Gaping Gill may half term

[321Go]

Hi
Has anyone done the winch descent?
How early did you have get there and how long did you have to wait?
Thinking of going with teens but not sure if it's going to be a long day of hanging around.
Thanks!

Have name changed as this would be very outing.

Parents have lived in Clapham for a long time so this is based on that and us having sent many guests up to do Gaping Gill.

Depending on your walking speed, it’s a 60-90 minute walk to the winch point from the start of the Nature Trail.

They’ve often got a full book by 10am in my experience, so that would mean leaving the village by 8:30 at the absolute latest. In reality if you want to be sure to not be disappointed, I’d want to get there as soon after the book opens as possible. That’s usually 8am I think, but might be 9 some days. So I would advise leaving the village by 6:30 if it’s an 8am start. There can be significant queues built up by 8am, especially in good weather.

The wait can be long. Once you’ve got a wristband and an approximate time you don’t have to stay right by the winch however, you can explore the area up there.

@claphamnative that is such helpful information, thank you! Pretty much what I'd imagined. We're about an hour away so will see what the levels of enthusiasm are for a 5.30 start. I'd love to do it!

No problem, let me know if there is any other info that would be helpful.

It’s the Bradford Potholing club who run it in May and they’ve got a decent website so worth a look there.

Other thing to note is they usually finish early on the last day, often at lunchtime so if you’re planning to go on the 31st my advise would be to go as early as humanly possible!