Gaping ghyll / gill - ingleborough- may 2011

[Reddood]

I've stuck this is here as it was an organised trip with access provided by the winch, plus theres a few none underground pics (of members) from the night before.

Visited with Buddah, Blino, AndyJ and Darwin Dave

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.







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









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










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.









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







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







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.











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.











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.

All in all, a great couple of days!

[BB]

Absolutely super report there

[MJS]

Great pictures mate, real nice.
Had a quick glance though the text, sounds like you had fun! I'll have a proper read when I'm not so busy

[mr beardy]

that waterfall looks ace

[captain cave man]

lol fun time out peeps .......just wondering that crayfish txt and pic's you might just wanna remove em....oh i'm a water bailiff and that's illegal !, i'm not going to say owt or do owt but you might get spotted by other bailiff's that will take it further...just a thought fellas.....and do my eyes see right BPC using only 1 steel wire on the bow-sons chair !....

[Reddood]

there was one wire on the winch and one fixed with with pullies on it, we never actually got any crayfish, but why cant you fish for them, someone else said it was illegal, yet they sell crayfish traps in fishing shops, infact they sell them in go-outdoors - http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/product-.../text/crayfish

[captain cave man]

It has been over 30 years since the first introductions of the American signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) into the U.K. The signal crayfish has had a significant impact on the ecosystems it has colonised in Great Britain. It is a fast growing, highly fecund, aggressive, veracious species, which has few natural predators once it reaches maturity. Being omnivorous they will eat most small aquatic fauna and flora. Signal crayfish burrow, causing extensive damage to riparian verges and subsequently to the whole ecosystem. They predate on and out-compete a number of native species, including several environmentally important fish such as bullheads and stone loach, amphibians, and invertebrate species. Of particular note is the white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes), the only native crayfish species in the U.K. The white-clawed crayfish has been in significant decline in parts of England for some time. This can be attributed to a number of factors, such as pollution and habitat degradation, but an increasingly significant factor has been directcompetition and predation by signal crayfish. To compound the situation further, North American crayfish species, including the signal crayfish, carry a fungal infection called the crayfish plague (Aphanomyces astaci), which is lethal to European crayfish (including our native white-clawed crayfish) and has resulted in their eradication from a number of waters in England. The presence of signal crayfish places a major restriction on national efforts to protect and rehabilitate our native crayfish species.

Legal Protection
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

This Act introduced a range of protective measures for native fauna and flora, unfortunately somewhat late to prevent the escape of signal crayfish from farms to natural waters. This Act made it an offence to release, or allow the escape of any non-native species to the wild. Therefore, the introduction of nonnative crayfish into water bodies from which they can escape, such as rivers, ponds, lakes, fisheries and farm ponds constitutes an offence under the Act.

The provisions of the Act were extended in 1992, to ensure that those non-native crayfish which had established populations in Great Britain were still legally classed as non-natives and therefore remained subject to all of the Act. As a result, it remains illegal to introduce signal crayfish into waters other than those from which it would be impossible for them to escape. The Act amendments also improved protection for the native crayfish, by introducing offences of taking or selling this species without a licence.

Although you can buy the tackle to catch crayfish it is illegal to use bit like the video recorder and dvd recorder etc....apart from these do not work in water ! ...... it's a hard one for us bailiffs but thats the law, nuff said time to hit Bolton and do some tresspassing

[Nicola]

Wow that does look fab!

[buddah]

But is it illegal to catch and eat them we didnt intend to let the signal crays go we intended to eat them, so wouldnt that be better for the natives if we are reducing the signal crays, how does the law stand with that.

[buddah]

A couple of mine they are guna be pretty samey.
It was a fantastic weekend the whole area and the cave it self is stunning.




The view we woke up to