Tunnocks - Number of the Beast
Nat Dalton
(Times are mainly estimates)
After waiting for the rain to dissipate most of the morning we seized a window of clear weather to walk to Tunnocks; minimal faff saw us underground by half twelve; reasonably fast caving saw us at String Theory by about 2 & Number of the Beast by about half five. Reaching this point Rob & Holly sat at the top of bottom of Number of the Beast in a toasty warm bothy whilst Noel & Bat went down the 2 10m pitches (very carefully as the walls weren't particularly solid). (N.B. in places the floor wasn't very solid either)!
Noel decided that as we were there he might as well look down the ~40m pitch at the end of the (athletic looking) traverse. Placing a through-bolt in the far wall for a deviation he set off. Nat sat (on a particularly solid boulder bridge) eating sweets whilst this was going on. At the bottom Noel saw some potential (drafting) leads * but, due to the need to derig didn't investigate them further (some; ALL? would need some bolting).
Following this Noel came back up & did a (rough?) survey. Nat derigged up to the bottom of Number of the Beast. Rob derigged Number of the Beast and Holly did Procrastination. It was here that whilst Nat & Noel waited for Rob & Holly quietly sat in a group shelter. Whilst chatting they heard "Cock & Fuck" being repeated. It came to light later that he'd managed to get stuck in rift at the pitch head & struggled to extricate himself. Following this comedy everyone set off up String-Theory with Nat derigging whilst Rob & Noel ferried bags up to Caramel Catharsis. After counting out the eleven bags we'd transported thus far, we decided that String Theory was a step too far & left the rope for it down at Caramel Catharsis, headed out at a steady pace, with Nat in a grumpy mood due to his pantin breaking again. We were out at around 4am, and in our beds after substantial curry by 5:15am. A fine trip!