Sidetrack Cave - Alan Brentnall
A beautiful summer's evening saw eleven of us (Brendan, Steve, Glyn, Jen, Luke, Adrian, Pete, two Katies, Bernie and me) gathering on Slitherstones Lane for a foray into Sidetrack. This was the second time in less than a week that some of us had had to deal with the huge puddles and ruts of the lane as there was a call out there the previous Thursday night, when DCRO came to the aid of one of Mark Hadfield's cute little calves which had fallen down an open cut.
Sidetrack is an interesting cave, part of another amazing cave (Allsop's Cave) which was blasted away back in the 90s after the quarry company had been told to stop their operations and "tidy up". Believe it or not, Allsop's was, at that time, on the floor of the (much smaller) quarry, whereas Sidetrack is now perched on a ledge a hundred metres above the vast quarry floor, and what's left of Allsop's is a vague indentation in the cliff to the left of Sidetrack. Such was the intensity of the "tidy up". This intensity also involved the unnecessary use of large quantities of high explosive which has effectively created a rubble heap out of what could have been an impressive amenity for climbers.
To reach the ledge from the quarry top necessitates descending a 10 metre pitch of loose rock and gravel. This is often done using ladders, as was the case last night, and great care needs to be taken over this part of the trip simply because of the state of the rock.
One notable feature of Sidetrack is the 500ft entrance tube, which is about 2 metres in diameter and would be a beautiful passage to traverse, were it not almost completely packed with glacial fill. The resultant tight, muddy and, in places, wet crawl requires a determination which quite often gets the better of some of the cavers who enter Sidetrack (read some of TSG's previous trip reports) and last night was no exception as only nine of us managed to reach the beauties of Litton Stroll.
This inner passage, again phreatic, is much larger and better decorated than the entrance crawl, and it almost certainly connects with what's left of Allsop's Cave. It is certainly a worthy reward for the efforts required to reach it.
After a good look around Litton Stroll (we didn't bother with Flat Out Walk this time) we dragged our muddy bodies back to the surface and retreated to Castleton to plot next week's trip in the Peaks Hotel. Shortly after which I received a phone call from DCRO's duty controller (Lee Langdon) requesting the presence of some of us at West Mine Alderley Edge, where an injured caver required extracting having fallen down a ladderway - the third "shout" in six days.