Darfar Potholing Club, based in the Manifold Valley, Staffordshire

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NEWS

22/6/2008 - Today, Martin and Pete made really good progress at the main sink area. The too long piece of scaffolding sticking up in the entrance of Riverside Swallet was replaced with a shorter one. The shaft against the cliff face was emptied of any run-in stuff from the last two weeks floods, the bottom of it was enlarged making the cave beyond almost enterable and a manhole frame and cover was installed over the entrance. (Needs finishing.) A really strong draught blew out of the bottom for most of the afternoon too! (Depth now around 3m.)

1/6/2008 - Ian, Martin and Pete made really good progress down Project X with a metre of downward progress being made and the proper shape of the passage becoming apparent for the first time.

25/5/2008 - After a drink in the Oak, Ed, Ian, Martin and Pete spent another pleasant afternoon at the main sink area. Good progress was made at the point at which it was hoped to link Darfar and Riverside eventually. Some more damming was done. (There was still 'just' too much water to get down Riverside though.) Meanwhile, Ian had a solo trip down Darfar Crag Swallet to see what was what before returning to the others...

Ed getting wet in Riverside Swallet!

11/5/2008 - Ed, Martin and Pete spent a lovely sunny afternoon building a dam downstream of Riverside Swallet to reduce the amount of water going down it, then got the lid off and built up the river bed round the entrance ready for concreting. Probing of the river bed was done just upstream to start to see if a connection between Darfar and Riverside could be made from above. As the river was sinking at the Crater, it was hoped that it would be flowing down the Hole in the Floor in T-Pot, but both it and Wednesday Pot were found to be dry. (Thanks for checking Ed!) Martin thought that the river must be flowing at a lower level directly to Ladyside, though this wasn't checked due to the time. Riverside 2 was later found to be sump free and Ed and Martin had a refreshing shower in there and then in the entrance of Riverside Swallet (see photo) before finishing for the day. The 3 had a 'beer in the byre' before returning home.

10/5/2008 - Added an event calendar to the site tonight. Will configure it soon so that members can add their own events on to it. (Eg:- when they will be up for caving, etc.)

4/5/2008 - Good progress was made down the same cave today by Ed, Ian, Martin and Pete. The previous weeks 'nudge' had again done a fantastic job! Numerous rocks were removed and another 'nudge' arranged before leaving... Afterwards, Ed and Martin did the entrance series of Redhurst Swallet (to Sump 1) with the river flowing into it and found it exhilerating! Later, Ian, Martin and Pete spent the evening in the Black Lion at Butterton b4 retiring to the barn for more beer, music and chat until after 3am. Another good day/night.

27/4/2008 - Martin and Pete visited the same cave finding that the previous weeks 'nudge' had done a fantastic job! Numerous rocks were removed and another 'nudge' arranged before leaving... (Photos now added to a new members only page in the 'Projects' section of the site.)

20/4/2008 - Ian, Martin and Pete spent a constructive couple of hours at a cave with prospects near Wetton Mill. It was chemically enlarged before leaving.

16/4/2008 - Added a commenting system to the blog, so members can now comment on each others blog entries!. Enjoy!

15/4/2008 - An 'Uploads' page has now been added to the site to allow members to upload images for use on their pages. Enjoy! More photos added to Martin's page.

Outside Lathkill Head Cave

13/4/2008 - Today Dave, Ed, Ian, Pete and Martin visited various caves in Lathkill Dale. First, Lower Calesdale was entered but found to be sumped about 30m in. Then they went in Lathkill Head and were able to get to the 'climb' down into the main river passage. Finally, Ed, Ian, Pete and Martin (Dave's knee was playing up) went as far as they could in Ricklow Cave, which was to the climb down to the connection with Lathkill Head where the river was again met. A return will be made in the summer. The next visit to Lathkill Dale will be to descend Lathkill Head top entrance down through the Waiting Room to the river passage. (Weather permitting.)

6/4/2008 - Dave, Ed, Pete and Martin visited various caves in the Wetton Mill area. Some new 'old' photos added to the Darfar Ridge Cave gallery. After abseiling down from the top of the crag, Dave was shown the new top entrance to Riverside Swallet and all had a quick look inside the aven, which was flooded up to the usual level unfortunately. Afterwards, the grille to Redhurst Swallet was cleared of flood debris with a view to Martin and Ed having a quick aqeous trip to the Knifedge, but the water levels were a few inches too high. Dave then retired home while the other 3 went up to Pete's house (joined by Ian) for a chat (meeting) about funds, insurance, etc.

31/3/2008 - Elderbush Cave gallery page created and photos uploaded!

