The Jubilee weekend gave Steve H and I a rare chance to have some fairly unrushed time together. A conversation about Malham Cove one evening left us with the idea to go to Yorkshire. Most places were booked up but by chance I found a cheap place in Settle. The minimum communication for the owner left me a little worried that everything would run smoothly on arrival esp as the instruction was to obtain a key from a coded box near the property. We left Bristol fairly late again as Steve had to work and Emma had just had her swimming lesson. We decided that leaving later should avoid the worst of the M6 bank holiday traffic. We arrived somewhere around the 10.30pm mark and it was a relief to retrieve the key and get inside. Annoyingly there was no parking outside the house so we had to pay to park in the nearby carpark over night. Emma was enchanted by the house and rushed about checking everything out. It was a big huge town house which felt well out of my league.
Emma's room had a room off it, with another bedroom and lots of games and books to look at and downstairs we were treated to a woodburner. We soon headed to bed as we were booked in to go caving with the YSS the following morning who were running have a go caving sessions as part of the Overground underground festival. The morning started well with us taking the wrong turning to get to the caving hut. Once we found our way we soon arrived and met all the other friendly members of the YSS. I was slightly concerned about climbing harness's being add to the kit pile as although Emma has been caving before she hasn't done any vertical stuff. In reading the description of the trip I'd sort of presumed it would all be walking/crawling stuff. Despite the reservations I figured we'd see how it went, if anything was too tricky I was more than happy to sit it out with Emma.
We drove the short distance to the cave (Birkwith Cave) and got changed whilst lots of tired looking 3 peaks walkers passed us by. The cavers all chatted to Emma lots when she was getting changed and helped her to kit up so it was little hesitation that she entered the cave. It was a n easy cave (for us adults) but much harder for Emma, climbs and holes to fall in etc. One or two sections she had to be pushed up in the hands of the cave leader Bryan. He had to remind her a few times to keep a check on what she was doing rather than just jumping for it. Despite doing lots of scrambling on mountains I think more time needs to be taken to explain to her about the dangers of looking before you leap. At points in the cave there was water, it went over the tops of Emmas wellies which she wasn't too happy about. Everyone in the group put effort in to distract her and despite one minor melt down she continued. The end of the cave was a canal which had featured on a wild swimming programme. I was very tempted to have a swim, but the prospect of getting cold before going into another cave did not massively appeal, and really I'd have wanted to strip down so I could have my warm kit for afterwards. Would love to come back another time though, perhaps with some water wings!
Then it was onwards and out to the surface for another trip for those of us who were up for it. On the trip were two other beginners - Dot and Dave who also decided they would like to go back underground again. So it was back to the cars for a quick kit up then off to Calf Holes for to descend a bit into the cave. I decided the only way Emma would have a comfy trip was to give her my neoprene socks (the others confirmed it would be another wet cave) so Emma had my neoprenes and I switched to my normal socks. Stu and Bryan rigged the pitch, then we waited inline to go down. As the ladder didn't reach the bottom there were two options - either be lowered or climb the ladder and come off to be lowered. Emma got a bit impatient waiting her turn, but was quite relaxed about it, until it was her turn and she was sat at the top of the pitch. She was hoping to go down the ladder, but getting onto it was pretty awkward, and she took one look at it as lost her confidence. She wasn't going to go down, but one of the cavers Stu persuaded her to sit down at the top then push herself of it to feel her weight in the harness - she was then okay to go down and got a big cheer when she reached the bottom. She then wanted to go back up again and have another go!!
I'm pretty scared of heights and wasn't looking forward to my turn - although I've done a fair bit of caving in Wales and the Mendips I've tended to avoid the vertical/exposed stuff mainly. The ladder swung about a fair bit and it was a relief to reach the bottom and be lowered the last little section. Once had the bottom I had a nose at the waterfall which was plunging into the bottom of the cave just beyond where we were coming down. The water went over the top of my wellies and I immediately appreciated how cold Emma's feet must have felt without neoprenes on. One of the other cavers we were with, Anthony, was off to explore that end of the cave but we were to go the other way. En route we saw fossils and formations and had a squeeze to pass through. Emma went through easily declaring she didn't know what the fuss was about, and thankfully it was easy for me too (having got stuck last year I've somewhat lost my confidence in really tight spaces). We then descended down to the waterfall (browngill) and Stu one of the YSS cavers entertained Emma by having a shower in the falls. (it wasn't till afterwards Anthony realised Stu had his car key fob round his neck!)Then it was back up and out into the passage, over some wet areas which Emma managed to avoid getting too wet in, into the open and a different exit to the one we had come in at.
I did not have my camera with my but here is someone else's photos for you to see what it's like
Calf Holes
The cave had quite a bit of flood debris in it, one I would not like to tackle during rain or post heavy rain.
We then changed and went back to the YSS for tea and cake whilst Emma managed to commandeer an Ipad from one of the club members which kept her entertained!
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