It was the anual BPC winch meet at gaping gill and a few of us wanted to go. AndyJ was staying in the area and had allready made 2 trips into gaping gill, Me, Buddah, Blino and darwin dave had aranged to meet up with Andy on the sunday and make the trip in.

The plan was, Me buddah and Blino would drive up on the Saturday, find somewhere to camp, then meet the other 2 on sunday morning, to get up to the winch early, We had planned to enter via Bar pot and make the through trip to the main chamber, then use the winch to get out.

We rocked up in clapham at about 5.30pm, got the camping gear out of the car walked about 50m abd bumped into andy, he asked where we were camping, expecting us to say the name of a camp site, when we said "somewhere in the woods" he looked supprised and advised us that they bread game in there and the game keepers wouldnt be best pleased with us, the proseeded to point us in the direction of a spot he had seen while wondering about taking pictures, the spot was the overflow for the river.

we had a quick look at the water level and decided it would have to rain real hard for the river to overflow into this area, so we pitched tents.

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all seamed fine untill we realised that it was noisey, running water from the wear that was right next to us.



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The rest of the night was spent bating crayfish traps, drinking beer and cooking prawns.



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Then came the rain, having no real shelter other than the tents, it was bed time. None of us slept that well, between the noise of the water, the noise of the rain and the wondering if the rain would be enough to cause the river to take the alternatine route down the hill, a restless night was had by all.

once the morning came, we packed up and headed back to the car, the weather was still damp and overcast, we were tired and in short couldnt really be arsed, Andy had also had enough having allready done two through trips and dave just wasnt feeling it, so we opted to just go down on the winch straight into the main chamber, then we set off on the mile and a half up hill all the way walk!

once up at the top, you are greated with a huge hole and lots of campers, I take my hat off to the people who organise this, all the gear they lug up there to make this happen is emense.



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we booked in at the winch, and then just had to wait around untill it was our time to go down.



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And buddah in the very stylish jelly baby suit he borrowed for the trip :cry



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Then off we went!

once you have been lowered down the 100+ meters, you are greeted with an awesome site, the main chamber is HUGE with a crashing waterfall (which i beleive is the largest waterfall in the UK), it is pretty hard to get pictures in here due to the amount of spray in the air, as soon as you get the camera out, it is covered in water and the lens is soaked.



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even though Andy had said he had had enough and couldnt be arsed, it didnt stop he dragging us all over the place, through holes, crawely passagers, climbing ladders, sliding down mud hills, it was fun, it would of been more fun if i had actually of taken caving gear up and not left it in the car thinking i wouldnt need it.

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then we headed back to the main chamber, my knees black and blue and full of aches, waited for the winch up and headed back down the hill to the car.



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