Dave, Ian and Pete in Elderbush Cave main chamber

30/3/2008 - Ian, Martin and Pete met Dave from Buxton for a chat about caving, what we get up to and our various underground experiences. Dave proved to be a really nice bloke and though he had to get away quite early, all agreed to Martin's suggestion of a quick look round Elderbush Cave which no-one except Martin had been in. A visit was duly undertaken with some photos taken (some experimental) for good measure and the three new visitors were surprised what a nice little cave it was. After Dave left for home, the other 3 went over to Alstonefield for some target practice with the guns while trying to locate Sunnybank Pot in the area that Martin had identified on the OS map, but to no avail. It really looked like it might have been covered over or filled in.

Sitting round the fire

23-24/3/2008 - Earlier in the week we'd all agreed to have bit of a do at The Byre near Wetton Mill and stay overnight. Caving would be optional and dependant on how we felt and the weather. So after a drink in the Royal Oak at Wetton, we went down and installed all our gear in the Byre, before going up to Pete's house to watch the excellent Hollow Hill DVD about Ecton Mines. (Thanks Dave!) Then some drink and food in the Oak before going back down the valley with many layers of clothes on, just in case. There we sat chatting around a fantastic warm fire (thanks Pete!) until 1am or 2am in the morning before firing up the power and jamming for a couple of hours with Martin's electric guitar and amp and Ian's Electronic drum kit. Great fun and merryment was had by all and lights out finally arrived at about 4:30am! A late rising from the bags meant we hadn't got time to do any caving, (shame), so we had coffee and tea at Wetton Mill cafe before packing the gear up and returning home. A great evening/night and all agreed that we must do it again later in the year!

20/3/2008 - Modified the blog component today to email all members whenever anyone posts a new blog entry or edits an existing one. Added a contact form to the site. If it gets abused by spammers I will slap a security image thingy to it to put a stop to the abuse. (So don't bother spammers!)

18/3/2008 - Created a Knotlow Cavern photo gallery containing decent sized photos of our March 9th trip down there. Enjoy!

15/3/2008 - Decent sized version of the DPC Mark2 Landrover photo now in the new photos gallery. Will add some more soon... DON'T FORGET TO ADD A TITLE TO YOUR BLOGS OTHERWISE NO-ONE CAN CLICK THROUGH TO SEE THE FULL ENTRY! (I have added titles to the ones already posted without a title...)

Ed descending Waterfall Chamber pitch

9/3/2008 - Today Ed, Ian, Martin and Pete had a memorable (if cold) trip down Knotlow Cavern. After arriving at the triangle, Martin warned everyone they WOULD get wet! The plan was to do the round trip via Crimbo Pipe and East Level. The first and second pitches were quickly rigged and descended and the team approached Waterfall Chamber with anticipation. It looked and sounded very impressive. Ian went down first having a bit of trouble right under the waterfall, (due to the rope catching on something), then the others quickly followed him down. There was more water than normal and Martin wasn't sure how wet Crimbo Pipe would be as he hadn't been down Knotlow for 15-20 years. There was significantly more water flowing down the waterfall than on his previous visit, so it was with some trepidation the team set off down the coffin level into the rest of the cave. They regrouped at Fourways Shaft and then at Rift Chamber before heading off up the rather aqueous Crimbo Pipe. Eventually they reached a pile of rocks in the stream at the foot of a rift which were causing the water to back up further upstream. Martin felt sure the way on was at stream level, but he had to dig some rocks out of the way before it was even negotiable. Ed then heroically said he'd go through and reported back that there was only a tiny air space continueing on towards the sound of water falling beyond. Ian climbed up the rift reporting that there was a way on but that he couldn't see far due to the water vapour. Martin followed and went on a bit further. Unfortunately, by the time Pete had climbed half way up the rift as well, Martin reported back that it closed down and was a dead end. So all resigned themselves to returning along the cold, wet coffin levels and ascending the Waterfall Pitch. Before they left the relative roominess of the rift to negotiate the wet Crimbo Pipe again, just as Martin was reaching the bottom, a sizeable rock dropped from the roof above them and glanced off Martin's helmet before hitting Ian and then Pete's. Ian was also left with a cut forehead, but nobody mentioned it to him for the time being. A quick retreat was made, with the SRT gear put back on at Fourways Shaft, but by the time they arrived back at the waterfall, all were starting to feel the cold... All of them were apprehensive about climbing this, there was a lot of water,and it wasn't helped by Martin who tried first, not putting his footloops on before getting on the rope and getting a thorough blatting by the water. Silly mistake. Anyway, while we held the rope away from the worst of the water, Ed went up with no problems, followed by Pete. Ian volunteered to go up last so he could hold the rope for Martin (very much appreciated) who had been a little shaken up by his first attempt, and this time he got up with no problems. Finally Ian started up, having problems again, this time because he couldn't get his chest croll to grip the rope at first and we couldn't help him as communication was impossible due to the noise of the water. Eventually, he managed to get up though and a relieved team derigged the pitch and went back up to Pearl Chamber for a rest and a bite to eat. Afterwards, an uneventful ascent of the first two pitches was made with Ed derigging. Back in the Landrover, a can of beer each was consumed and Martin said it had been the hardest caving trip he done for many years. (Prussicking is very slow and hard work when you're a couple of stone overweight!)

