The trip we’d been working towards since last June has finally arrived. After over 40 trips, through bravery, ignorance and stupidity, driven on only by the appetite for glory and reliable pre-beers, last night we connected Cussey Pot to Doom…
Team 1 – Joe, Luke, Jeff, Rob, DaveH
Team 2 – JonP, DaveB
A night where two become one; one team digging in Cussey whilst the other planned to dig from the other side, heading in Cliffstile.
After prebeers Joe, Luke and myself headed straight to the sharp end whilst Jeff gave Dave H the conducted tour. Having not been on the last digging trip I was keen to assess the end as their reports were slightly conflicting but the worst gave only 2m before open passage.
Rather than mess about with trying to fit the drag tray passed me I suggested Joe get to work on enlarging the passage behind me using the hauling team slowly assembling whilst I push on ahead, back filling a small airbell to the right. The sediment, mostly damp clay, was almost impossible to work with. A crowbar just sank into it but made no progress whilst fingers could only just penetrate. Once a handful was finally clawed from the dig face it cemented your whole hand together such that is was almost impossible to then let go of your hard earned nugget of progress. After spreading it onto any wall or body part reachable it was then a challenge to actually get your fingers unstuck from each other before attempting another deep dive into the filth in front. This was hopeless work.
Dave struggling his way through Loper Lust
However after only one metre of digging straight ahead I could see the floor rising up ahead and what looked like streak marks in the mud from human activity. A little further a welcome crowbar became visible. Come on! I passed back the good news.
The other team were meanwhile making their way to the other side, up the sough, but could not yet be seen or heard. For some reason a race started within me and I started frantically pushing on, desperate to entirely undermine their hard efforts and make the final connection without their help. I start pushing the top few inches of mud into any crack I can find a squirm slowly forwards. With the gap looking barely big enough to squeeze through I push my helmet ahead and go for it. I’m in. We did it.
After a few minutes to take in the feeling of success, I turn around and use my newly reclaimed crowbar and larger working space to work the hole bigger and shortly after Joe slides through too. Yes. We shout to the others to follow and then head off towards Doom and down the big bendy ladder to the first sociable chamber. After only a few minutes we hear the familiar jovial discourse of a JonP approaching and simultaneously turn off our lights, waiting like naughty little children in the dark. They finally spot us and cheer, the team united, the success shared, and the optimistically packed whisky passed around. Good work lads, what an effort this has been.
With spirits high we enjoy a leisurely stroll around Doom, taking in some of the key sight and projects yet to be pushed in here. It is a strange but euphoric feeling being in this previously remote place after only the relatively short descent of Cussey. After some more whisky and general piss taking the sough team head off back to their distant exit and we head back up Cussey.
Attempting to clean off in Doom
Any euphoric and leisurely feelings that were gained from our stroll quickly disappeared once back flatout in the connection crawl. The clay here is so sticky that it sucks all the energy out of your muscles and we all defaulted back to primitive grunting to get us through to the spacious Inglorious Bastards chamber beyond. Here would desperately benefit from a shower. This was Dave’s first caving trip in over a year and he was pretty knackered so we let the others go first and made our steady way out, my digging playlist keeping us company on the way. It took over an hour to battle up through the numerous awkward thrutches and tight pitches and reach the still cold air of the surface. Whilst this is indeed a much shorter route in, Cussey is certainly not the easy backdoor we were hoping for and will likely remain a connoisseurs trip. Work will continue to improve the connection crawl and to get the link surveyed through. Meanwhile we as a team will need to assess whether this entrance gives sufficient advantages to the numerous and varied enticing leads beyond to make digging in the Stoney catchment a continuing theme for is in the near future…
Please note that Cussey is very demanding, especially on the way out. A high proportion of post-lockdown cavers will not fit and most will certainly not enjoy a lot of it. Most importantly formal access is not yet agreed, so please stay away until this is sorted.
To all the haters who said it couldn't be done