It being a cold day, with snow still on the ground, and a large team we had a staggered start with the B team following the rigging team 30 minutes later. The B team made the traditional mistake of missing the high level traverse that heads to Hammer pitch and had to turn back, only to discover that the point where we turned back was where it started. We caught up with the rigging team on the Battle Axe Traverse and eventually re-grouped at Groundsheet Junction.
Here Dave, Ros and Nige B kindly offered to de-rig and the rest set off to Lyle Cavern where we ascended the fixed ropes and continued towards the crawl through to Notts2. The pace began to slow a little now as every cavity had to be examined to find the way on. Before long though we were sliding down a series of short but very snug vertical tubes that would be much more difficult to ascend. Half an hour of thrutching followed where instructions like ‘flat out, head first, face down’ or ‘flat out, feet first, face up’ were passed back depending on whether the passage was horizontal or downwards. Occasionally we would have to wait whilst someone ahead negotiated an obstacle and you had to try not to look at the perched boulders that you lay beneath. The diggers who pushed this passage did an amazing job though and anything loose is braced with scaffolding. Eventually we reached a refreshing muddy pool which we had to crawl through which more or less signalled our arrival into Nott2 where we were able to stand again. A quick climb down a short knotted rope and a romp along the streamway took us to the Notts2 entrance shaft where we emerged into a cold crisp winters day with blue skies. Finally there was the walk back up to the upper carpark so we could appreciate just how far we had crawled.
That evening in the Helwith Bridge pub Alan and Lugger turned up, both of them were involved in the dig that we had just been through, apparently it took about three years to dig all the way through..
Team: Dave, Ros, Nige B, Andy, Janis, Bob, Ade, Keith, Phil, Paul
