The BMC has negotiated with the landowner and secured an access agreement, but this is dependent on the continuing responsible behavior of climbers.
Local cavers have an agreement with the landowner to manage recreation in the quarry through the Fairy Cave Management Committee. They have been extremely supportive of climber’s efforts to secure access and without their support it is unlikely we would have been successful. Mark Courtiour (BMC Access Rep) has been co-opted onto the Management Committee but the cavers have overall responsibility for recreational use of the quarry.
Maintaining our good relationship with the cavers is important, as is following a few simple points within our access agreement:
Take all of your litter and any you find away with you to dispose of responsibly.
Responsible parking is essential to maintain access - see the 'parking and approach' section below for more information.
The only people with permission to be within the fenced area are cavers and climbers. If you find other people in the quarry please ask them to leave.
Parts of the quarry could be unstable and potentially dangerous for the unaware. In particular young or inexperienced climbers should be closely supervised at all times.
The quarry forms part of a larger SSSI and European SAC (Special Area of Conservation). Natural England are monitoring the rare flora and fauna within the quarry so avoid removing any vegetation without checking with the local Access Rep or Access Officer first.
Descents:
Movement around the top of some areas of the quarry can be difficult and local climbers have established abseil descents from all popular areas. Please do not remove these fixtures. Most lower offs/abseil points have been renewed and stakes have been installed above Robs Crack and Lumbar Puncture/Epic Dural. As always with fixed equipment, be sure to thoroughly inspect all parts of an anchor before committing to using it.
The best abseil descent (easier to pull through) from the Robs Crack area is from a pair of stakes with wire strops and maillon situated above Who Needs Hair Anyway i.e. next to the Hawthorn bush on the crag edge about 50m left (facing out) of Robs Crack.
A strop and maillon have been added to the stake above Halfway to Kansas/Lumbar Puncture, another above Balch's Slide and another above Senile Taff Corner to facilitate abseiling.
All routes in the Glacis area have lower offs in place.
The Alpine Ridge can be ascended/descended as a relatively easy but exposed scramble.
Parking and Approach
Parking is difficult and requires climbers to park very carefully to avoid obstructing passing traffic, which includes large articulated lorries and farm vehicles. Any complaint to the landowner would seriously endanger our access agreement.
There are a couple of places where cars can be parked well off the road but one is a gate into a field which must remain unobstructed. A few hundred metres northwards along the lane is a junction where the road widens and it is possible to safely park several cars. The OS map for the area makes it easy to identify a network of footpaths to use instead of having to walk on narrow lanes.
There is gated entrance and details of how to use it can be found here . It will be the responsibility of all climbers and cavers using the combination to ensure the code does not escape beyond the two communities as if this were to happen, access would be at risk.