Stoney Middleton Master Cave

17/06/23 (Mike, Rob)

Encouraged by the recent dry spell and reports of the sump and the Cussey connection being passable again, we finally plucked up courage to take the literal plunge into the master cave.

We got to Eyam about 6 and forced on wetsuits in the sweltering heat. Luckily the walk to the entrance takes approximately 8 seconds and Cussey Pot has its own AC system which gives instant relief upon opening the lid. Having remembered the route from our trip back in Jan, the way on down went quickly enough and after shedding SRT kit we slithered through into Loper Lust – the connection from Cussey into Doom et al.

We’d been to both sides of the connection before but never through it as it had been thoroughly sumped on those occasions. The recent dry spell, however, had made a big difference and there was now useable airspace which enabled you to get through with a bit of ceiling sucking.

Off down the ladder, we wormed our way through the delights of Vulgarious Bastard, ditched our oversuits as we entered A Race Against Time (RAT) and optimistically rounded the corner to the Boil Up Sump 2.

And…

There was airspace! Unusable airspace (about 50mm) but just being able to shine a light through makes a massive psychological difference. No excuses now…

We hooded up, goggled up, took a few deep breaths and I headed through followed shortly after by Rob. We’d finally bloody got through into the Stoney Middleton Master Cave, very chuffed! Arriving at the junction, we headed upstream first and followed the cascading water up along the winding canyon, passing various avens, bouldery obstacles and eventually got turned around at the upstream sump which appeared to be thoroughly silted up. It’s a very impressive place and it seems a bit mad that Stoney now has a romping great big stream passage to rival those in Castleton.

The downstream passage is very different but equally enjoyable, the water sinks away into intriguing little pots in the floor and the main passage suddenly stops at a big silt blockage. A short climb up on the right gives access to a fun higher-level vadose section which we then followed to the downstream sump.

The return journey went smoothly, apart from getting an eye full of grit and gloop passing back through Loper Lust and it was bliss to arrive back into daylight and the warm summer air. Couple of pints sat outside the Derwent Water Arms, then about 2hrs cleaning all the kit off the next day. Great trip. Hopefully the first of many if the master cave continues to reveal itself… fingers crossed it does.