Jugholes

Tuesday, 1 December, 2015

After a wild and wet weekend, nine of us chose to visit Jugholes last night. We met at the lay-by opposite the Masson Lees track and, at last, the rain had stopped. Pete and Gordon wandered down to the 2nd Water Cavern to rig the exit shaft while folk got changed, and we then we all met up and descended the slippery path down to the overgrown sough tail. Locking the gate behind us, we pushed on into the 5th Water cavern, and explored some of the side passages and digs there before continuing to the choked scramble up to the 4th Water Cavern. It's a pity nobody had brought a camera, as some of the mineralisation and scalloping is superb.

Traversing the Goat Track we climbed into the 3rd Water Cavern, and examined the shaft in the roof before taking an extended tour of t'Owd Mon's pipe workings in the section below the exit passage. We were soon climbing the exit shaft, using the rope which Pete and Gordon had rigged as a hand-line. As we had time, we went into Upper Series to look at the green clay and the Beehive Slopes. Because of the rains, this section of Jugholes was quite wet, and there was a decent sized stream at the bottom. Taking care not to disturb the solitary bat who was sleeping in the ceiling of the cave, we quietly exited to a still-dry evening, and retired to the Miner's Standard for a chat and a bee