GOC Caving Group made a return visit to Excalibur cave, near Hutton-le-Hole, in October. There are only two pitches, both short and so we decided to use a ladder on one and free climb the other, with the aid of a rope. The entrance, in effect, is three feet or so above the ground, the entrance shaft being walled at the top to protect it from flood water when there is heavy rain. This is not, you understand, for the comfort of those underground: it is to protect the scaffolded shaft from water damage – a not unreasonable consideration given the amount of work that went into digging and stabilising the shaft. So we climbed up and down into the cave.
The first part of the descent is a climb down the scaffolding. At the bottom of the shaft there is a narrow slot to one side through which you wriggle head first to come out on a narrow ledge above the next drop. You would have to try fairly hard to fall down it, though, because it is very restricted at the top. By the time I got there, Gary had already rigged a ladder and lifeline and I was posted down the narrow shaft. It was an easy climb to a step into a small chamber near the bottom, with a large hole in the middle of it down to a lower level. Once the others had joined us, we descended a narrow continuation of the shaft immediately below the ladder, and pushed through a squeeze to reach the level below the large hole safely. Some crawling and squeezing brought us to the top of a rift with a stream flowing in the bottom, and we climbed down to the stream with the aid of a length of rope.
We went both upstream and downstream, and explored one or two passages leading up from the rift, but the most adventurous bit was downstream. Eventually we came to a place where the stream disappeared and a dry passage continued, sloping upwards. Along that passage we found our way round a couple of awkward squeezes back down to the stream, and a short distance further on a clamber up and a wriggle round a tricky corner led to a tiny chamber. Beyond that it was possible to descend just a few feet, back to the water – the current limit of exploration in this direction. We are among only a handful of people to have been to this point in the cave.
When we got back to the surface an hour or so later, the day was yet young and so Matt and Angus donned wetsuits and went into Bogg Hall Rising cave. That involves wading in water up to the neck, and to reach the farthest point of exploration you have to take off your hat, stretch out on your side, and float through a narrow, water-filled passage with just enough air space at the top to allow you to breath. They said they enjoyed it: I am glad I did not go with them.
On the Sunday we went for a most enjoyable walk, partly in forest and partly in open country, close by.
