Pen-y-Ghent Pot, 7th June 2008Jason Mallinson, Keith Mason, Andy&Jessica Mason, Ian Walker, Ralph Leech (DUSA/SMCC).Penyghent Pot had long been on my caving wishlist; it's a classic Dales deep pothole with plenty of pitches, lots of crawling, climbing, canals and rift.And yet I had not visited it.When I received the YSS meets list advertising a trip to Penyghent Pot just after my exams finished, I resolved to attend.It would be my first YSS meet.And so the six of us were making our way up the hill from Brackenbottom in the glorious sunshine.Walkers greeted us with the usual bemusement, and Keith repeatedly attempted to pawn off the dive bottle Jason had assigned him.We were soon at the entrance, a neat scaffolded climb covered with boards.A short period of gear phaff ensued.A short wriggle dropped into Pilgrim's Way, a crawl of some 300 metres, initially hands-and-knees in elbow deep water, eventually lowering to elbows and toes shortly before the first pitch.I had heard much of this pothole, and this crawl in particular; even Keith had told us the previous evening that "you'll need two sets of kneepads." It really isn't all that bad - not in June at least! - and it didn't seem as long as I had expected it to.I did have to stop for a rest midway along though; I hadn't been caving for months due to exam pressures and I was feeling the effects.My stomach ached, my shoulders ached, my knees hurt, and I began to wonder if I would make the bottom.Keith and Jason shot past hauling their dive bottles - oh! to be cave-fit...Once the first pitch was reached, everything changed.The passage enlarged, and a short drop lead to a long stooping passage.Here I could comfortably keep up with the bottle carriers, and we made good progress.There was a little waiting whilst bags were passed forward; bags of tackle used to replace some of the flood-damaged rigging, and for rigging the big pitches.The big pitches came as a welcome surprise; they drop down a large, impressive rift chamber.It's tall, dark and draughty.There was a hold-up, and I began to get cold waiting in the draught on the chamber floor.We continued, now in rift passage, with traverses and climbs above the stream.Andy and Jessica turned back, and the four of us carried on along the rift to a drop into the stream for some more wading, then a traverse and pitch, then something else... great fun!We came to the end of the rift section, and continued now along a low, wide canal with waist deep pools, mostly with a difficult, ribbed floor.I was convinced at one point I would fall in or twist an ankle but it passed.Everything seemed to just pass without real effort or trouble.I had long ago forgotten of any aches, or thoughts of turning around before reaching the bottom!There was another quick detackle and re-rig of a flood-worn rope and I was even handed a bottle for a (short) while.I was quite pleased to share some of the real work, having had a tackle bag for most of the way in, and treated the bottle like my own small metal baby.We reached the sump pool, a deep, long, high rift with strangely inviting water.We had shared a quick snack whilst Jason buried his bottles; I likened him to a squirrel, a thought that I found unnaturally amusing.Ralph and I began to make our way out, leaving Jason and Keith to tidy pitch ropes and pick up a third, used bottle.Nothing was particularly taxing, and we made steady progress.Often this would be the part of the trip where I wait ahead of Ralph for him to extrude himself through the tight bits of the cave, but there are none.At Keith's request, we waited at the head of the big pitches to take a second tackle bag; we waited ages and were eventually sent on without!Ralph took our one tacklebag through the crawl, comeuppance for trying to trick me into taking it.Lucky he did as well, because I slowed to a crawl(!), again having to pause and again being passed by Keith - oh! to be cave fit...We popped out of the scaffolded climb to a warm, fresh afternoon on the hill.We had a pleasant walk back down to Brackenbottom where Andy and Jessica were waiting.I picked up half a dozen eggs from a stall at the farm there, with which Ralph and I would make our tea.After passing on our thanks and saying our goodbyes, we left for a party at Bull Pot Farm, but that - as they say - is another story.An excellent trip, which I would recommend heartily and which I hope to repeat soon.Ian.
