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A very interesting trip, with a mix of finely decorated fossil passage, plenty of mine workings and some active passage (although there wasn’t much water to be seen). We intended to enter and exit via North Shaft but the show cave owner asked us to rig both entrances – fortunately Alex had a length of rope in the back of his truck to enable this.

Once down North Shaft most of us dumped the SRT kits and we made steady progress, taking time to look at the formations, but not too closely at the dodgy roof in some of the mined section. Despite being dry passage, there was a refreshing crawl through a muddy pool to keep everyone entertained.

Once at Shockle Shaft, Alex got a glimpse of daylight and shot of out of the cave, leaving the rest of us to explore the active series. Once back to Ladder Cavern, we didn’t waste any time making our way back to North Shaft and were soon back at the show cave where tea and cake were taken.

Party: Nigel, Richard, Alex Jnr, Gordon, Alex and Susan

As requested Nigel
Richard, Nigel, Alex & Susan, ‘young’ Alex & Gordon . Trip time approx 5 hours.
Lovely, sunny, Dry day - after a very dry week.
Long drive – about an hour.

Guy at Stump Cross caverns shop was really friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. What a lovely café/visitors centre. Highly recommended! Knowing what cavers were like (taking their kit off any time any place) we were even advised to park the cars round the back to get more privacy.

We set off on the 5 minute walk across one field. Nigel opened up the lid & Alex rigged the Shockle shaft, just in case anyone fancied a through trip.
Then we carried on up to the North shaft manhole entrance. Nigel wished he’d brought his archaeological kit as he saw some sediments at the top.
Richard quickly rigged this after Alex spotted the tiny 12mm hole through the side of the manhole lid; that just fit the piece of rope he carries round his neck = deviation. Then quick descent down. Most of us dumped our SRT kit at the bottom.
I was so glad not to have my SRT kit on, as there were two or three very tight squeezes where I wished I had n’t even got quite as much in my chest pocket, (not to mention a big fat beer belly LOL) as it was so tight. How Alex managed it with SRT kit on is amazing.
AND YES it was the only bit with any water in it {even the stream way} -so we were forced through a duck which made it ‘orrible. It also meant that we were then soaked for the rest of the journey. I did it on my back at first, but on the way back, Susan told me quite rightly, it was easier on my right hand side. Only 1m long. But also tight at the same time with only 6” of air above & body going through 6” of water, not a combination I am fond of!
There’s; (for me) quite a lot of crawling to do, but not really that bad in these dry conditions. And the masses of formations and caverns more than made up for it. No real issue with mud mentioned in the descriptions.
Fair play to Richard for navigating round! - I would have got lost several times! The decription here is very accurate though www.braemoor.co.uk/caving/route15.shtml
Some really interesting bits where the miners have worked.
Alex opted for the through trip,(I think he was dying to try out his new rope that he had rigged earlier?!) It was easy to get too {no mud really}. Again perhaps due to the unusual dry conditions?.....
The remainder of the party did a bit more exploring of various bits. Young Alex got a photo of a very precarious pit prop.

But then time was against us as we were due to report in. So it was back off to the surface.
Quick change and then a lovely brew and cake in the café.
Thanks to everyone for sorting permits, rigging, leading etc. Good job. Good day.
Nice to have 'young' Alex along who seems very keen and knowledgable.
Looking forward to next one!