Darfar Potholing Club, based in the Manifold Valley, Staffordshire

LATEST NEWS

29/8/2010 - A lovely sunny (if windy) afternoon with Ed, Margaret, Natalie, Pete and Rob. Mel showed Nat first round the mine workings and then the lower series of Jugholes near Matlock. (Interesting place.) Ed and Pete went in the lower adit entrance and came out the top, while the others went in at the top and came out of the lower adit.

22/8/2010 - Today, (with lovely weather again), Marg, Mel and Pete explored Mouldridge Mine at Pikehall. (See photo. Mel had never been down it before!) A very interesting place with lots of minerals / ore still in situ...

8/8/2010 - Given the lovely weather today, Mel felt like having a look at the caves in Wolfscote Dale and the mine adit in Biggin Dale, as she'd never been in the latter before. So everyone except Ian went over to Beresford Dale to have a look. Frank 'Ith Rocks Caves proved to be interesting, especially the upper one where someone had recently been digging at the end. Biggin Dale Mine Adit was also interesting being hand-picked on the left-hand (North) wall, but blasted on the right-hand (South) one. It's not always the size of the caves that matters, but the interest therein, the surroundings and the company one is with.

25/7/2010 -  Today, Mel relocated and took photos of more caves in Dovedale, this time in the lower end of the dale. Reynard's Cave (see photo) was particularly interesting. (A great place for a bivvy, as others have obviously thought previously judging by the evidence outside the cave entrance.) A nice afternoon... :-)

21/6/2010 - 20/7/2010 - Various members have been working on restoring one of the two wells in Wetton, working down Weir Swallet, showing peeps round some of the caves in the Wetton Mill area, helping out Dan (EPC) in Gateham Swallet and helping on another project nearby;-) (It's all go in this area:-) Meanwhile Mel started 'monitoring' the caves in Dovedale for the National Trust...

20/6/2010 - Today, Mel temporarily bolted the grille down on Riverside. Then while Pete was working in Link Swallet/Pot, Mel took Marg, Nat and Rob for an initial recce down Darfar Pot. Marg got half way down the 2nd 'pitch' before turning back. The other 3 visited Grangebrooke Junction and had a look down Surprise Pot into Prospect Streamway before heading for Glory Chamber via Prospect Chamber. Mel and Nat then went through the squeeze into Darfar 2 to the top of Chamber Pot to look at the waterfall below.

After reaching the surface again, Mel and Nat had a shower in Riverside Swallet accompanied by Marg before cleaning off properly in the river.

A pleasant sunny / muddy aftermoon.

13/6/2010 - Today, while Ed, Pete and Rob were working in Weir Swallet, Marg and Mel did some more concreting on the lower entrance of Riverside Swallet, nearly finishing it off. Then they finished installing the bolts to allow the manhole cover to be bolted down over Weir Swallet. (Now done.) After, while everyone went down Riverside Swallet in pouring rain, (with Ed doing the through trip for the first time via the upper entrance), Mel removed the old manhole cover and sliding scaffold bar from the lower entrance before various members exited the cave.

9/6/2010 - Today, Mel and Rob did some more concreting on Riverside Swallet, then extended Weir Swallet by another 3m. It is now 3m deep and 15m long with a strong draught blowing out of the downstream passage...

6/6/2010 - Marg and Mel spent a couple of hours today starting the installation of a new grille over the entrance of Riverside Swallet to  replace the manhole cover which has been on there for several years. This will give easier access to the cave. (A 'Derbyshire Key' will eventually be needed.) Then they rigged the nearby Darfar Crag Swallet (a 35ft ladder pitch) and had a look at the silt levels leading into the continuatiuon. (A few inches needs digging out to allow the current 'end' to be reached again.) A return will be made soon with the intention of enlarging the draughting passage heading towards Darfar Pot...

2/6/2010 - Mel, Pete and Rob broke through into 2m of open draughting passage in Weir Swallet and could see 2m further in both upstream and downstream directions. The area around the entrance was also tidied up. Next day, Pete and Rob removed some more silt from the floor of the new passage..

30/5/2010 - More pumping in Sump 3 of Redhurst Swallet by Ed, Ian and Mel soon opened up an air space of around a foot. Mel, Marg and Nat had a look round the Sump 4 area, (where there was still only a few inches of air space), while Ed and Ian paid a visit to Pink Chamber, returning very muddy!

The CB Walkie Talkies were again used to maintain contact between the surface team controlling the generator and the pumping team.

Meanwhile Pete and Rob were working in Weir Swallet. The muddier and wetter members cleaned off in the entrance of Riverside Swallet afterwards.

29/5/2010 - Work started today (see photo) on re-opening Gateham Swallet in between Wetton and Alstonefield by members of Eldon P.C. and assisted by Pete Ray of D.P.C. As expected, a strong draught was soon detected...

19/5/2010 - More work on Weir Swallet by Mel, Pete and Rob, followed by a quick visit to Sump 3 in Redhurst. The Trout in Sump 1 found to have died and Sump 2 was now dry again! About 2ft of water had drained away in 3 days. Much quicker than previously thought.

