Whitescar Cave 11/02/12

Trip Report by Paul Whittaker

Present: Fay, Bob, Dan ,Paul

Well it was an  early start today as we had to be in the cave by 10.00am so after the usual coffees' we made the short drive from Bernie's to Whitescar cave and had the luxury of kitting up in the car park, it makes a change from the usual roadside changing facilities. I was advised to bring a wetsuit and some kind of flotation device as the first part of this cave was neck deep in water . The problem with that was I did not own or know anybody who had a wetsuit and could I find an inner tube that was not for a comedy sized truck or tractor ... Err no!

So swimming in my fleece it was, I was told that the swim was sixty meters, that's about ten meters longer than an Olympic swimming pool, I thought, I can manage that surely? Well yes but just how cold will this  be? And can I swim when my body is spasming and I am gasping for  breath with the shock of the icy water? Well as Harry Hill would say there is only one way to find out.

We left our car keys at the ticket office and had a stroll down the show cave . First we passed the man made entrance tunnel then into the  natural cave .We had a look at the waterfall and to the left was the gate that used to be the entrance for the clandestine visits in years gone by. We made or way onwards looking at the formations like the "Judges Head" and "Ayrum Lilly" then we walked up the stairs into the magnificent Battlefield Cavern. I have been in here at least twice before on tourist trips  but today we had it to ourselves , the kind people at Whitescar had lit up the cavern with ultraviolet led lamps, this highlighted the straw stalactites and  made the place very atmospheric  all we needed was some dry ice!

Now it was time to do some proper caving we had at least thought about going through the passage in the floor of the battlefield where they have a life size shop window dummy with caving kit on but somehow it didn't feel right to disturb  this chamber so we went back down the stairs to the viewing platform overlooking the the passage we would be taking. We climbed over the fence then straight away we were in the water , I was the odd one out with no wetsuit and I just concentrated on moving forwards by any means possible! Just I case you hadn't gathered it was freezing!   There was a plastic pipe and a rope fastened to sections of the wall which you could pull yourself along , that is if you actually had the use of your fingers! Which mine were becoming  very numb. Anyway after the passage zig zagged the depth reduced and once the water drained off I soon warmed up. The stream passage got bigger and taller wound its way through the fossil rich rock. The next obstacle was a boulder choke that includes the giant "Big Bertha" rock. Bob led the way and I followed wiggling through the boulders after five or ten minutes we emerged out of the other side  and carried on along the stream passage.We passed some superb giant flowstone and curtain formations which made the show cave look very ordinary . I don't want to knock the show cave but these formations are that good!

We carried  for a good distance through freezing water and a couple of chest deep sections just for good measure then the roof started to get lower and lower.We came to the decision that this was as far as we would go, we turned around the. Started the journey back out. On our way out we decided to explore some of the side passages that were now on our right hand side. There was a big  upward heading muddy slope that disappeared out of sight that we explored and after a short climb we found a tent and kettle and stove , now I don't think this campsite would feature in the camping and caravan club guidebook  so we knew there must be a dig going on. We scrambled up the muddy slope and the passage shrunk to the face of the dig. Whoever is doing the dig good luck to you!

On the way back down the muddy slope the passage  branched off to the right with a small hole leading downwards .Dan had a quick look but decided it looked a little too steep and slippery without a rope so we made our way back down the slope and downstream in the stream-way. Our next detour was to a chamber with some long straw stalectites  to view, this was accessed by climbing up a two to three meter wall with the aid of a knotted rope that was permanently fixed .We all climbed up and took some pictures of this fragile area and after a few minutes we climbed back down the wall using the rope. Bob went first then myself then as I was turning away I heard a slipping  noise ,I looked around and saw fay fall from  not far off the top of the wall . She seemed to slide down the top half of the wall then fall outwards landing flat (luckily) into two feet of water, I think the water cushioned the landing and after a brief panic from myself and Dan, we were relieved when she got up with nothing worse than a sore finger.

At this point it was time to head back out , we made our way through the pools of water and got to the boulder choke . Somehow it looked different coming back through the boulders and it took us about ten minutes to eventually find the correct gaps that we had to wriggle through and then after another hundred meters or so we came back to the deep water. I got as far as I could pulling myself using the rope on the right hand wall then I just had to swim for the other side , I must tell you it was cold ! I really did not want to stay in that water ,just keep going I told myself ! Around another bend and the lights from the show cave became visible,  just another few meters and dry land will be mine!

After climbing back over the fence onto the grid pathway of the show cave I knew the only thing between me and my electric heated seats of my car is the walk back out of the show cave but as soon as we tried to set off there was a party of people coming into the Battlefield cavern so after they passed we went on our way through the show cave to the entrance .The car park had sheet ice on it and we had several close calls and slippages this caving can be hazardous! All in all it's a great cave with big passages lots of water , boulder chokes fantastic formations .

Would I go again ? Yes with a wetsuit and preferably in summer with the water another five degrees higher!