Even in the mist and rain, there was a hint of excitement, well, as much excitement as Slow Warts could generate, as we gathered at the Doctor’s Gate car park near the Snake summit. And the reason? It was the prospect of visiting two caves on opposite sides of the Yellowslacks canyon. As always in the rain, there were decisions to make, waterproof top? Definitely. Waterproof leggings? Only one taker, and it proved to be a wise decision.
To acclimatise us to the rest of the soggy evening, we dipped our feet into the submerged flagstones of the Doctor’s Gate path to the Pennine Way which was fortunately crossed with minimum contact. In this quarter of the Dark Peak there are a few deep valleys including Crooked Clough which was crossed on the way to Higher Shelf Stone. Whilst we were above more steep sided cloughs like White Clough and Ashton Clough, their impressiveness was lost in the mirky mist. I think, nevertheless, we were enjoying (?) being Dark Peak in canyon corner.
By now we were thoroughly wetted by the persistent fine rain which cooled legs for all those without the waterproof leggings, and, whilst Michael showed no smugness at wearing his, he certainly didn’t seem to be suffering like the rest of us, a good decision. Cave number one was close to The Pike and our anticipation was tempered with a need to defer our gratification by visiting James’s Thorn which overlooked Little and Wigan Cloughs, both again obscured by the mist. There was speculation at the cave whether we could all fit in, should there be a need to shelter. Possibly yes, although there may be a need to have a rota for the exposed ones at the entrance, like Emperor penguins, perhaps. We could now enjoy the full canyon experience by descending into Yellowslacks which looked slightly more intimidating with the swirling mist. Our zig zag descent even showed on the track, kindly supplied by Clive. At least the climb out to Dog Rock (what’s left of it), generated a bit of warmth but not enough for us to have the enthusiasm to go on to the second cave further down the northern edge of Yellowslacks. So the retreat up Dowstone Clough and across the moor to Hern Clough was over relatively pleasant terrain avoiding much of the horrors of the Pennine Way. Nevertheless, we did succumb to the PW for a short distance in order to reach the fencing for the usual sprint back to finish our two-hour outing at the car park.
Warmth is a great motivator for speeding up the process of changing from cold and wet kit at one of the least sheltered car parks, the other notable one is at Windle Edge. So, we were able to get to the welcoming arms of the Yorkshire Bridge Inn where, in advance of the upcoming AGM, DPFR matters were chewed over and the reduction in the number of cark parks for our outings, was bemoaned. However, after warming up in the pub, the evening was declared a great success thanks to all and particularly to Bob and Tom for their navigation in the difficult conditions.
Thanks again to Clive for the track.
Graham
