After getting out of Manchester it was nice to be camping again. There was nice little campground outside of Hadfield with a large field for pitches and a little bar. I spend two nights there and spent the day doing a hike up to the site of a B29 Superfortress that had crashed shortly after the end of the second World War. The grass lands at the top of the plateau had many small streams and stripes of exposed peat crossing it. My feet took a couple good dips in the mud soaking my shoes, still the view from the top was pleasant. The crash site still held some large remains of rusted out engine and chassis components.
I biked through the village of New Mills the next day. And old mill town situated over a deep gorge. The many tall bridgesa were impressive from both the top and the bottom and upon closer inspection had been turned into recreational climbing routes. THe preserved mill and added path around the rim were stunning.
The next stop was not orignally planned but a definate pleasure. I had met Merryn at the Red Rose caving hut the prior week and she invited me to stop into the Technical Speliologal Hut on my way down through the peaks district. She was even kind enough to come out and show me around town as well as linking me up with some local cavers from Sheffield. We did an evening trip to Giants Hole (no images), which starts with a nice open stopping passage leading to a single pitch ~50' deep. From there is a sporty narrrow canyon refered to as th e "Crabwalk" as you have to shimmy through it sideways. Then there are some low stream crawls that loop back towards the pitch making for a great sporty trip.
The next morning I left the TSG the following morning and happened to spot a cave entrance on the side of the road after a couple hours of biking. Of course I had to stop and poke my head in. The entrance was gaurded by nettle which I did not fully appreaciate the pain of till that point. I only went in a couple hundred feet as I had my biking kit on and was along but it was cool to see some digs had been going on not to long ago (pictured)
I then made my way down to the Orpheus Caving Club hut. I had been in contact with Chris from the club before I had flow over and made plans to stop and cave with them. At the hut I met Ray an old memember of the club (back when carbide lamps were still used) who had moved to Australia some 20-30 years ago. It was nice to have some one to share food, drink, and talk with while there. During the day I got some backed up bike maintenance done and once everyone got off work we did a trip to the cave P8. Chris was kind enough to lend me kit and even had a micro rack! Though at this point I was used to using a bobbin (the more popular device here in the UK for descending ropes) it was nice to have a rack again. It was quite a bit smaller than I was used to and the moving bars were mirrored which momentarilly confused me at the top of the first pitch but a joy to use on the thinner and more supple ropes here. Chris also had a fleece undersuit I could use, I got a kick out of the pattern and it was quite nice to keep my biking clothes dry.
