Well, we have been living up here since the end of January so we reckoned it was about time we went on a YSS caving trip (Nenthead and Pikedaw were nice but they were mines!). So, we duly drove up to the School early on Saturday morning with all our gear (with the exception of my old battery driven Kirby lamp, which has finally died, and not before time!). It was very quiet but we were not alone in fancying a trip somewhere.....Martin, Stuart and Oaty (a Finnish friend of Stuart's; apologies, this is not how her name is written but it is approximately how it is said) were just tucking into fine caving breakfasts.
After the regulation amount of faffing, Marble Steps was chosen as a good cave given the weather (raining but due to stop) for Oaty's second caving trip (Stuart had taken her into Alum on Friday evening). Ropes were packed and we headed off in Martin's car for the cave. Despite caving for many years, Mike and I had never visited this cave before so the idea of an exchange trip in the upper portion of the cave sounded ideal.
At the end of the road, we sat waiting for the rain to ease then got our gear on and plodded up to the cave, a walk enlivened by Martin making small boats out of rushes for us on the way up.
At the cave, Martin disappeared rapidly into Sidewinder and Stuart efficiently rigged Gully route. Oaty followed swiftly with the minimum of fuss - for someone only on her her second SRT trip she looked totally at home. If only I could have emulated her smooth and quiet progress into the cave. But several years away from SRT had left me very rusty and somewaht nervous though things did start coming back to me, eventually. Mike brought up the rear and we all gathered at the bottom for a quick bite to eat before exchanging routes. Martin, needless to say, had derigged Gully and come back into Sidewinder long before we had exited the cave. Oaty again showed my technique up something rotten and my language became very fruity in the most confined regions of the route. Stuart gave me some useful tips at the couple of the pitches - it is amazing how many bad habits one can get into over time - so next time round I should be more efficient and less profane! Mike brought up the rear and derigged the cave.
Outside, the sun had come out so we had a very pleasant walk back to the car and a non-graded change.
Some pictures of the trip are on Facebook, link below
www.2343ec78a04c6ea9d80806345d31fd78-gdprlock/media/set/?set=a.10154204608618572.1073742188.646238571&type=1&l=d3bb994aec
Team: Martin, Stuart, Oaty, Mike, Jane
Time: about 3 hours
