People sometimes assume that because I cave, I’m a skilled caver with lots of experience.
This is all wrong.
Back in summer, when I heard Toby from Red Rose had found a new cave, Samantha and I decided to take a look.
After failing at the first ball crunching original entrance, we easily descended the Steve-Gray -approved Bovril Pot entrance and started our jolly crawl. I’d never been in a cave quite like this one, and it was new for me and new for Sam.
The problem with Ashery Pot when I visited, is that the entrance series is challenging, whilst the cave itself is not.
As my idol, Meatloaf, once said, “two out of three ain’t bad” but when I emerged out of the entrance series I was filled with:
A) relief
B) dread that the return trip was the same way
This is where the fun started.
Downstream, we waded through wonderful streamway til we reached a sump and darted off down a sandy crawl to reappear below the sump in the streamway again.
Further along the streamway, “above average” decorations were seen. We continued to the boulder chamber where there were many very delicate calcite formations.
We also ventured up an, as-yet, unsurveyed passage and found some delicate honey-comb looking ?limestone?
One of the things that really struck me about this cave was how pristine and pretty it was. I felt uncomfortable disturbing mud in it.
Some of the decorations seemed so close you could lick them. I felt the desire to conserve this beauty with the conflict of wanting to share it too.
If you ever get the chance to visit, visit, but visit carefully. And if the entrance series is anything similar to what I did, I’d recommend being a better caver than me too!£
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Ashery Pot and it’s exploration team were the winners of the 2020 J-Rat award.
Originally posted on this post on Instagram
