New Year's Eve Bivvy - 2020
2020-12-31
Bivvying in a cave in the Yorkshire Dales
A Different Cave
Because of the Corona lockdowns, the lake district was off-limits for our bivvy this New Year's Eve.
Determined to get to the 5 years of consecutive bivvying in a cave on New Years Eve, we found a more local cave to spend the night in.
North East of Settle (in the Yorkshire Dales), is a series of caves in what is known as the Attermire Scar. The most famous of which being Victoria Cave, which was first discovered in 1837, but has been used by prehistoric man as far back as in 12,500BC!
We set off in the dark at around 6:30pm packed to the teeth with gear: ice axes,
ropes, slings, full tentage etc.
We had one particular cave we wanted to visit, however it was not fully marked on maps and we were slightly concerned whether we'd find it or not. Using speleological surveys and other reports people had written, we searched across the moorland and slippy grass edge to find the entrance we were looking for.
Perched high up on the top of the scar, it was a difficult little spot to find,
especially in the dark! We were aided by finding another, distinctively shaped
cave lower down, and from there tracking our way across.
We brought a stove up with us, allowing us a small hot tea: instant noodles and
tins of veggie hotdogs and beans.
Personally I had a brilliant night sleep, I usually do when I'm sleeping
outside! It was well above freezing within the cave and we were well protected
from the wind.
It has a really distinctive shaped roof, and is luckily dry. The lookout from
the entrance is really spectacular.
