This is I described a trip to Bagshawe Cavern where The Caving Crew found a passage we’d never been to before:
One Tuesday in the summer, Jonathan and Hazel joined us for the first time, with Alison, Samantha, Judith and me for a trip to Bagshawe Cavern to explore the main series.
I know the main series well now and some standard fun happened:
‘the slide was enjoyed
‘we found the river
‘we sent Judith up the upstream sumps – she returned suitably annoyed and unimpressed, and everyone else returned bright-eyed and happy.
But the sign of a good caving trip is doing something you’ve not done before – so on this occasion – we set off to look at passage Siobhan had mentioned to me, that I’d explored a short way with Mark and Matthew a few weeks before.
Since Jon, Hazel, Alison and the mudmonster had seemed up for everything so far, we nipped down the passage to see if it went.
I knew the passage was called “the glory hole” but nothing more. There were some fun climbs. There was a garden centre. A swimming pool. And some remarkably pretty worthwhile sections. Eventually we turned back at a handline down a ~4m freeclimb.
Thanks everyone for the great trip – exploring this passage was a clear highlight for me!
As ever, we now have a reason to go back – who wants to come?
p.s. protip to all cavers: don’t try and google image search “bagshawe glory hole” if you’re looking for photos of a cave.
Originally posted on this post on Instagram
