Online Fellwalking Club - Gaping Gill and Ingleborough OFC Meet

Gaping Gill and Ingleborough OFC Meet

Wednesday, 22 August 2007

Gaping Gill

On Monday 20th August, 18 OFC members met at Clapham in Yorkshire for a walk up Ingleborough and for some brave souls to drop down 350ft into Gaping Gill Pothole, Britain's second largest cave chamber. The forecast earlier in the week was for rain on Monday but Liz had managed to hold it off and we had sunshine and blue sky for part of the walk at least. We walked up the path along Trow Gill, climbing up between spectacular limestone cliffs and finally coming out onto open moorland. No heather to be seen here though as it likes acid soil. We soon reached Gaping Gill and the colourful assortment of tents belonging to the Craven Potholing Club who organise the tours for members of the public with no caving experience. They divert Fell Beck away from the hole, one of the highest waterfalls in Britain, and erect scaffolding and a hoist to lower people down 350ft onto the cave floor. On a busy day as many as 250 people are taken down and, for a £10 fee, brought back up again!

Climbing Ingleborough

As the waiting time for our tour was about 3 hours we decided to walk to Ingleborough summit and have lunch and then return to Gaping Gill. By now it was hot in the sun and very cool in the wind and layers were going on and coming off again as we climbed up towards Little Ingleborough. It was clear enough to see across to Pendle which some of the OFC members climbed in January as well as the Southern Fells of Lakeland, a real treat! Lunch on the summit was eaten trying to shelter from the biting wind and after a quick circuit of the summit plateau to take in the fantastic views we were soon looking for a descent to take us to a more sheltered location.

View from the summit of Ingleborough

We headed down on the Three Peaks path and then cut across some slightly boggy ground to take us back to Gaping Gill just in time for the first of our descents. Liz kindly volunteered to be The Keeper of the Dogs and the rest of us were split into groups of five and queued to be lowered one at a time into the massive hole. At this point I was seriously considering making a run for it but I managed to stay put until it was my turn and then it was too late to get away! Most people seemed to enjoy the ride but I must admit it scared the life out of me! I managed to keep my eyes open on the way down but as I descended into the dark and the winch speeded up I thought I really don't want to do this!

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350 shaky feet later, once I'd 'landed' and stopped shaking and had chance to take in where I was, it was awesome. The sound of falling water was immense. There was either a constant mist or constant waterfalls depending on which part of the chamber you were in. When all five of us were down we had our own guide who took us round and showed us various small tunnels leading off the main chamber. High up near the roof at the eastern end was a small ladder and soon spots of light were appearing as people with head torches and covererd in mud appeared and made their way down to the floor of the chamber. These were the real cavers coming back from their explorations.

We have lift off!

After our tour we had a short damp wait for the hoist to take us back up. That was the scariest bit for me, once the chair started to sway I kept my eyes shut all the way! Even with the stream diverted we all had a soaking from the falling water. It was the strangest wetting I have ever had! Despite being terrified it was a fantastic experience and I'm so pleased I did it. A great day for us all!

Thanks Liz!

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"Just had to say, thank you for such a grand few minutes. I am 67 now and my knees are past the challenge of such a climb (Tryfan article) but it was great doing it again online with you." Sheelagh Finlay

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