Ian and Adele, 27/05/2019
The quarry face – upper tiers are foreshortened – big bands of sandstones and shales above 15m of limestone.
We decided to survey the inlet between Vein Chamber and The Choir, not having the energy to face 2 hours of crawling to finish off Myers’ Passage at the moment. So a leisurely plod was had in the dry conditions, Adele leading the way, aiming to get out in conditions better than a blizzard for once, although heavy rain was forecast for 5 pm.
Vein Chamber
Taking our time we had a good look in the roof – there are many sand-filled joints here, with the multi-coloured layers of sediment being testament to many years of deposition. We only saw one little trout, in contrast to the many in Mossdale earlier in the week that seemed to be munching on Mayflies.
That’s a little white trout.
Passing the rock window, we stopped to sort out the instruments for what I knew would be an awkward bit of work. The passage starts pretty easily, but again, many jointed bends, getting lower, wetter and tighter, until I had to go on alone, no chance of Adele keeping the pad clean and dry, to relay back the data.
Job done and attempting to get out through Adele’s smokescreen, we ambled steadily out – 133m surveyed to a too-tight section, best left undamaged by human interference in my opinion -trending westwards – again filling the blank space where Myers’ is heading, although lower down of course.
Super mineralised mud formations in the main streamway.
We emerged to a dry day – the sun was almost shining and there was no gale, blizzard or hailstorm, allowing a comfy walk to the car to change.
The promised rain arrived with a vengeance on the way home, nicely watering fields, garden and filling the water barrels – a good end to the day. Kudos to Adele for enduring more survey tedium and for taking the pics.
The White Rose Pothole Club 