The Geryon

The original plan for today was to go down Nettle Pot in Derbyshire. Unfortunately, Dave J (who was due to collect the tackle from the mill) had come down with the lurgy, and as I didn't have the time to get it myself a rethink was in order.

In the end, George and I decided to revisit Draenen and push to see the Geryon. This had been our plan a few weeks back, when - along with Mel, Loz, and Paulina and Bartek - we had attempted this trip for the first time. Unfortunately, difficulties with route-finding had put paid to our plans that time, so armed with greater knowledge we set out to complete some unfinished business.

We made rapid progress, popping through the u-bend in the Last Sandwich into MSAD in far less time than we did last time. From here, fairly straightforward navigation saw us through to The Hall of the One and the start of Luck of the Draw. After the interminable crawling in the Last Sandwich, the boulder-hopping and walking that characterised these sections of cave were quite pleasant.

Once in Luck of the Draw we began to see some intricate cave formations before too long, including boulders coated in pure white calcite. Despite many caving trips, I had not yet seen whole boulders coated this way, and “breathtaking” would not be too strong a word to describe them. However, things got better with the arrival of Medusa’s children. Here the passage is liberally decorated with formations in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Columns, helicities and more white boulders abound, and everywhere we looked there was something to marvel at. In fact, it was hard to know whether to sit back and try and take it all in, or zoom in and observe the sheer intricacy of individual formations. Eventually, we pushed on knowing that we would stop for photos on the way out. We also didn't want to get distracted from our main objective: the Geryon.

Soon after leaving Medusa's children, the passage lowered to a crawl. Judging by the description, we were on the cusp of the Geryon’s Lair. Shortly afterwards, we found ourselves in Cantankerous Surveyors’ Passage and after a couple of minutes, we were climbing up a slope into the Lair itself. There were two things that were enjoyable about being there. Firstly was seeing the Geryon itself! It truly is a remote wonder: intricately formed and tucked away in its own elusive chamber. Secondly was seeing the logbook entry from Keith, dated 2010!

After marvelling for a good while, we started the long trudge back out. This was interspersed with various photo opportunities, and I'm quite pleased with how the photos of Medusa’s Children turned out. Although, they're so impressive, it's almost impossible not to get a good photo! Eventually, after plenty of crawling, boulder-hopping and plodding, we emerged into the evening gloom and started the trudge back to the cars. This was an excellent trip and one that will have to be followed up with a visit to Circus Maximus!

Cavers: George Tolley and Dave
Trip report: Dave
Photos: Dave