What is it?

Caving/pot holing consists of spending time underground, where it's typically cold, wet (making it colder), often constricted, dark (particularly if your lights fail!) and often spectacularly muddy. It therefore follows that it's really enjoyable, doesn't it? It has been said, more than once, that the best bit of caving is arriving at the pub afterwards, the great thing being that you feel totally justified after a hard day's crawling around in icy cold water. A logical extension to exploring natural underground spaces is to venture into man-made ones. i.e. mines. In the UK there are lots of disused mines which can be entered, as well as natural caves which have also been mined, ranging from pleasant walks underground to desperate epics of rotting wood and corroded mine cart tracks. There's a link to a great description of one of the latter lower down this page.

Why go underground?

So why is caving enjoyable? I'm still working on this, but of the six friends I've conned into going underground for the first time, three have been back repeatedly, two have expressed a willingness to go back down at some unspecified future date and only one has actually suffered from anything remotely resembling hysteria. Clearly there's something good about it.

I can think of at least three possibilities for my, or anyone's, fascination with entering what is undoubtedly a hostile environment:

Caves can be very beautiful, such as these columns in Ogof Ffynnon Ddu II...

Top Sink, Ease Gill

...caving can be physically challenging, as in the entrance series (right), Top Sink, Ease Gill, North Yorkshire...

...and route finding can be highly entertaining, such as in the County Pot area of the Ease Gill system (this photo is from the survey, published by Inglesport and the RRCPC).

For me, the third item is, I think, the key one, with the other two roughly equal. Certainly, put together, they outweigh the down-sides (such as changing from wet clothes, outdoors, whilst it's snowing and windy - definitely not a high point of caving!). Unfortunately for me, most of my caving tends to be in the colder months since Summer is taken up with mountaineering and hill walking.

If you're interested in having a go at caving then probably the best place to start is by going along to a club, the great majority of which are based in caving areas, for obvious reasons. There are several links to individual caving clubs and UK national bodies in the following section.

Links to caving information

'The Showerbath' in County Pot in the Ease Gill system

In case you're not entirely convinced about giving the underground world a go, here are a few links to entice you further. The photograph to the right is of 'The Showerbath' in County Pot, Ease Gill Caverns... it can be a little damp at times.

The Red Rose Caving and Potholing Club in North Yorkshire, England has the longest cave in the UK, the Ease Gill system and a particularly splendid hyper linked online survey.

If you like animated bats on your caving sites then this is the place to go; a huge number of useful links.

One of the best places to find UK caving information on the Net is at UK Caving's Virtual Foyer which has links to all sorts of UK related caving sites.

Another great site is Caves and Caving in the UK which is a very nice guide to the caving regions in the UK covering information about the caves themselves and also including the local information (caving supplies, accommodation, local maps etc.) you'll need if you're planning on going there.

If you enjoy reading other people's trip reports then look no further than Andy Whitney's caving site which not only has some photos and comment about caving but also contains an excellent and rapidly increasing set of reports, primarily in the Yorkshire Dales area.

This is my list of some of the places to stay around Ingleton with their telephone numbers.

There is often discussion about the relative merits of different lighting systems so I've summarised the main pros and cons of carbide v. electricity.

There are some seriously scary trips in mines, in particular, this report of a Journey through Croesor and Rhosydd Slate Mines should serve to either put you off the idea for life or it may be really inspirational. The report comes from the pages of Parys underground grovels, the web site of the Parys Underground Group, based near Amlwch in Anglesey,Wales and dedicated to exploring the Bronze Age copper mines at Parys mountain.

There is a UK caving newsgroup, uk.rec.caving. Whilst it's not usually particularly busy a great many people seem to lurk here and come up with useful information.

The National Caving Association (NCA) maintains a comprehensive web site with links to the various regional caving councils as well as information on conservation and access policies. Of particular relevance for caves in the North of England is the Council of Northern Caving Clubs (CNCC) list of officials and the CNCC Technical Group site, containing information on rope care, anchor use and anchor placement in North Yorkshire.

The British Cave Research Association (BCRA) is a registered charity whose object is to promote the study of caves and associated phenomena. It attains this object by supporting cave and karst research; by encouraging original exploration (both in the UK and on expeditions overseas); by collecting and publishing speleological information; maintaining a library; and organising educational and scientific conferences and meetings.

Eric Madelaine maintains a world caves database for long (over 3Km) and deep (over 300m.) caves with a search interface queryable by region, name, length, depth or some combination of these.

A comparison of electrical and carbide lighting

I'm writing this in response to a number of questions, both directly to me from people visiting this site and also appearing regularly on the UK caving newsgroup, asking about the pros and cons of various sorts of lighting. The primary debate is between use of various forms of electrical lamps and use of lamps based on calcium carbide. I don't intend this to be an utterly comprehensive explanation of all the variations of each option, largely because there are quite a number of innovative electrical systems which are not yet widely used.