16/5/2010 - Today Ed, Ian, Marg and Mel set up a submersible pump in Sump 3 of Redhurst Swallet. Powered from their mains genny via a 100m extension cable a large amount of water was transferred into the nearby Sump 2. Communication was established with Pete in the river bed on the surface using Mel's old 1 channel CB Walkie Talkies.

A retreat was made before the sump was filled too much, (had to get the mains cable, Walkie Talkie hand set, etc. out), but the water level in the sump was lowered by about a foot and an airspace established.

Another pumping session will be done soon to make it a comfortable (if wet) crawl instead of a duck. (As long as the rain holds off!)

During the activity, a brown trout about 6 inches (12cm) was found just about alive in Sump 1, while as soon as water started flowing into Sump 2, a similar sized Eel was seen.

A similar excercise is planned for the upstream sump in Ladyside later in the year. (Weather permitting, of course.) Mel has only been through that once. (Diving, back in the 80's.) The upstream passage (though short) is walking sized and quite impressive.

9/5/2010 - Marg, Mel, Pete and Rob continued lid work on Shilling Pot and Weir Swallet with both nearly finished. Proband Pot (see photo left) was made about 0.5m deeper by shifting a few rocks about. (A draught was also noticed.)

5/5/2010 - Mel, Pete and Rob started work on a lid for the new swallet near the weir and on reducing the size of the entrance of Shilling Pot ready for the installation of a manhole cover. A grille was placed on the old entrance of T-Pot replacing the manhole cover which was transferred to Shilling Pot. The concrete to one side of the manhole cover over the new entrance of T-Pot was found to have been vandalised again, (much worse this time), probably on May Day bank holiday. (Always seems to happen on bank holidays. :-( )

2/5/2010 - Trip round Jugholes Upper Series by all DPC members. First time any had been down there. All impressed by cave. Very enjoyable.

25/4/2010 - Today, Mel took Natalie to the top of Skull Rift in St. Bertram's Cave where, after looking at the formations, they abseiled back down again. A ladder was used for the bottom pitch below the squeeze, the rest was free-climbed. Then they and Marg, Pete and Rob had a look down the swallets just upstream of Redhurst now that the river was low enough. Another newly collapsed swallet was found just downstream of the wier, but was too wet to investigate properly. While this was going on, Mel paid Puke Sump in Redhurst a visit, finding it had gone down about 2m from the last time she'd seen it..

14/4/2010 - Today, Mel, Pete and Rob finished the conservation work on the entrance to the lower adit of Limepits Mine, then located and explored another level a short way upstream and near river level finding it to be a short trial level about 15m long. They also measured the length of the lower series of Limepits Mine with Mel's Disto A3. (Around 323m long. 203m just to the flooded shaft!) Later Mel and Pete did some monitoring of caves on Ossom's Crag for the N.T. before finishing for the day.

11/4/2010 -Today, Mel, Marg, Pete and Rob showed Marg's niece Natalie round some of the currently accessible caves around the Wetton Mill area. It was her first experience of caving, but due to the fact she's an experienced climber and kayaker had no problems whatsoever. A 'dry' cave was followed by the entrance series of Redhurst Swallet (with the river just flowing into it), then Marg and Natalie went to have a look at the underground River Manifold thundering down the 'Hole in the floor' in the main passage of T-Pot. (Both were impressed by the sight!)

4/4/2010 - Today while Mel picked up some rubber piping from the warden at Magpie Mine to make the drainage at Limepits Mine permanent (and installed it on site), Pete took Rob, Marg and another lady round a few caves on Beeston Tor. Drinks and cake were then enjoyed back at Sally's house in Wetton.

21/3/2010 - Today Mel did some cave monitoring for the NT, while Marg and Pete installed the first permanent drainage pipe outside the Limepits Mine lower adit, then Pete showed Marg round the upper passages.

19/3/2010 - Mel and Pete met Dave Webb at Magpie Mine to pick up some walkway mesh panels which will be used to replace the manhole covers covering many of the swallets in the river bed of the Manifold.

21/2/2010 - Today everyone except Marg went down Upper Limepits Mine. Very interesting! They first explored the near vertical ore pipe down into the main shaft, then Ed and Ian abseiled the main shaft and came back up the ore pipe route. Afterwards, they showed Ian the lower adit finding the water level had dropped even more with many more gour pools exposed than previously. They also found that the water in the flooded shaft had been muddied by disturbed water flowing in from the upper mine.

14/2/2010 - Today Mel and Pete showed Marg and Rob round the Hoo Valley Mines. Ie:- Botstone Mine / Hoo Valley Mine (North), Hoo ValleyTrial Level and Perseverance Mine.

7/2/2010 - Mel monitored some more caves on Darfar Ridge. Turns out there is a whole upper series (with an engine shaft) to Limepits / West Ecton Mine, so today after everyone except Ian finished exploring the lower adit and taking photos, Mel and Rob went to look for it via where Lordswood Mine is supposed to be.

They didn't find Lordswood Mine, but did find the engine shaft to Limepits, quickly followed by the upper adit. The pair explored to a newly rigged traverse line, sloping shaft following the ore pipe down and the nearby main shaft before calling it a day and returning to the others as it was getting dark.

