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Knock Fell Caverns (21 February 2026) 23 Feb 2026 15:35 #21981
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- dchadwick
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An outlying cave with a short entrance pitch after which it is mainly horizontal.
We got away from the hut in good time for our hour and a half drive to the cave. Arriving on Great Dunn Fell, we drove up the road to the last sensible parking place.
After changing, we headed further up the hill and then back down on the Pennine Way.
The cave did not take too much finding as I had been there before and we had a GPS and coordinates for the cave.
Having discovered the correct shakehole, we then had to dig through snow to the gate.
The fun did not stop there as we then could not get the gate open. One side moved fairly freely but the other was frozen into the frame.
We tried all manner of ideas to get it free: Bouncing the free side, pulling on a rope, even pissing on the frozen part. All to no avail.
Eventually Paul disappeared and reappeared some time later with a long lever. The gate had one look at it and gave in.
That only left the snow plug to get through. After belaying to the gate we tried jumping on it and pushing Paul's pole through it but it was not going to give in.
After an hour and a half of trying to get into the cave, we gave up, shut the lid and headed back to the hut for tea.
Team: Dave, Grace, Paul, Matt, Lukasz, Stu & Ros
Time (spent trying to get into the cave): 1h30m
We got away from the hut in good time for our hour and a half drive to the cave. Arriving on Great Dunn Fell, we drove up the road to the last sensible parking place.
After changing, we headed further up the hill and then back down on the Pennine Way.
The cave did not take too much finding as I had been there before and we had a GPS and coordinates for the cave.
Having discovered the correct shakehole, we then had to dig through snow to the gate.
The fun did not stop there as we then could not get the gate open. One side moved fairly freely but the other was frozen into the frame.
We tried all manner of ideas to get it free: Bouncing the free side, pulling on a rope, even pissing on the frozen part. All to no avail.
Eventually Paul disappeared and reappeared some time later with a long lever. The gate had one look at it and gave in.
That only left the snow plug to get through. After belaying to the gate we tried jumping on it and pushing Paul's pole through it but it was not going to give in.
After an hour and a half of trying to get into the cave, we gave up, shut the lid and headed back to the hut for tea.
Team: Dave, Grace, Paul, Matt, Lukasz, Stu & Ros
Time (spent trying to get into the cave): 1h30m
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