we were all back home again resting our weary bodies.
All in all, a great trip was had by all, packing several enjoyable trips into the four days we had. A big thank you to the YSS for letting us join, use your gear, facilities and expertise. We will certainly be back again soon.
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