briwy
Super Poster
VIP Member
Gaping Gill is a 320 ft deep pot hole on the sides of Ingleborough hill in the Yorkshire Dales.
Fof fifty years every May Bank Holiday week the Bradford Pot Hole Club set up a winch so that members of the public can access the chamber at the bottom. I've been wanting to do it for years and finally got round to it.
Dropped my daugther off at Liverpool airport and headed up the M6 and then cut across towards Settle.
After hunting around for a while found a great wild camping spot with a view of Ingleborough and Pen y Ghent.
The rain stopped as I brewed up and I could see across the valley to Ingleborough.
The clouds disappeared and down went the sun over Ingleborough
and reflected off Pen y Ghent.
Lovely quiet night, just owls hooting and few sheep baaing.
Up at half six next morning and off to Clapham about seven miles aawy to start the walk up the pot.
The first view of the temporary camp and pot hole
The winch mechanism
and the chair on the end of the wire rope
Inside the main chamber. The stream coming off the hill is dammed by the club and diverted down two ratholes so that instead of all the water going down the pot as normal you get three waterfalls inside the chamber.
This said to be the highest free fall waterfall in the country and the chamber is big enough to enclose the nave of York MInster.
It's very difficult to get a really good photo due to the lack of light. To do it properly it needs a tripod which I didn't have with me and a time exposure.
Once your eyes get accustomed you can see the the staggering size of the place, absolutely incredible.
The trip up and down in the chair takes about a minute each way. Be prepared to get very wet and dirty and wait your turn. When you get there you book in (£15 which goes to charity after the expense of fuel etc is met) you get a numbered metal tag. I got there about ten and eventually went down around three so there is a long wait. You can stay down as long as you want but again there was a queue of about an hour to get back up again so you need warm and waterproof clothing.
Fortunately the weather was great so I just lounged about and chatted while waiting.
Well worth the trip.
Fof fifty years every May Bank Holiday week the Bradford Pot Hole Club set up a winch so that members of the public can access the chamber at the bottom. I've been wanting to do it for years and finally got round to it.
Dropped my daugther off at Liverpool airport and headed up the M6 and then cut across towards Settle.
After hunting around for a while found a great wild camping spot with a view of Ingleborough and Pen y Ghent.
The rain stopped as I brewed up and I could see across the valley to Ingleborough.
The clouds disappeared and down went the sun over Ingleborough
and reflected off Pen y Ghent.
Lovely quiet night, just owls hooting and few sheep baaing.
Up at half six next morning and off to Clapham about seven miles aawy to start the walk up the pot.
The first view of the temporary camp and pot hole
The winch mechanism
and the chair on the end of the wire rope
Inside the main chamber. The stream coming off the hill is dammed by the club and diverted down two ratholes so that instead of all the water going down the pot as normal you get three waterfalls inside the chamber.
This said to be the highest free fall waterfall in the country and the chamber is big enough to enclose the nave of York MInster.
It's very difficult to get a really good photo due to the lack of light. To do it properly it needs a tripod which I didn't have with me and a time exposure.
Once your eyes get accustomed you can see the the staggering size of the place, absolutely incredible.
The trip up and down in the chair takes about a minute each way. Be prepared to get very wet and dirty and wait your turn. When you get there you book in (£15 which goes to charity after the expense of fuel etc is met) you get a numbered metal tag. I got there about ten and eventually went down around three so there is a long wait. You can stay down as long as you want but again there was a queue of about an hour to get back up again so you need warm and waterproof clothing.
Fortunately the weather was great so I just lounged about and chatted while waiting.
Well worth the trip.
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