It all started two years ago, when the K.C.C. survey of Gaping Gill was in full swing. Geoff Yeadon and I visited Arrow Chamber and the "Upstream Passages" beyond sumps of 6 ft. and 52 ft. to survey and potter. Three separate passages, each ending in a sump, lead off from the far side of the sumps mentioned above. The left hand one looked low, the centre one apparently connected with the left one, and the right hand branch sump, though wide and low, actually carried the stream. Consequently, I returned with Geoff Crossley to dive the more promising right hand branch a few weeks later. It didn't go, and this area of the cave was forgotten about.

Much later, Tim Nixon and I had a trip into Ingleborough with a mini-bottle and one valve between us, to look at various watee endings. Tim checked out a deep pool in an alcove just beyond the point where a drop down the sandy slope below Giant's Hall leads to the wet bedding. This proved to be a duck into a section of known streamway. My dose of wet darkness came in the form of a floor slot in the "Second Gothic Arch" chamber just before Giant's Hall. Here a 6 ft. climb leads to a deep canal sumping upstream and downstream. The upstream sump had apparently been investigated by Mike Wooding but was blocked by silt. However, I swam along 60 ft. of pleasant rift passage to an airbell with a voice connection to base. Beyond, an inviting bedding was not explored as more gear was called for.

On the next trip, negotiating the floor slot was very awkward with two bottles on, until Chester offered the use of his leg (!) as a stemple. Ron Bury dived the downstream sump, but this became too silted after a few feet. In the upstream sump I only got to 150 ft. because a lot of time was spent getting the line in the right place in a low bedding. Beyond, the way on was wide open. A week later, I followed this to a steep ascent at 210 ft. - not into airspace, but into a much larger flooded passage. At 250 ft. airspace appeared in a gloopy airbell, with an obvious passage leading off up a steep mud slope. Entering this took ten minutes of desperate clawing up the slippery mud. At the top, 30 ft. of passage ended in a high, narrow rift, and a beding emitting the sound of flowing water. Despite all attempts at elegance, re-entering the sump pool down the mud slide still resembled a Fleetwood lifeboat launching.

When the survey of this new area was drawn up, it became apparent that one point was only about 10 ft. away from the, as yet, undived left hand sump (mentioned previously) in the "Upstream Passages".

Ron and I came back early this year and made the connection. It is now possible to do a round trip, from Gothic Arch to the Upstream Passages and back via Giant's Hall, involving sumps of 220 ft., 52 ft. and 6 ft. There has only been one more dive to date, when I pressed on upstream to a point 300 ft. from the Gothic Arch base, past a nasty low bedding to enter a larger continuation. The bedding gave problems on the return, and will have to have the line sorted out before more progress can be made.

This passage is now heading well away from Ingleborough Cave, and possibly represents the point where water from Hurnell Moss Pot and P2 enters the system. The water takes a lot longer to clear than the main G.G. water, which can cause visibility problems. The sumps only really clear up after a long period of drought. However, work continues, and if it ever stops raining (!) the future of this particular part of the cave could be quite promising. Finally - thanks to all the Pennine lads who have broken off from their many respective digs to lend a hand with this project!

J.N.Cordingley