8/3/2008 - New blog page added to site for members to post to.

2/3/2008 - After a drink in the Oak with Ian and friend, and with the River Manifold flooded again, Pete and Martin had a look around Sunnybank for Sunnybank Pot but didn't find it. (Subsequent examination of an os map showed why!) During their foray, they did a bit of target practise with one of Pete's rifles, Martin's first since he was a 'young lad'!

24/2/2008 - Today Ed, Ian and Pete showed some members of the Birmingham Cave and Crag Club around Darfar Ridge Cave, Plantation Swallet and St. Bertram's Cave. Later Pete and then Ed joined Martin down Darfar Crag Swallet at Wetton Mill where he was lowering the floor of the horizontal passage leading towards Darfar Pot to make it easy to get along. With their help he was able to enlarge the whole passage between the entrance shaft and the bang site, last visited by Martin and Pete Mellors back in 1989, the spoil being dumped in the north end of the bottom of the entrance shaft. The cave is now in a state where the bang site can easily be visited to resume work to extend the cave towards Darfar Pot. After moving some more rocks in the main sink area and washing the gear in the river, some beer was consumed in the Byre before they returned home. A productive day.

23/2/2008 - Martin's page updated. Eldon P.C. members were also starting some work down Plantation Swallet today after Pete had a chat with the landowner. (Thanks Pete!)

17/2/2008 - Today, Pete and Martin didn't feel like getting too wet or muddy cos it was freezing and a lovely sunny afternoon, so we got about 15 stacked bags of silt out of Darfar Crag Swallet which was little changed at the bottom despite the winter floods and the way on towards Darfar Pot was still wide open and ready for the next visit. Afterwards, they moved rocks around the main sink area and played at unblocking a couple of the main sink points by removing the thick plugs of leaves in them. Ian came down in his Landrover later to see what we'd been up to.

14/2/2008 - Added some of Eddie's photos to the Robin's Shaft Mine event page. Updated the main sink area plan and section surveys with the new data from Riverside Swallet.

13/2/2008 - Ed, Martin and Pete finished bolting to the top of Tumbledown Aven in Riverside Swallet and also finished surveying it. The maillons at either end of the traverse line part way down were changed to stainless ones.

12/2/2008 - Finished the Robin's Shaft Mine event page. Full sized version of the photos to be put in a new gallery page sometime.

After the Robin's Shaft Mine trip

10/2/2008 - Excellent trip down Robin's Shaft Mine near Ilam by Ed, Ian, Martin and Pete today. Martin hadn't been down since 1984 (before it was p-bolted) and couldn't remember much about the rigging necessary for the entrance shaft, so a couple of ladders were also taken in just in case of any tricky bits. However, as he had read the topo in the Peak Rigging Guide before the trip he knew he needed at least 7 maillons and several spare crabs were also taken just in case. In the end, the rigging was pretty straightforward and all got to the bottom with no problems. After photos in Lord's Chamber and a look around the natural stuff (including the SUSS dig) they started the ascent of the shaft with Ian being 'volunteered' to do the derigging. Taking photos on the way out proved futile with an integral flash as there was so much water vapour. They surfaced to a lovely sunset and some more photos were taken before retiring the the Royal Oak for beer.

9/2/2008 - Some more photos added to the 'Photos from 1984 to 2003' gallery.

8/2/2008 - Some more photos added to the 'Photos from 1984 to 2003' and 'Darfar Ridge Cave' galleries. Credits added to the 'Skull Rift' gallery.

3/2/2008 - With the weather really grim today, Martin and Pete took a break from caving and carried a couple of the longest of Dan's scaff bars from Pete's house in Wetton up to Plantation Swallet. (Good excercise at least!) They then followed an interesting descending line of dolines back towards the road and Gateham Swallet. Martin speculated that Gateham was the oldest of the two swallets given it's position in the deep hollow at this point.

31/1/2008 - More photos added to the 'Photos from 1984 to 2003' page.

