ribble dave jump.jpg
[Hit Counter]
You have reached by the skin of your teeth the site of a caving club based loosely around the area centred around Leyland Lancashire England. Though we are primary a caving club we do branch out into other activities as a club and as individuals. We Cave/pothole mostly in the Yorkshire dales using Single rope technique (method of ascending and descending safely using one rope). But we do make the effort to cave in other areas Mendip, South Wales, Peak District, and occasionally France. We had a pretty good time in France in which we found the joys of canyoning we are currently trying to get some done in UK so watch this space. We have just come back from Canyon France 2003 we decided to canyon for a full week instead of caving after going down a dry in fact a very dry canyon in 30 degrees in wet suits we thought that the week could be a bit trying. But after more careful use of a guide book we picked on more salubrious canyons which enabled us to use our new high bombing technique.
The water in France is warmish instead of cool, crystal clear with stunning scenery all about the general plan is park car at the top and bottom and make your way from A to B down water falls cascades and river beds. If a pitch is encountered a pathfinder abseils to down to check the potential pitfalls for the lemmings that person tells the above members that in their opinion that its safe as long you jump in to such an area. If not the whole group abseils down the double rope pulling down a single end of the rope so rope pulls through its anchorage . We wore wet suits to protect us from cold but the environment is punishing for our equipment especially ropes. We camped at Villard de Lans which provided all the amenities for us during the day it was hot and at night cool due to it being at 1500 M
These picture have been lifted from a French web site but they do give a good impression of what say a typical French canyon can look like. On our trip we took a video camera in the near future I intend to a Mpegs of some the highlights on the web
If your new to caving and actually want to know what it all about well it exist on a few levels what its all about.
1. Being in a alien environment and surmounting the difficulties which nature has placed in your way.
2. The camaraderie of being with like minded people to get to where you want to be.
3. The countryside which the caves are in is antidote to the towns were most of us come from.
4. The techniques and skills needed to access the potholes/caves make the sport broader in its scope.
People think that caving is about being wet,cramped,dark, well they are correct in some respects but not on the whole. Well it is pitch black being underground not much light can reach through solid rock. But at the entrances some light can be available but having light which can illuminate the passages is vital for obvious reasons. There are two main sorts Electric and Gas the electric lamps are ex mining lamps with halogen bulbs powered by rechargeable lead acid or nicad cells. Or Gas which is a flame which burns with white/yellow flame the gas is generated by dropping water on calcium carbide which releases acetylene gas which then burns.
Most caves have a wet element because caves/potholes are formed by water but the gear now available enables people to comfortable even when your wet through. Waterproof suits with fleece under garments, Wet suits, Wellingtons,Knee and Elbow pads,Helmets, Various Harnesses and bits of metal work are now what we wear. So caving gear has changed and is now colour co-ordinated for the fashion conscious.
To see what's available at Inglesport or Bernies cafe
Some caves are cramped but most are not and in some places a agoraphobic might be in trouble due to the size of some of the passages and shafts.
So most of the reasons for not caving can be overcome if you are a 50/50 about trying the sport give it a go and do try it out
Gaping Ghyll Main Chamber
http://www.ingleton.co.uk/ or http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/~arb/yorkshire/
We cannot be said to a "pushing club" by that we mean we do not do any digging to find new caves. So we can be described as a sporting club with caves for the beginner through to the higher level of pots/caves for the experienced caver. The club has a substantial amount of rope and ancillary equipment available to members to use. The rope is replaced every 3 years to ensure that it is only used when it is in excellent condition ( rope degrades in time) a good anti gravity procedure. Some personnel equipment is available for beginner's to hire as they work out whether caving is for them.
The club is a member the Council of Northern Caving Clubs (the CNCC) this enables us to have permits for some of the access restricted pots/caves. Because of this we book caves in advance and have a meets list of permitted and unpermited caves. 
The Gournier France
Grotte de Gournier - A truly magnificent river cave in the same location as the world famous Choranche show caves. A large diameter dry upper fossil gallery with massive stal "beehives" is paralleled by a lower active streamway. The water is blue, crystal-clear and icy cold! The streamway ascends a number of cascades (with wire traverse lines) and deep pools. Wetsuits are essential. a boat is needed - the entrance to the cave is a 30 m wide underground lake our boat went down on us
When we have a weekend in the Dales for instance not all of us cave we have people Walking Mountain Biking/Cycling so we have a variety of outdoor activities open to members of the club. We have members who also do other outdoor sports such as Skiing, Mountaineering ,Diving members this makes for a less focused group of people yet more balanced across outdoor pursuits.
The club has female members so hopefully other women wont be put off joining what generally could be called a blokes sport but for chaps out there we have been known to sink a few beverages.
People who can be contacted dependent where you are based.
Leyland. peterbtai@yahoo.co.uk
Stockport p.latham@bigfoot.com
We also have members in these towns should you be these areas Leeds,Middlesborough,Blackburn,Wrexham,Liverpool should.
Tatham Wife hole
http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/~arb/yorkshire/glossary.html is a good site for details of the Yorkshire area
One of our members SRT down Hardrawkin Pot 
Carlswark Cavern Derbyshire
Carlswark Cavern is a very good for beginners as it can be done without having to ascend or descend any vertical development within the cave. A typical day would be meet at a Cafe have some form of heart attract fodder then a browse around a gear shop for window shopping or numeric transfer. Pack the equipment in the order required for the cave/pot, decide who's rigging what order the bags go in. Then set off for the hole,change by the car weather come what may ( some of us are fair weather cavers) do the hard bit get wet and tired , change back into dry clothes. Set off for the pub/cafe for a sustanance upgrade, go home, wash the ropes,and clean our personnel gear, home
At the moment that's what our club is about and to say all are welcome as long as your over 18 years old. We are sorry about this but it due to the need for formal qualifications in taking minors underground and nobody in the club has gained a cave leader certificate.
Another string to our Outdoor Bow has been our 2005 Via Ferrata trip to the Dolomites we flew from Liverpool with Ryanair ,Car by Hertz, Insurance by Snowcard, Books from Needlesport,Gear hire from Due and Due Cortina all very resonable (also see Collets mountain holdays for tips)and Cicerone - Via Ferratas of the Italian Dolomites Vol 1 and 2 (2002) . We started off Camping but monsooned off so we bailed out and stayed in Corvara in a Guest house More details when I get round to it but here are some images to Whet yout appetite
More details and bigger versions of the superlative pictures are available on request.
P.Latham Webslug
