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Peak Cavern, Derbyshire 5th November
The most recent trip we went on was quite a
 success
for all those who went. Certainly worth the early start, the
aggravation of Speed Cameras and the huge number of Roadworks on the
way.
The village of
Castleton itself has quite a few shops selling various ornaments,
vases and jewellery from the locally mined “Blue John”.
Peak Cavern itself
connects with Speedwell Cavern (via a rather dubious tunnel!) and
the aforementioned Titan and Leviathon.
Access for cavers is
only permitted via the show cave on Sundays between November and
March. Cavers must not only have a BCRA permit, but must also be
over 18 years old, be approved by the TSG, sign an indemnity, pay a
£4 fee, not use carbide or smoke, sign in and out, and be in the
cave before 10am, so it was quite something to actually meet all the
criteria!
We
got there for just after 9:00am, got changed in the local Clubs Hut
and set off as quick as possible.
 Those able to go were Mick, Mike, Evan, Linda, John, Ian, Andy and
Jo.
The enormity of the entrance itself (50ft by 100ft) is hard to
describe and to be honest, has to be seen to be appreciated.
Once
through the Show Cave and down the Slide, it becomes a fascinating
“wild” cave with the incredible streamway, the famous Muddy Ducks,
and some very impressive Boulders to navigate through, over and
under.
Just after the successful, if somewhat wet, navigation of the Muddy
Ducks and round the Upper Gallery, we stopped for some drinks and
(mostly) chocolate to warm up and get our energy back for next leg
of the journey.
John took the opportunity to remember the late Oscar Hackett Neil
Moss, the 20yr old Student who sadly lost his life in the Cave on 22nd
March 1959 along Pickering Passage.
 The Crawl was mainly interesting due to the texture of the Mud we
were crawling through. Something like a good McDonalds Chocolate
Milkshake, though it was wishful thinking it tasted anything close
to that!
Something notable was the Draft coming through from neighbouring
Speedwell. This was very much welcomed in the tunnel as between
Thermals, Wetsuit and Oversuit, it was pretty warm after the first
ten minutes.
There’s
a lot more pictures of course, all taken by Ian (thanks for the
permission to use these by the way!).
Once out, we set off exploring as much as we could with what time we
had. While there wasn’t an enormous amount of Formations, there was
some beautiful examples of scalloping as you can hopefully see in
the picture.
 One problem we found was the amount of condensation which shows in
quite a few of the pictures.
While we were in, there were two other parties visiting as well,
which led to some confusion at times and a fair bit of squeezing
past each other. Who would’ve thought Caving was a contact sport!
On
the way out there were a few exciting moments. One of them was
meeting Beelzebub himself down a dark tunnel and then Mick mistaking
Linda’s head for Ian’s head, sorry, a handy “Rock” which resulted in
Linda being ducked!
 After a serious rinsing at the pool, we emerged cold, wet and still
mostly muddy just before closing.
The highlight for me was the many horrified tourists who, by their
faces, thought the tour was a bit more than described in the
booklet!
A
good trip enjoyed by all.
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