A return with ropes, etc. is planned in a couple of weeks time when Ed is next available.

(Left: Ready to enter Limepits Mine lower adit.)

31/1/2010 - After monitoring Hayloft and the cave next to it on Beeston Tor, Marg, Mel, Pete and Rob had an initial look round Limepits / West Ecton Mine, (near Ecton), finding it much bigger than they'd expected! A return will be made next Sunday to finish exploration. (3 passages to finish exploring...)

24/1/2009 - A pleasant trip down Cascade Cavern, Lathkill Dale today by Ed, Ian, Marg, Mel and Pete. (Despite the weather:-/ ) They used mixture of ladders and SRT. Some choosing one method, some the other, some both. Marg did some of her first abseiling practise.

17/1/2010 - Today, Mel feeling lazy, convinced Marg and Pete to help her find some more caves on the NT monitoring list. So cave BG (above Old Hannah's Hole), Ladyside Cave/Fissure and the recently discovered (2006) Mel's Cave (opposite Thor's Cave) were all re-located and photographed. The three retired to Pete's house for a drink and chat afterwards.

27/12/2009 - In horrible weather, Mel did some cave monitoring on Wetton Hill, while the others were busy elsewhere. Later a pleasant time was had chatting, drinking and eating at Pete and Karen's place before heading for home.

20/12/2009 - While the others were busy elsewhere, Mel did some monitoring of some of the caves on Beeston Tor, removing the blue handlines installed back in April. She later joined them for drinks and chat.

6/12/2009 - Marg, Mel, Pete and Rob did some entrance monitoring for the NT on Nan Tor and Coope Hill before some more digging was done down 'Val's Mine' in Hope Dale.

25/11/2009 - Mel, Pete and Rob helped Dan Hibbett and friend from the EPC to remove a significant amount of rubbish from the bottom of Deepdale Pot near Grindon. A strong draught blew out of the cave throughout the afternoon.)

15/11/2009 -  Ed, Marg, Mel, Pete and Rob spent a few hours in the Iron Mine near the Watt's Russell in Hope Dale. Mel and Marg surveyed the main adit while the others dug at the end. Then Mel and Rob did a surface survey from the entrance up to Smith's Tavern on the hillside above. The upward shaft near the end was proved to lie very near to the location of Smith's Tavern and collapses into it had probably been causing the depressions in the field nearby.

(Right: Marg exiting the Iron Mine.)

8/11/2009 - Marg, Mel, Pete and Rob spent a few hours in a newly found-out-about Iron Mine near the Watt's Russell in Hope Dale. (The name of it is currently unknown.) Two shafts in the floor were descended and a shaft in the roof near the current 'end' climbed for a short distance to what looked like a very dodgy-looking 'roof'. Using the Disto A3, it was estimated at 75m long with a vertical range of 14m. A dig is at the current 'end' into what appears to be an echoing continuation. There is obviously also another way to surface, as there was a good movement of fresh air and it all went up the shaft near the terminal dig. A return is planned very soon...

Mel also took photos of Ossom's Crag Cave and Fissure as part of her cave monitoring for the N.T.

25/10/2009 - Due to the river being in flood after the recent rain, Marg, Mel, Pete and Rob had a look round the caves on Nan Tor, Mill Cave & Pot and Darfar Crag Caves as part of Mel's cave monitoring for the N.T.

7/10/2009 - Due to  the fact that the River Manifold had flooded overnight, Mel, Pete and Rob visited Hell Hole Swallet to check the lid was in good condition, (it was, see photo, right), Lees Pot (to see if anyone had been down there since they last had, nope) and Plughole where some conservation work was done before they headed home.

4/10/2009 - Today Ed, Marg, Ian and Pete decided to track down wapping mine in Matlock due to the absence of Mel and Rob. Pete took charge this week to track down the mine armed with an old cave guide book Lent to him by a fellow ex-caver.

With the book being old we had trouble first locating it but when we did we found the entrance with big metal gates and it was all padlocked up! 

After some discussion and the realisation that info in the old books soon goes out of date, we headed back to the valley to carry on our usual dig. We pulled out around 20 buckets of silt and sand with the cave still making progress down!!!

A good day was had by all. 

10/9/2009 - Today Mel, Pete and Rob did some work down Lees Pot making it safer. While doing so they found a small, descending rift issuing a gentle, but steady draught keeping the air clear. Mel measured the cave as about 8.7m with her new Disto A3:-)

6/9/2009- Today Ed, Marg, Mel, Pete and Rob had a look down Lees Pot in the Hamps Valley, where Dan and the Eldon guys had extended and scaffolded it vertically down for about 26ft. (8m.) Well done Dan!

The way on is an easy dig removing rocks and gravel from the floor of the shaft.

Later, the team dug some more fill out of Smith's Tavern at Alstonefield. (See photo.)

Afterwards, Ed performed some watersports in the river around Redhurst Swallet and went in the same cave to the Knifeedge. (With the river flowing into the cave. Great fun!) Finally, Ed and Marg had a swim in the deep pool just upstream!

Above: Some of the team down Smith's Tavern.