CCrraavveenn PPootthhoollee CClluubb RReeccoorrdd ISSN 1463-6131 Number 125 (January 2017) Craven Pothole Club Founded 1929 www.cravenpotholeclub.org President John Webb Chairman Paul McWhinney [email protected] Secretary John Helm [email protected] Membership and Assistant Glenn Costin [email protected] Secretary Treasurer Rob Scott [email protected] Editor Patrick Warren [email protected] Recorder and Librarian Pat Halliwell [email protected] Tacklekeeper Pete Jones SRT Tacklekeeper Gordon Coldwell Cottage Warden John Webb [email protected] Conservation Officer Chas Roberts Committee Bob Cross Ric Halliwell (Junior Vice President) Tracey Jones Steve Kelley Steve Kirk (special responsibility for IT) Neville Lucas Alan Pedlar (Senior Vice President) Terry Shipley Katie Wood Front Cover: Best Underground Print – GG Main Chamber by Liz Hornby Back cover: Best Above Ground Print – South Harris from Tiorga Mor by Rob Scott Craven Pothole Club Record January 2017 Number 125 Contents Editorial Patrick Warren 4 Equinox Hole (Swaledale) – Update John Cordingley 7 2016 Literary Awards and Photography Competition 7 Aerial Acrobatics in Juniper Gulf Mike Bottomley 9 Long Kin West: another bloody saga! Tony Credland 10 Denis Brindle Steve Warren 15 Hecky Pecky David Hodgson 18 Denis Brindle Ric Halliwell 20 Some Thoughts on Car Pot Patrick Warren 21 Denis Farewells 21 The Late Herbert W. Rhodes Stephen Craven 22 Gaping Gill Survey – Update Kevin Dixon 23 Digging Update Ric Halliwell 24 Meet Reports Sell Gill Holes – 3rd July Terry Shipley 25 Langstroth Pot (aka Rowten Pot, Kingsdale) – 1st October John Helm 26 Sleets Gill-Dowkabottom Caves – 2nd October John Helm 26 Kingsdale Master Cave – 30th October John Webb 27 Washfold Pot diverted to Sell Gill – 12th November Gordon Coldwell 27 Presidents Meet: Gordale Scar to Malham Cover Circular John Webb 29 – 26th November Lost Johns' Cave – 10th December John Helm 29 Long Kin West – 11th December John Helm 30 The Alternative Families / Come and Try Meet – October Tony Credland 31 Surveys and Drawings from Denis Brindle Pat Halliwell 35 Library Additions for January 2017 Record Pat Halliwell 36 Letters 38 The Back Page: notices etc 39 The Club Rules, Constitution and related matters are incorporated in the Craven Pothole Club Handbook. The Record is published by Craven Pothole Club Limited, Registered Office: Ivy Cottage, Horton in Ribblesdale, Settle, North Yorkshire, BD24 0HF. Registered in England No. 31935R. No part of this Record may be reproduced without permission from the Committee of the Craven Pothole Club. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Editor or the Craven Pothole Club. For further information on the CPC see www.cravenpotholeclub.org Send all material for publication to: Patrick Warren, 11 Bryony Way, Rock Ferry, Wirral, CH42 4LY Tel: Evening 0151 644 1525 Mobile 0779 256 4734 E-mail: [email protected] Typeset with Scribus 1.4.2 using URWPalladioL and Luxi Sans Craven Pothole Club Record 125 (January 2017) 3 Editorial Follow that! teve Kirk is of course too polite to say such a thing, nevertheless the previous Record was so full of derring do, with Snightmarish images of vast floods in GG, and heroic stories of jungle caving with astronauts, that it seems all but impossible to fill his shoes. It's at times like this I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young. "Why, what did she tell you?" "I don't know, I didn't listen.” (yes – the shamelessly stolen Douglas Adams quotes will still be here). This edition of the Record comes with articles touching on exploration of new caves and new routes down known caves, stories of the exploits of Denis Brindle and others of that era, and Meet Reports galore. I have also included some of the winning photographs from the Dinner and will save the remainder for the April Record (if your photograph is not here it will be in that issue!). Lastly a letter from Tom Austin is accompanied by photographs of some really quite accomplished (in my view) impressionist paintings of underground scenes (take heed, ISSA!). These I will also spread over the next few of issues. As a Club we have many things to be proud of (Eurospeleo!). We run a full programme of meets. Although attendance can be a bit hit-and-miss, by my reckoning we do pretty well. We have up-to-date facilities in Horton, if sometimes it can feel a little cramped. And I learned at the AGM that the CPC Library is regarded as an internationally important archive. As a Club we have some things to think about too. There is the perennial problem of managing the Winch meet