Topic

Lost John to Notts II through trip

Team: Damian, Alexr, Julie, Susan & Gordon

Trip time 5 an’ half hours.

I mentioned on the YSS website that I was really looking forward to this trip. (It was one of the very first ‘proper’ SRT trips we ever did three years ago when we started caving). And to date I have done it three different ways –Monastery; Cathedral and then an exchange trip between the two.

Earlier in the week I asked if there was any prospect of ‘exploring to the bottom or perhaps even some of the new 3 Counties bits’. Alex offered to show us around.

Little did I know what we were in for!

Today we were going a fourth way. All the way to the bottom. Down Centipede then across Battle Axe and down Valhalla.

Alex and I were talking on the drive up and he mentioned that Knotts II entrance was ‘interesting and he could show me it on the way back if we had time’.

On the way down Valhalla I found the ‘new’ rope was so slippy it was passing through my stop almost as fast as a Simple – without depressing the handle and that was 10mm?

Once down at the bottom we had a discussion about what to do next. After listening to the description of what was downstream, we agreed that upstream would be the way to go. Alex was keen to show everyone the way through to Notts II and he said quote

”Don’t worry there’s only two tight squeezy bits.- if you take your SRT kit off you’ll be fine.”

Even Damian had n’t been this way before. So the trip was on.

Anyway up we went, which all felt quite normal. Up a 20m rope climb. Was it near Boxhead? Julie was trying out her new pantene. Everyone except Susan and Julie packed away their SRT kit away at the top of this pitch. Julie and self had small personal bags but Alex had a 25L? …. Damian and Susan kept their SRT kit on.

We carried on climbing up through loosish looking boulders covered in mud. Nothing we had n’t done before. Alex was doing a brilliant job leading us through a quite a tricky to find route? Once we got to the top of this we started through the body sized mined passage.

I had no idea what I was in for. Ignorance is bliss –they say.

I’m no big fan of small squeezy passages in caves. Whenever I enter a small passage I have to get into a certain mindset. And just keep thinking ‘it’s not as bad as you think’ and’ it’ll get bigger(the passage LOL) or end in a minute’.

It did n’t.

And there's no turning back once you start.

Full credit to the guys that dug out this connection. It is truly amazing. To do this crawl is hard enough. but to have dug it out - a body sized passage, shored up throughout with some of the most amazing construction I’ve ever seen in a cave. Wow that is skill determination to the 10th level and beyond.

The passages (in a weird way) were really challenging yet strangely enjoyable if you are a masochist that is.

The tunnel had us upside down, back to front, crawling backwards, face up, face down turning Zs, Ss and dropping down into bits you can only feel your way down and hope you aren’t going to drop off somewhere.

The weather had been dry for 10 days so maybe this improved things for us? As the mud did n’t seem as bad as the descriptions I’ve now read. It was even perhaps helping us slide through? Although I think every bit of my Meander is thinner now.

This tunnel has to be seen/experienced to believe. But as someone has already said Do not venture in unless you are seriously committed to a very, very long and contorted crawl that is only body width and height for its entire length. It took maybe 45 mins in total. But perhaps because it twists and turns so much and is never the same for longer than 3m - it takes away the normal hard work/tedium feeling one normally feels in long crawls. This really does feel something different. Plus no water helped make it bearable.

Eventually we came out into Notts II which is a beautiful cave. There’s some really nice formations in there. Wonderful cave. Will definitely go exploring there again - so much to see.

On the way out Damian volunteered to ‘run out, up the fell and start de rigging Lost John’s’ - what a hero, thanks Damian and also thanks to Alex for descending halfway and taking a tackle bag off Damian whilst me Susan and Julie went back to the car.

Fantastic day.

I’m so glad Alex tricked me into this as He’s so right - if he had described it as it really was, then I would n’t have done it.
But on being told at the end of where we had been, my opinion changed.

Knowing that that crawl was the connection that had been worked on for so many years I feel privileged & proud to have done it. Although I would n’t do it again in a hurry!

A big thank you to all the team. Susan, Damian, Alex and Julie.

Nice one Gordon, glad you and the rest enjoyed it did it at New Year, it is a brill trip.
You just need to do the Deaths Head part now, not half as bad as the other one.....trust me

well done Gordon for pushing your comfort zone

40 minutes? I could tell you were not having fun lol, I don't think it took anywhere near that long. Well done anyway, I certainly don't think you would have done it also, if you read the trip I wrote a couple weeks earlier, though that has the added misery of Cupcake (see about half way down)

www.brcc.org.uk/reports/pdf-north/Cupcake-BigMeanie.pdf

Best way to describe the passage? Turn the Notts 2 entrance shaft on its side and you get close

P.s. It was no muddier than last time when I did it in far damper conditions.

Good work Gordon. The "new" rope was 9mm by the way. If it had been truly new, you'd have really known about it!

I typed this alternative report last night, but Fiona turned the internet off while I was doing it, so I couldn't post it at the time.

Lost John's - Notts II

Having not been caving for a month, I was fairly desperate to get underground. Quite frankly any trip would have done, so I was very pleased to find Lost John's on the meets list: a real bonus.

After a long wait for Alex Ritchie to turn up at The School, we eventually gave up and met Gordon at Cowan Bridge, only to find Alex sitting in his passenger seat ... apparently we're supposed to guess! Anyway we had to forgive him as it was his birthday, so nothing more was said!

While changing it transpired that neither Julie nor Alex had been to Lost John's before. Given this and the low water conditions, I was beginning to wish I'd planned some kind of exchange in the top-half of the cave. However, as it turned out, I was very glad I hadn't.

Swiftly to Groundsheet Junction, we stopped and discussed our options. Alex had done the connection from Notts II and was eager to show a few people the way through. I was pretty eager to join them, but Lost John's would need derigging. The obvious solution seemed to be to all go to Notts II and I'd derig afterwards.

The section from Lyle Caverns to the start of the connection section is superb, and highly recommended as an addition to a standard Lost John's trip. Why I hadn't been that way before, I don't know. There is some lovely old passage littered with really nice stal, helictites, curtains etc. A very nice section.

The connection section is as I expected, but absolutely not as Alex had explained to the others ... "about 5 mins' crawling" he told them! The truth is that there's nothing terribly awkward, but equally there's nothing very easy for about 25 minutes, the majority of which is probably spent either stooped, or crawling. I found myself very grateful on occasions for the serious amount of shoring that has gone into the dig. I dread to think how many trips have gone into making the connection.

Once we'd arrived in Notts II we had a detour upstream for the benefit of those who'd not been in there before. We then headed for the surface where Alex and I derigged Lost John's before heading back to The School for tea and the Meats List.

An excellent trip and one that comes highly recommended. Many thanks to Alex for showing us the way and the others for doing the connection without moaning!

Party: Alex R, Susan, Julie, Gordon & Damian
Time: 4.5 hrs

Susan and I had a good giggle as the '5 mins squeezy crawl' went on and on and on.

Everything is bruised now, but what an achievement, for us and those that dug it.

All the pretties were lovely too.

And the liver & onions (no, this isn't a special formation, just the meats list!)

Thanks again.