30/1/2008 - More photos added to the 'About the club' page. Another link added to links page.

29/1/2008 - The 'About the club' page has been updated and a photo of it's members added to the bottom of the page. Large version of the photo of Cathedral Rift (below-right) added to the appropriate gallery. Another photo added to the Darfar Ridge Cave gallery.

Cathedral Rift - entrance zone

27/1/2008 - Today Ed, Ian, Martin and Pete had deviation and rebelay passing SRT practice on the sloping crag above Cathedral Rift and Beeston Cave (a 52m/170ft pitch) before going in St. Bertram's Cave to photo the new cracks in the clay floor and having a look around the cellars.

24/1/2008 - The photos of Cathedral Rift and Beeston Cave have now been uploaded and added to the appropriate gallery page.

22/1/2008 - Martin took the minutes at a well attended SSSI Meeting at the NE offices at Bakewell. Interesting and informative.

20/1/2008 - Dan from the Eldon P.C. delivered a load of scaff bars to Wetton today for Plantation Swallet. Given the wet conditions it was decided to store them at Pete's house until things dry out a bit. After, with Ed working and Ian boozing, Pete and Martin went over to Beeston Tor where Martin rigged the 170ft/52m descent to Cathedral Rift and Beeston Cave for SRT including a deviation and a rebelay. (Good practise for Robin's Shaft Mine!) At the bottom they took photos in both caves which were a lot wetter than usual. Afterwards, (and after installing a portable loo in 'The Byre'), beer was consumed at Pete's house.

17/1/2008 - Minutes of the 2008 A.G.M. uploaded to the new private members area. Please login to view them. Plantation Swallet photos moved into their own gallery.

16/1/2008 - Created a members only area to store club documents like the club constitution, meeting minutes, etc. Login and you'll see a new link appear at the bottom of the left-hand navbar. St. Bertram's Cave 2007 page brought up to date. Photo showing how to wear your SRT gear uploaded to the new private members area.

13/1/2008 - Today, Ed and Ian got some SRT gear from Hitch n' Hike before joining Martin and Pete in the Oak for a chat with Dave Ottewell (Red Rose C.P.C.) and Dan (Eldon P.C.) The prospects at Gateham and Plantation Swallet were discussed along with other things. We agreed to help Dan get a load of scaffolding up to Plantation Swallet the following Sunday. Afterwards, the 4 of us went down to the Barn for some sorting out of gear before (mostly due to the grim weather) having a trip down Plantation Swallet. We had a look at the route the stream was taking into the floor of the main 'chamber' and saw that it was just small gaps between large rocks. Then we had a look at the position of the first pitch in relation to the lowest part of the chamber, finding the pitch top directly below the lowest point. It would be much nicer if a way onto the top of the pitch could be engineered from the chamber above. It would make it so much more straightforward and ease getting scaffold poles into the passages lower down.

We also had a very careful look at the walls and 'roof' in numerous places and unaminously decided that the whole cave was a potential death trap. In many places the walls and 'roof' consisted of large cracked blocks of limestone held up by 'not much at all'. The vast majority of the cave from immediately below the entrance shaft pipe needs scaffolding to make it safe.... No wonder Ben closed the cave when he did!

Later, an informal club meeting (with beer) was held in the barn to discuss various matters.

A 200m cube of rope!

12/1/2008 - Captions on many photos in the 'Photos before 1984' gallery expanded and/or corrected. More photos added to the Darfar Ridge Cave gallery.

6/1/2008 - Happy new year! It was for Ian, Martin and Pete today as they went up to Hitch n Hike near Castleton to collect their prize of 200m of Beal SRT rope for finding the most new cave in the Peak District in 2007. This will be used down Robin's Shaft Mine in the very near future! Other shiny, new SRT gear was also purchased from this fine establishement. Poor Ed couldn't be there as he had to work. The ride to and from the shop was in places a 'white knuckle ride' for Martin as Ian scared the daylights out of him by displaying the high-speed capabilities of his BMW M3...

On one occasion this year, the manhole covers over Riverside Swallet and Moonmilk Pot were removed and then just 'placed' back over the entrances so that any member of the public could open the entrances and fill them with rubbish. Can anyone visiting any of the caves with manhole covers over them, please refit them properly.

A pair of molegrips can be used to 'adjust' the edges of the covers if they don't fit back on properly. (They should do if they were removed properly and then replaced the same way round as they were fitted originally.)

It's a bit of a pain, I know, but if they get filled in again then I (Martin) may not be around to re-empty them. I (and other D.P.C. members) have already done it once in recent years!

Many thanks,

D.P.C. - aka The Manifold Mob!