Kayleigh had recently completed this through trip with Natasha, Mark & Keith. Presumably without her camera as she decided to lead this return trip to rectify those missed photographic opportunities.
We scrambled up through the quarry and into the cave entrance, rather a blessing to be out of a bitter wind blowing across the area.
Good progress was made until we reached the climbdown where upon a similar situation arose to that in March 2014 ie the safety line wasn't quite long enough. The big question is, had they lowered the floor or raised the roof? Magic was worked that would have made Paul Daniells proud, perhaps "Not a lot" as he used to say but we all made it safely down and on towards the canal.
It was here that Kayleigh's Peli case was opened and flash guns placed. Some poor soul was now required to be the 'model' standing waist deep in cold water and who else did she chose, (perhaps in revenge for previous videos in cold water) none other than our very own videographer extraordinaire Mr Keith Edwards AKA Caver Keith. All went well with the photo session and fortunately the deep water masked Keith's now very blue legs.
There is an interesting slide down a tube into water with a left turn at the bottom and then a roll to the right to squeeze up through a narrow opening and onwards towards the infamous "Slab".
Natasha went through with a question on exiting "What squeeze?" Others of us tried and found middle age had taken its toll and the alternative route beckoned. As many have found before alternative does not equal in any shape or form EASY but we all got through and continued the crawls amid a distinct draught so the end could not be far off. We emerged into light rain with that wind still present and made our way down to the parked cars to change into something dry and warm. All in all a good trip revisiting one of the classic routes.
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| Keith in the Canal Freezing his N*** Off |
Present - Kayleith, Natasha, Keith, Mike & Ian.
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