Cuckoo Cleeves - Wed 19 Apr 2023

Andy Sparrow, Lawrence Wilson, Paul James, Peter Sanders, Rachel Sparrow, Rich Nurse, Will Puddy, Yvette Mayo

Met on the side of the road in lovely evening sunshine, got changed and walked to the entrance alongside two fields of just sprouting beans. Yvette swiftly rigged the entrance tube and we all descended without incident.

Once at the bottom the advance guard had gone straight ahead, soon arriving at the top of an awkward and exposed climb into a chamber, discretion being the better part of valour they retraced their steps and joined the rear guard climbing down a series of drops to enter the same chamber.

Much looking at dead ends and loops whilst admiring the formations and fossils before we continued down the Canyon, this lovely little steam passage is somewhat reminiscent of the Short Dry Way in Swildons, albeit steeper.

At the bottom of the Canyon we split up with Richard, Will, Peter, PJ and Yvette exploring a series of tight squeezes and climbs to arrive at Puke Rift then passed Boots and Buttocks before arriving at the legendarily tight Lake Passage. Despite Richard’s efforts little progress was made so the lake remained unvisited so all returned to the surface via a number of routes, including Will and Richard climbing up the aforementioned awkward and exposed climb out of the chamber.

Whilst the other team were busy squeezing down below, Rachel, Andy and Lawrence retraced their steps arriving on the surface at 21:30 to the final glimpse of sunset and a star filled sky. We were soon in the Hunters where we were joined by Neil and Carol, soon after 22:00 the other team joined us and a pleasant debrief was enjoyed by all ten of us

This is a great little cave that occasionally gets overlooked, definitely worth an annual poke around

— Lawrence Wilson 20/04/2023

Last modified: 20 Apr 2023 17:52