Topic

Nigel fancied a trip to Rift, but before we could get underground we had to run a load of scaffolding tubes down to Leck Fell for Alan's dig. Unusually it was most un-Leck Fell like, with not a breathe of wind pervading the crisp morning sunshine. This made for an unseasonably pleasant change once back at Masongill.

Once through the crawl and down the second pitch, we dropped Route 66 to land in the impressive Coates Cavern. We then headed of to find the Temple of Doom extensions. As Nigel lead up through a choke, a rock tumbled down towards Keith Then as I headed up 2 \"key stones\" moved - well f*** that - certainly enough for me and not worth missing playing Monday evening football for. Nigel and Keith headed on for about 10 minutes, returning very gingerly through the suspect section. We later ascertained that this can be avoided by taking Platt Bypass (note for next time!).

Back in the main chamber Keith had a quick look in the Kendal (is this the correct name?) extensions, while I located the route to Large pot. And very pretty it was too. A short muddy section then lead to the duck which we decided was doable if you were on an exchange, but a bit grim to do twice! We gave it 5 minutes to see if the water level would drop, but to no avail so it was time to head out.

Emerging to a blue sky we were treated to a sublime cloud inversion, with the fog at road level belying the conditions just a couple of hundred meters higher. Back at the school no one believed us ......



Party: Keith, Nigel, Rich

Must say....i wish we had found the By-pass first, as that was the scariest bit of cave passage i have done for quite a while

Scariest bit of caving I've done was getting stuck in Coppy Gill Passage on my bill. Shame that a read of the guide book afterwards means I think I got stuck at the easiest bit!

Won't be heading there on my own again with clouds gathering above, still scared of tight bits.

Ian B.