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Canal Cave Nidderdale During the 1960s Mick Ormerod and Mick Melvin were members of a small limited membership caving club called the Happy Wanderers Cave and Pothole Club. The Happy Wanderers have always been at the forefront of much of the new cave exploration work carried out in Yorkshire and Lancashire, and often their members would work together with other cavers, or caving clubs in a joint venture to push new ground. The club produced its first journal in 1966 and Mick Melvin’s article describing the discovery and exploration of a short cave in Nidderdale, reprinted below was included in the journal. The original content has not been changed. Canal Cave, Nidderdale Mick Melvin NGR SD100736 On March 6th 1966 Mick Ormerod and I had to abandon a dive in the Nidd Head Risings at Lofthouse due to the volume of floodwater present. At a lost for something to do, we decided to explore the dry river bed to the north of Lofthouse. Approximately four hundred feet above the bridge a deeply cut fissure crosses the river bed, and a small amount of water flows from below the rock face on the left hand side facing up river, and into a pool on the river bed. Mick and I began to excavate a small hole at the base of the rock from where the water flowed, and within minutes we had uncovered a low entrance about two foot high and eighteen inches wide. As I was the only one wearing caving gear I decided to explore alone. The first thirty foot of passage was a hands and knees crawl in water about a foot deep, after which the floor dropped away and the passage became approximately two feet wide and eight to ten feet high with waist deep water. The cave continued in this fashion for two hundred foot when the passage widened to around six feet and became about twelve foot high with chest deep water. Here I noticed an inlet passage in the roof on the right hand side. A right angled bend followed immediately and the passage width diminished to about fourteen inches. Approximately fifty feet beyond the inlet passage, the main passage became too tight at water level and I had to duck under for a couple of feet. At this point the distance rumble of a waterfall could be heard and as I pressed on the rumble grew louder, until approximately two hundred foot beyond the inlet passage I entered a small chamber where it was possible to stand clear of the water. A spout of water was falling about fifteen feet from an obvious passage into a pool on the floor of the chamber. Go to page 2 |
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