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by Pete Flanagan

Pete and two friends from WAYA caving club, Roger Atkins and Barnabas Page, visited the Peak district from 6th to 11th May. We stayed at the Orpheus C.C. cottage at Parsley Hay, which was very comfortable and has indoor kit washing facilities including a rope washing machine, user friendly hot showers and a warm dormitory.
But enough of such practicalities, you want to read about holes in the ground. Our first trip was with O.C.C. to Owl Hole in Dowel Dale. A huge depression was recently emptied of rubbish by the local council, and the lads, mainly Kenny Morton and Mike Chambers, have dug into a very well decorated, if muddy fossil system at the headwaters of the river Dove. The main part of the cave is situated 10 metres up the wall of the surface shaft and is reached by attaching an electron ladder to in situ bolt hangers. The very attractive Hoggmorton Aven and Crystal Pallas Chamber can be reached from here, the latter by a further 8 metre ladder pitch. In the floor of the surface pot, are two further entrances, a low crawl in water reaches the pretty KeMiCo chamber, and a 40 metre deep scaffolded dig down through a boulder choke reaches a small stream. See 'Descent' issue 184 for more details.

 One reason for joining ACG is my interest in mines, so a visit to a local lead mine to check out the activities of T'owd Man, was on the cards. I chose Hillocks (or Whalf) Mine near Monyash because it contains some good coffin levels. For those who don't know, these are cross cuts, driven without explosives using pick only, through solid limestone! There are some beautiful examples in this mine, where sweeping pick marks over 200 years old are visible on the walls. We used SRT mainly to get some practice in, but ladder & line would he equally suitable for this trip.

Our final cave was the highly enjoyable and sporty Jackpot, more commonly known as P8, at Perryfoot near Castleton. The farmer has a huge number of swallets on his land, and when we finally found the correct one, we had great fun getting down to the sump. This cave is highly reminiscent of Swilndon's One, except that the limestone is beautifully scalloped and fluted. The first obstacle, a 3 metre drop called Idiots Leap is usually rigged with a fixed handline, but take your own, just in case! From here, a tall, winding vadose streamway leads to two 8 metre pitches, the first very wet, after which, the stream is lost down a tiny grovel! We climbed upwards here, and followed a well worn route to the large Mud Hall, and down to the impressive T'owd Mans Rift which precedes the sump. The pitches are fitted with 'P' anchors, we used ladder and line, but SRT could be used by a small group in a hurry! It looks as this cave would become impassable after heavy rain.