Ashwood Dale Resurgence
One of Derbyshire's largest risings, situated right next to the A6 east of Buxton. Whilst the lower risings next to the river level flow all year round, the main rising dries up each summer and issues a very large, cold draught, enough to tempt most cave diggers. There is only one natural surface sink known to flow here, which is Illy Willy Water in Chelmorton. However a dye test from a shakehole near Hindlow Quarry (4.2km away) was proven to flow here in under 29 hours, suggesting a mostly vadose route! First mention of digging the site was in 1964 by one of Eldon's founding fathers John Needham. Since this it has been dug (a little bit) by at least 2 other Eldon teams to its current length of about 8m.
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I've not even really thought about this place since a single digging trip here in 2012 with Dan, however some recent dye testing work i've been doing has had me visiting this site every week since March. Come early June the flow stopped and shortly after the large(!) draught started. I didn't remember that it draughted so this certainly piqued my interest. Last week i popped in for a look to find it clean, dry and very short, making it a great summer dig!
Just me and Joe for the first hit, armed with a set of capping gear each. Joe hit the face first whilst i tidied up the rest of the passage to make it suitably ready for abuse. The end is very shattered, possibly from the previous diggers using large pills, so mostly it needed SDS chiselling, and lots of it. Progress was rapid. On a whim i had brought a drag tray and rope and i was glad.
After an hour or so we swapped and i got to play. I like capping but productive chiselling is nearly as much fun. I got loads out of the roof, much of it falling on me it was so loose, and the trays kept filling. A 110v breaker would probably be quicker but a pain to manoeuvre in there. Hilariously the draught was blowing so strong in our faces that our eyes and lungs were filled with drill dust; maybe full face masks next time!?
By the end of the session we had made probably a metre of sizeable new passage, much more than i had expected. Unfortunately from our new vantage point the path ahead looks to continue very tight for a good while, so hopefully we can continue to achieve similar progress over the next few trips.
Headed to the Queens Arms in Taddington to an brilliant pint (22, by Dancing Duck Brewery) and warm pork scratchings. Lush.
Such a nice summer dig
Scary roots in the roof
The face