Sunday, January 25, 2009

Looking for a secret cave.





I like to spend the odd night out in the mountains the most recent being in the Priest's Hole Cave on Dove Crag in June and September last year. This year there are two more caves to spend the night in. One is on Castle Crag called Millicans Daltons cave and the other is a cave which is known to only a handful of people non of whom will confirm its location but whom have left clues in their writings and photo's. The cave is situated on a crag and it is entered by a small hole but once inside it is well fitted out. The story is it was kitted out by a Leeds university lecturere whom was building a little hideaway for himself but it was discovered by some rock scramblers. The few photos of the cave show it to have 3 wooden berths for your sleep bags, a fireplace with a built in fleu and a storage cave for supplies. Everything you need for a night in the mountains. The cave came to my attention when I spent the night in the Priest's Hole last September with my mate Spetsnatz. We met a monkey hanger out with his dog and he joined us for a brew and during the conversation he asked us if we had ever heard of the $%*# cave on @#& Crag? We hadn't but following 4 months of gathering information, examining the pictures for clues and the fact Trail magazine confirmed it's existence Spetsnatz and I went on a recce to find it. I can not mention any place names of where we parked or climbed as we too want this place to remain a secret and retain it's mysterious identity. As it happens we did not find it but we know we were on the right crag on the right mountain. If you were to enter this cave name into Google you would only get three entries and they report that you could be standing by the enterance and yet non the wiser to it being there.The snow didn't help us in our search but we will be back in the spring with two more clues and confirmation as to what height it can be found within.