Peak Streamway to Far Sump, Peak-Speedwell system, Derbyshire
Grade 2 Cave
The Peak-Speedwell system is the jewel in the crown of Derbyshire
caving. It's a large system with over 17 km of passage and has a
tremendous variety of different types of caving from the vertical pitches
of J.H., boulder-hopping in the Speedwell Streamway to the tight,
muddy confines of Colostomy Crawl. Because of it's many entrances and
various levels of development, it takes a while to really get to know
the system and figure out how things link together. Many people's first
experience of the system is a trip starting at the huge entrance and going
up the Streamway as far as Far
Sump. This trip isn't technically difficult requiring no rope or ladder
and gives a great introduction to the scale and variety of the cave.
Access to Peak Cavern is controlled by the Peak Cavern showcave in
conjunction with the Derbyshire Caving Association (DCA) and the British
Cave Research Association (BCRA). We enjoy excellent relations with the
showcave and it is important that cavers respect the access arrangements
that are in place. Access information is available from the DCA.
The trip starts at the main Peak Cavern Entrance which at 30m wide and 15m
high, is the largest cave entrance in the country. It can't be seen from
the road but once close up it is the major feature of the local
landscape. In the mouth of the entrance itself is the terraced area where
rope making used to take place and until relatively recently there was a
settlement there. In the roof above are a number of passages including the
Krypton Series - containing some fine formations. The showcave lights were
turned off on this occasion but normally all of the showcave is lit with
electric lighting. Once at the end of the present showcave it's down the
'Devil's Staircase' and we meet the Peak stream just where it disappears
into Halfway House. Just downstream of this point the water sumps and
re-appears outside the cave mouth in a stream in the Peak Cavern Gorge. We
headed upstream splashing along in the streambed and enjoying the
easy-going walking against the stream. Passing through the area known as
five arches we arrived at the point where Buxton and Speedwell Waters
join. The passage splits with the left route leading shortly to the
downstream end of Buxton Water Sump. We headed off right up towards Victoria Aven
and The Mucky Ducks. Victoria Aven is 100m high and exploration continues
at the top. In the early 1940s, the Mucky Ducks were the limit of
exploration and the passing of these sumps involved much impressive
engineering and hard work. Today, there is plenty of airspace and it's
just a short wade through to the dry passage on the other side. Soon we
arrived in Upper Gallery which is a high level dry route which attains
impressive proportions in some places. Finally, Upper Gallery finishes at
a fixed iron ladder at the spot known as Surprise View. The ladder leads
down into the Peak Streamway which can be followed downstream to the
upstream end of Buxton Water Sump or upstream towards Far Sump. We
splashed off upstream enjoying some of the finest stream passage in
Derbyshire. All the way upstream there are inlets at different levels on
both sides of the passage and these make handy landmarks on the way. One
such inlet is Lake Passage which we passed on our way to Boulder Hall. We
planned to explore Lake Passage on the way back down to Surprise View.
After a while we arrived at Boulder Hall where an easy climb up onto
boulders and then a further slippery handline climb leads to Picnic Dig.
We had some food in the dry, sandy passage at the top before making our
way further upstream to Far Sump. Far Sump is the upstream limit of the
streamway for non-divers being an almost 400m dive through to the Far Sump
Extension. The passing of this sump by Martyn Farr in the 1980s was a
landmark in the history of Derbyshire Caving. This was the original route
into the Far Sump Extension which eventually proved to be the key to the
subsequent discoveries of J.H. and eventually Titan - the largest
underground shaft in the country.
After dropping off a cylinder and collecting a couple more at Far Sump we
stomped off back down the streamway and nipped into Lake Passage. This is
a smaller passage than the main streamway but still a good size and the
famous Lake Passage Duck lies in wait. There's a dry bypass route but the
duck is only short and there's a rope to pull yourself along. Everyone in
the party went for the duck and whilst wet, it's straightforward enough. After a
quick look at Ink Sump which lies at the end of Lake Passage we returned
to the streamway and headed down to Surprise View. We then had a quick
jaunt downstream to the upstream end of Buxton Water Sump. This is
some of the finest phreatic passage in Derbsyhire being a textbook example
of the development of passage below the water table. We returned up the Surprise View ladder and back through the Mucky
Ducks and eventually reached the showcave entrance after about four hours
of caving.
This is an excellent sporting trip through some fine underground
scenery. The main concern with Peak is the water and the showcave area
sumps after periods of rain. This cuts of the exit and consequently it is
important to cave with someone who has a good understanding of the
hydrology of the system.
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