Present : Fay, Dan, Paul (myself)
After a morning coffee at Bernie's we headed up to Bull Pot farm kitted up and set off on the long trek to Pool Sink. After lots of tramping through sodden peat and heather bogs we headed uphill following the stream bed and Pool Sink came into view.
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| Parked up in the lane near Bullpot Farm |
The entrance was a crouching height vertical slit in the left side of the gully when facing upwards.This crouching soon lowers into a hands and knees crawl with some tight and twisty ninety degree bends that me and dan struggled wrestling our rope bags down. After about five minutes of this crawl the passage opened up and we could stand up and make our way down the winding passage toward the start of the first pitch .
I rigged the first pitch and one by one down we went. We came up to a T junction and the way to the right went to magpie chamber and the way to the left continued downwards into vast Easegill system. We made our way left along a stream passage and we came to a traverse that needed to be negotiated so we set about rigging the rope over a rather deep looking rift whilst the water was crashing down into the gully below . I stood with one foot either side of the gully and reached down and placed a mallion with a quivering hand on the last P hanger, toes the rope to it then we progressed trough the tall vertical passage. Eventually we came to another pitch and Dan rigged it and down we went again . We made our way to another traverse however Dan had discovered he had lost all the mallions somewhere on the way down the last pitch! We mustered as many krabs between us as we could and we just had enough to be able to make the traverse and rig the last pitch. We descended the last pitch and entered the so called "Green and smelly passage". This passage does wiff a bit!
I rigged the first pitch and one by one down we went. We came up to a T junction and the way to the right went to magpie chamber and the way to the left continued downwards into vast Easegill system. We made our way left along a stream passage and we came to a traverse that needed to be negotiated so we set about rigging the rope over a rather deep looking rift whilst the water was crashing down into the gully below . I stood with one foot either side of the gully and reached down and placed a mallion with a quivering hand on the last P hanger, toes the rope to it then we progressed trough the tall vertical passage. Eventually we came to another pitch and Dan rigged it and down we went again . We made our way to another traverse however Dan had discovered he had lost all the mallions somewhere on the way down the last pitch! We mustered as many krabs between us as we could and we just had enough to be able to make the traverse and rig the last pitch. We descended the last pitch and entered the so called "Green and smelly passage". This passage does wiff a bit!
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| Dan rigging the 3rd pitch |
Now Easegill is a massive system with passages seemingly shooting off in all directions and a good knowledge of this system is advisable to avoid getting lost. After making out way along this passage we came up to a T junction it was decided we would take the right hand route ,as we made our way on we came to another junction . I carefully placed a few strategic piles of rocks to help us navigate our way back as I did not relish the thought of getting lost in this system! We needn't have worried though, as we decided to make our way into the next chamber and turn around and head back, we walked into the next chamber only to find ourselves back in the Green and smelly passage where we started. This worked out perfectly and was a good time to start making our way back out. We started ascending the pitches and Dan de-rigged as we went we advanced along the traverse then in the pools at the bottom of the pitches we searched for the missing mallions after a few minutes splashing around we found them!
We made our way back to the T junction at the foot of the first pitch and dumped the bags we then headed up the right passage to have a look at Magpie chamber.
We made our way back to the T junction at the foot of the first pitch and dumped the bags we then headed up the right passage to have a look at Magpie chamber.
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| Formations in Magpie Chamber |
This chamber is entered by an opening on the left hand side about fifty meters from the T junction. It is a fairly straight forward passage to negotiate and as you progress a pure white flowstone becomes visible on your left hand side. When you look upwards and emerge into a large chamber you can see some fantastic black and white stalactites and curtain formations . If you get the chance to go here it is well worth the effort. After taking some pictures we set off back to the bottom of the first pitch. After collecting the rope bags and sorting ourselves out we prussiked our way back out of the first pitch and once at the top de-rigged and stuffed the wet ropes into the bags and headed upwards to the dreaded entrance crawl! We climbed our way up into the tunnel and dragged the rope bags up and shuffled our way along the winding tube for around five minuets then we emerged back into daylight and made the long walk back to Bullpot Farm.
Overall the trip is a good one I thoroughly enjoyed it, from my own point of view I need to learn and find my way around the system to enable me to get more out of it but this will take time. Would I go back there again? Ohh yess!
Paul
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