Hodge Close

[andy2tanx]

Sorry I haven't got round to writing this till now, but what with the dive show and Tierney leading down the slippery drinking path, I've been somewhat busier than the norm.  Anyway, no more excuses, here goes...


We met up at Andy's house at Sedbergh, to find a big bowl of steaming porridge and jersey cream awaiting us.  nice one Andy lad, top guy!!

After the hour or so to Hodge, we stopped at the top part and had a look down into the quarry, WOW!  Then we paid our £4 and parked up, kitted up and set off.  now you wanna try putting twin 12's on and ducking into that tunnel, at this point I was seriously considering twin 7's!!  A feeling which was further compounded when I got to the top of the scaffolding 'ladder'.  Much more used to a better quality of ladders my good man!!

Anyway down at the bottom and we sorted our kit out and got in the water.  bliss!

Down to the bottom, gin clear water and a nice balmy 12 degrees at the surface and 9 degrees at the bottom, double bliss!!

After several minutes exploring and gazing wistfully at both the entrance to the caves and Andy's Halcyon gear, Andy decided to pull some OOA drills on us.  crafty beggar!

Dasve got his reg to Andy and had some problem getting his own into his mouth.  Apparrently, he had his long hose wrapped round his head and it didn't deploy correctly so it trapped his necklaced second reg... lesson in there for us Davey boy.

Then we played around squeezing ourselves up through this gap in the rocks and discovering how tight a hole you CAN squeeze 12's through.

Very lazy ascent to the surface, with Dave practicing his beloved DSMB deployment, nice one laddie.

And then it was off exploring on the land into the cave that leads to the other part of the quary that we didnt go to, namely the bit of the water that is on a cave where allegedly its good fun surprising the ramblers by getting out of this seeming puddle with all your kit on, morning folks!

However, all good fun has a price, and the double payment comes in the form of getting your arris back up the ladder and into the tunnel back to the car.  ah well it is worth it.

Would I do Hodge again.   YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!!!
The place has to rate as one of the most surreal and absorbing dive sites I have ever had the priviledge of going to.  Anyone else fancy it, I'm coming with yers!!

Thanks Andy both for the porridge, dive site and the essential after dive ice cream!! (The body off gasses quicker with the intake of mr Whippy he tells me)

[Davey Willo]

Deployment of the long hose, first time out with it... Hmmmm.. this was maybe something I should of practised a few times before Andy actually appeared in front of me chopping at his neck and demanding air... like a flash I had the reg out of my mouth and was presenting it like a pro.... except!!!... I'd forgotten to drop my head and allow the loop to slip over it ending up with the loop pulled tight and restricting my access to my secondary reg under my chin... A very scary moment as I realised that my lips and the mouthpiece weren't quite touching and I'm just about to start to flap and give OOA signals back to the Andy duo right in front of me when I finally make contact with the reg but take in a bit of water, so I get air, but I also get icy cold Hodge Close water into the old air sacs too.... a coughing fit later I have my own reg back in and can feel the sphincter relaxing once more.... A lesson learned but not one I wanted to learn at the bottom of Hodge Close.

Other than that it was a top day and a big thanks to Andy Hayhurst for taking us over there, making us swim through some excessively tight spots (cruel git!) and yeah I'll do Hodge anytime, its a special place and a must do for anyone who's not been before... Bren??