Andy Sparrow, Euan Goodland, James Howarth, Peter Sanders, Will Puddy

Guest: Josh Bakes

That was an interesting night! Hopefully others will write their trip reports but here's a summary. The plan was to reach the well decorated Regent Street in the notorious West End Series of Eastwater. There was myself, Sean, Will, Peter, Euan, James & Josh. We got going by about 7.20pm and made good progress down through the Woggle Press to the pitches. I belayed James, Josh and Euan down the ladder first, gave them two laminated surveys and advised them to get going rather than wait for the whole group to assemble. In hindsight I should only have given them one of the surveys, but I am prone to senior moments. Anyway the rest of us all got down and crawled through to Harris's Passage. I was expecting to still have a voice contact with the lead group but all was quiet, and without the survey it took us a few minutes to locate the way on. This was a tight upward squeeze that everybody managed apart from me and I was forced to admit defeat. Peter, Sean and Will continued and I returned to the pitch just in time to meet another group we'd changed with at WCC. I joined them and exited the cave.

Back at WCC I got changed and then Sean, Will and Pete arrived. They had soldiered on, finding their way without a survey almost to Regent Street but had turned around when the clock struck 9. They had made no contact with the others. This generated some anxiety as we knew they were not all that familiar with the cave and would have to navigate their way out. Oh dear, cavers missing in Eastwater - that sounds familiar! After some brief agonising about going back down we all decided to go to the pub and wait there. We gathered by the Hunters fireplace imagining various grim scenarios when, to our considerable relief, Euan arrived (to a chorus of cheers). All was good - They had reached Regent Street, but because they couldn't be sure everybody was up the pitch they had left it rigged.

So, all good and a memorable night but Dolphin Chimney and Pitch are both rigged. What a wonderful opportunity this presents to club members to have a trip down Eastwater without carrying tackle! Wasn't there some talk of another trip to West End? Now is the time! (and please can you de-rig and bring the kit out).

— Andy Sparrow 23/01/2025