Electricity

There are several types of power source: disposable dry cells, such as Petzl headtorches; lead acid and alkali rechargeables, which tend to be heavy; and sealed cell units, which are probably the best electrical system currently in general use. It is possible to modify the nature of the light somewhat by changing the reflector to give a wider or narrower beam.

Pros

Powerful, penetrating light which is good for picking out detail in large spaces and for seeing distant walls or roofs.
Not generally affected by water, so they stay on when you're on wet pitches or going through ducks.
Clean and reliable in operation; electrical lamp users don't spend time underground tweaking their lights, nor time above ground taking them apart for cleaning.
No adverse effect on the cave environment.

Cons

Whilst the light emitted is good for penetrating a long way, it's directional, meaning that you will often need to move your head in order to see in a particular direction. This makes the user very aware that they're using an artificial light and can be a problem in tight spaces where it isn't possible to rotate your helmet! It also means that you're less likely to notice interesting things, such as fomations or that all important passage hidden away to one side.
Battery life for most types is 12 hours or more, which is good, but this can be a problem if you're going underground for several days in a row without the opportunity to recharge. This point is particularly pertinent on expeditions where it may not be possible to recharge the batteries.

Carbide

Carbide lighting works by dripping water onto calcium carbide. which comes in the form of dark rocks, in a sealed chamber. This causes a reaction and gives off acetylene gas which then exits the chamber via a flexible tube ending in a narrow "jet", or nozzle, mounted on the helmet. Igniting this, usually by means of a helmet mounted piezo-electric ignition system, produces a very bright white flame. In most cases a dry cell backup is also mounted on the helmet.

Pros

When running properly, carbide lights produce an ambient white light which gives a very natural effect, providing illumination across the entire field of view and therefore removing the need to rotate your head to see things. This has obvious advantages in tight areas, as well as being very pleasant. Further, you notice things in your areas of peripheral vision without having to deliberately scan your head around to look for them. From my point of view, this quality of light argument outweighs all the downsides.
The other main practical advantage is that a small quantity of carbide lasts a long time. A single fill of a normal "expedition" type generator will last up to 12 hours and there is no need for access to electricity between trips.
A minor bonus is that the generator becomes warm in use and can be used to warm your hands after immersion in cold water!

Cons

From the point of view of light quality, the downside of carbide lamps is lack of range. A carbide lamp will illuminate areas up to 5 or 10 metres away but will not penetrate to the far reaches of large caverns or high avens in the way that a powerful electrical light can. This may be ameliorated by use of a halogen bulb in a dry cell backup.
In wet areas, with water coming from above, or in ducks, the flame may be put out by the water, invariably at the most inconvenient time! Again, this problem can be ameliorated by switching on the electrical backup before descending the pitch.
By far the most serious problem with carbide lamps is that, as the calcium carbide reacts with water to produce acetylene, the other bi-product is calcium hydroxide, a thick white sludge which is highly alkaline and damaging to cave life. Whilst this should not, in itself, be a problem, some carbide users see fit to dump this spent carbide underground, which not only damages cave flora and fauna but is extremely unsightly. There is no good excuse for this as it can be avoided by carrying a container in which to deposit spent carbide, should it be necessary to refill the generator underground, and taking the residue out. Unfortunately, not everyone does this and this has led to complete bans in certain caves and cave areas in the UK.
Carbide lamps always produce impurities in the form of soot, which leaves unsightly black marks on cave roofs and walls unless you're careful.
Regular cleaning is important if the light is to work well and fiddling with jets and water-flow underground is normal.
It's just about possible to accidentally burn through ropes with the flame, particularly when under tension. In practice, this is highly unlikely and the one time I've deliberately cut a rope with a carbide lamp it was a remarkably slow process.

Conclusion

If you're expeditioning, or caving in remote areas where the ability to recharge batteries is limited or non-existent, carbide is pretty much the light of choice. However, if you're just caving for single days in the UK, then the decision may be determined by a carbide ban in the caves you're visiting. If neither of these applies then why not try both and see whether the quality of light from the carbide system outweighs the downsides above?

If you vehemently disagree with any of the above, or think I've missed something crucial, please let me know.

Some of the places offering accommodation around Ingleton

Marton Arms, Thornton in Lonsdale	01524 241281	Probably the main cavers' venue in the Ingleton area. Lots of real ale. Very busy at weekends.
Wheatsheaf, Ingleton	01524 241275	In the middle of Ingleton.
The Pines Hotel, Ingleton	01524 241252	Just outside Ingleton on the A65. Complete with sauna.
The Old Hill Inn	01524 241256	The other main cavers pub, complete with the "famous" wagon wheel.
The Station Inn, Ribblehead	01524 241274	Bunkhouse accommodation by the Ribblehead viaduct.
Your car!		Surprisingly comfortable, more waterproof than a tent and very cheap - my preferred option.