Great Douk/Middle Washfold

Location
Grid Reference: |Little%20Douk;54.187590;-2.388625|Middle%20Washfold;54.183330;-2.388535|Car%20park;54.1952;-2.391775|Hill%20Inn;54.193849;-2.395383&scale=16 SD 7472 7700

Altitude: 330 m

Parking may be had at the layby just above The Old Hill Inn, Chapel-le-Dale, on the B6255, grid reference SD 7453 7779.

Follow the major footpath from below the layby through a couple of pastures. Immediately past the third gate, follow the track up to the left. This leads after 250 m directly to the Great Douk enclosure. Cross the stile and descend into the huge depression. At the bottom is the scaffolded entrance to Great Douk Pot, and straight ahead is the obvious entrance to the cave from which a waterfall issues

Description


Despite being easy, this is a very fine cave, and the Middle Washfold to Great Douk traverse makes an excellent finish to a day's caving after a trip down one of the neighbouring holes such as Sunset Hole, Roaring Hole or Hardrawkin Pot.

Climb easily up the waterfall (this can be avoided by scrambling up the bank on the right hand side to enter a bedding that traverses above the waterfall). To the left, a low passage leads to the Southerscales Pot outflow sump. Straight on is easy walking, passing under Little Douk Pot. Eventually a pleasant succession of cascades is met, and the passage passes through areas of fine flowstone. Soon after an oxbow passage, which by-passes a low crawl in the stream, the passage bifurcates.

The main way is to the left, which lowers to a flat-out bedding with the main water entering from a small passage on the left. Straight ahead the passage chokes, but a hole in the roof enters a dry bedding which leads to a junction. Turning left leads to the Middle Washfold entrances.

Access
Permission is not required.

History
Great Douk must have been known for a very long time, but the first reference to it may be found in John Hutton's Addendum to the second edition of West's Guide to the Lakes published in 1780. Hutton and party explored the cave for some 50 metres beyond the Little Douk Pot window. Thereafter a visit, to the entrance at least, seems to have been on every local tourist's schedule. It certainly featured in the 1853 edition of Garnett's Craven Itinerary.

The Balderstons in Ingleton: Bygone and Present published in 1888 described how the cave can be explored beyond Little Douk Pot to where "the subterranean river is found to have its branches like a subaerial stream" - i.e. to within a hundred metres of the exit at Middle Washfold.

The first known publication in which the cave was referred to as 'Great Douk Cave', as opposed to 'Douk Cave' as in earlier publications, was Harry Speight's "The Craven and North-West Yorkshire Highlands, published in 1892, although William Stott Banks refers to "great and little Douk" in his Walks in Yorkshire published in 1866.

The connection from Middle Washfold was made on August 1st 1936 by Norman Thornber and E.J. Douglas of the B.S.A. and F. King of the Northern Cavern and Fell Club. The connection with Middle Washfold Sink was made by U.L.S.A. in February 1966.

The connection with Southerscales Pot was made in 1966 by members of the Cave Diving Group following U.L.S.A.'s exploration of Southerscales Pot.

References and Further Reading

 * 1) Anon, 1937, "Great Douk", Caves and Caving, Vol. 1 No. 1 page 31
 * 2) Banks W.S., 1866, "Walks in Yorkshire", J. Russell Smith, London and W.R. Hall, Wakefield
 * 3) Brook D. &amp; Crabbe H., 1969, "Great Douk and Southerscales Pot...", U.L.S.A. Explorations Journal, pp.33-36
 * 4) Hutton, J., 1780, "A Tour to the Caves in the environs of Ingleborough and Settle...", Richardson and Urquhart, London and Kendal
 * 5) Balderston R. &amp; M., 1888, "Ingleton: Bygone and Present", Simpkin, Marshall & Co., London and Edmondson & Co. Skipton. pp.42-43
 * 6) Garnett J., 1853, "Garnett's Craven Itinary", John Garnett, Skipton. pp:71-85
 * 7) Speight, H., 1892, "The Craven and North-West Yorkshire Highlands", Elliott Stock, London. pp.249-250