Dylan, Lexie and Victoria
It was what appears to have been our last sunny Sunday of the year, so naturally, with my son Dylan and his partner Lexie visiting, we decided the best way to enjoy it was to go underground.
Lexie had never done Winnats Head Cave before, so we thought it would make a good family outing. The last time I was in Winnats Head, my trip ended with a visit to A&E — but when has something like that ever stopped any of us going back?
First things first, we checked that nobody had recently used the entrance as a toilet. All clear. A promising start.
I’ve said before that Winnats Head is one of my favourite trips. I also somehow manage to forget between visits just how tight bits of it are. And at this point I wasn’t even thinking about the Slot. F
In we went.
One of the more legitimate reasons for our excursion was for Dylan to do some work calibrating his Disto. Any excuse for a caving trip is a good excuse, but “scientific instrument calibration” sounds particularly respectable.
Once we reached the first chamber, we spent about 20 minutes helping Dylan. By “helping”, I mean standing very still with a finger pressed against a rock.
Not difficult.
I feel our contribution to cave surveying should be recognised.
Dylan eventually announced that he had everything he needed, so we pressed on. Although “pressed” is perhaps an unfortunate choice of word when describing progress through the boulder chokes at Winnats Head. Squeezed, wriggled, shuffled and occasionally wondered about our life choices might be more accurate.
Along the way I spotted a few areas of formations I hadn’t noticed before, which was really lovely. We also came across some rather humorous little sculptures made from the natural materials available underground. A nice artistic touch in an otherwise muddy environment.
Eventually we reached the Slot.
The new scaffolding there is excellent and we squeezed our way through. Going down is considerably easier than coming back up for me, but I was absolutely determined not to think about that yet.
We carried on down to the sump. After such a dry summer, I’d expected the water level to be noticeably lower, but to me it looked much the same as usual.
I’d never been through the Sewer before and, with a little encouragement — and the promise of a helping hand waiting on the other side — I decided to give it a go.
And I’m glad I did.
Having explored enough and, more importantly, taken note of the time, we began the journey back out.
Winnats Head really is an excellent whole-body workout. Arms, legs, core, shoulders, knees, elbows and several muscle groups you didn't know existed all get involved. I have had to explain my bruises to everyone I have seen after so they don’t assume the worst in my personal life.
Then came the Slot.
On my usual trips I have the benefit of a conveniently positioned knee from one of my regular crew to help get me started. Lexie tried her best -thank you again.
Lexie patiently listened while I whined, complained, swore and generally expressed my feelings about the situation. Then, inch by inch, I started making progress.
A little more.
And eventually — victory! — I emerged.
Lexie then came through and made it look ridiculously easy, which was frankly unnecessary.
From there we wriggled, squeezed and clambered our way back towards daylight until eventually we popped out of the entrance and into the sunshine: covered in claggy Winnats mud, slightly battered and all smiling.
There was only one sensible thing left to do.
Food and grog in Castleton.
A brilliant trip, a successful bit of Disto calibration, a first Winnats Head for Lexie, a first trip through the Sewer for me and, most importantly, no visit to A&E this time.
All in all, a great family day out. Though possibly not the sort of family day out they advertise in the Peak District tourist brochures.