as the 21st century collides with (let's be honest!) a somewhat aging membership. There are plans afoot to move the Library to Horton, with all that implies about the competing space requirements from the tackle stores and so on. And despite much effort we still have not yet found Long's Lake. If you have ideas or opinions on these things by the way, let us (the committee) know! In these cold winter months I'm also trying to help with the new edition of Northern Caves by calculating cave lengths from the by now extensive and nearly complete Leck Fell dataset. Armchair caving with a purpose, is my claim. Occasionally I find myself reliving some of the trips I ended up on, such as the time we surveyed through the sump in Ireby (which had been pumped out). At the time Becka Lawson (an experimental psychologist) was gathering data on how well people estimate measurements so she was having me guess out loud the clino readings, whilst secretly recording the actual reading. On the way through we encountered one of the digging parties, who must have been amazed at the claimed accuracy of the final survey after overhearing things like: "clino +10, no maybe +15,... let's make it +12". Anyway, despite the enormous progress made with the resurvey there are still things to be finished off (Rumbling Hole Inlet, anyone?). If you want to take a look at the 3d dataset yourself, it's all online: just download a copy of Survex and follow the link at the bottom of the page. Well that's it from me, now over to the people who really count... Patrick Warren http://cave-registry.org.uk/svn/NorthernEngland/ThreeCountiesArea/survexdata/ Note added: You will notice this issue of the Record is in full colour. This is for a trial period and feedback is requested. 4 Craven Pothole Club Record 125 (January 2017) ▲ Best above ground print associated with Club activities – Quinag from Sail Gorm by Edward Whitaker ▼ Best Humorous print – You Can Stop Pushing Hoggy He's Gone by Pete Jones Craven Pothole Club Record 125 (January 2017) 5 6 Craven Pothole Club Record 125 (January 2017) Equinox Hole (Swaledale) – Update his new cave high in Swaledale (at grid reference NY Last March it had seemed that the main inflow from the Blue T8198 0369) was found less than twelve months ago. It John Holes sink may have been passed, unnoticed in the was first described in CPC Record 122 (April 2016) pages 8 gloom. The end of the sump was thought perhaps to be & 9. It's the main rising for Blue John Holes (see the Northern associated with potholes further afield (maybe the Fells End Caves guide) in the Main Limestone. The underwater cave Pots?). However on the recent dives I noticed a number of was explored for 65 m but, because the water is very peat sheep bones towards the end, probably originating from the stained in the warmer months (resulting in bad visibility) the Blue John Holes. Indeed, just after I'd decided to throw in site was left until this winter. the towel at the end of this site, a large sheep's skull had floated up right in front of my mask; I'll swear the damn thing There was a cold spell in late Autumn 2016 and the water was laughing at me! finally cleared, so I went back for another go. The dive logs will appear in CDG Newsletter 202 (January 2017) for anyone There remains the question of where does drainage from who wants to read full details. During the initial exploration Fells End Pots go to? Very little water sinks here but there is the cave had hit a substantial choke at 61 m from base, where certainly enough to test on a wet day. There is a rising at the I'd tried a feet first approach (sneaking along the side of the head of Dukerdale (which Dave Haigh in the BPC kindly boulders in an alcove against the right wall of the passage). alerted me to). This is slightly nearer than Equinox Hole but On the first of the recent dives I laid 5 metres of line along either could be the rising for the Fells End Pots (as both are the same route, head first this time. There are boulders piled in the same limestone and both are lower). The hydrology of up on the left all the way; I stopped because a brief faff with this area really does need sorting out. the line reduced the visibility and it wasn't possible to verify the safety of the route beyond. On the second dive I only got The sketch survey with these notes is just my working a metre further before hanging cobbles prevented safe drawing, made as the cave was explored. It's reproduced progress. This point is 67 m from the entrance and at only here purely so it's available for anyone else researching this 0.6 m depth.