Introductory caving sessions in The Yorkshire Dales National Park. Long Churns. 15th March 2014.

Yesterday, Iain was underground with Poppy Curtis and Mark Price both from Leeds. Poppy & Mark had been referred to us from our friends at Live For Today Adventures based in Harrogate - a big thanks for them for recommending us for caving!

The caving session with us was organised by Poppy for Marks birthday. They had previously stayed in Giggleswick the night before meeting Iain At Inglesport in Ingleton yesterday morning.

Iain took the pair to Long Churns. In photo one, we are near to Alum Pot which is an 80 metre deep shaft in the plantation seen behind the pair.

Poppy had been caving quite a few times in the past having done an Outdoor Leaders Course at a Further Education College in Leeds some years previously and her course tutor had taken her to all sorts of caving venues. Poppy considered that Mark, who had never caved before, might quite enjoy the experience.

He certainly did as you can see in photo two as he emerges from the famous Cheese Press in Long Churns - one of the best known places underground in The Yorkshire Dales where many a novice caver and school kid have an experience they'll never forget!

Long Churns is a great cave not only for the novice, but also for the experienced caver too. As well as providing an exciting way in to Alum Pot and a place where more serious aspirants can practise their Single Rope Technique (SRT) Skills, there are quite a few tight & wet crawls such as the one in photo three in the "Roof series". People can also exit the system via November Hole which is quite unpleasant or have a very wet experience crawling along the 200m canal in Wilsons Cave.

As Poppy had been to some quite exciting venues before, Iain felt it appropriately to include the "Roof Series" crawl as a passage of interest for her.

After only two hours underground, we had done everything in Long Churns that could be reasonably achieved. It was only 11:30am, so we had time to visit to Borrins Moor Caves as well!

Photo four sees the pair in the main cave at Borrins Moor, we made our way in from the surface down to the point where the continuation becomes a wet bedding crawl before turning around and taking a left turn up another passage - returning from here to the surface via a tight corkscrew tube which looks a lot harder than it actually is!

After that, there was still time for one last short trip underground so, we finished the session by travelling 100m over the moor and entering Alum Pot Beck Passage by a small entrance and then ultimately returning to the surface via the aptly named Razor Entrance, all good, wet; and at times, tight fun!

The final photo from this post about Introductory Caving Sessions in The Yorkshire Dales National Park sees the pair on the Limestone Pavement.

Normally you would hope to see Penyghent in the distance but not today! The weather was cloudy with a cold breeze, no rain though and largely dry underground!

Mark thoroughly enjoyed his Introductory Caving Session with Poppy & Iain and looks forward to returning again - maybe to try something harder next time?

The pair paid only £90 for this half day caving session with us and the fee includes all of the equipment you see them wearing. Caving is a great way to have a real adventure and we can make it as wet and as challenging as you like (or the opposite if that's the case!) Contact us here to arrange your half or full day Caving Adventure in The Yorkshire Dales National Park. We look forward to working with you.