There aren't enough Mendip postings so here is one....

Talking to few people they have all said that they haven't been able to follow the round trip route described in Mendip Underground. When I did the trip we found the second duck bypass:... then got lost!
Does anybody have any tips etc? Next time I will try it I think we will go round the reverse way to see if it is any easier, and if we can recognise bits from our last trip the other way.

God only knows how many times I've been down there (mostly with beginners)
I did a round trip once (although no-one was sure it was the one in the guide book) but I was without a working light, so I can't remember the route.
Although I've never been lost and have found some very 'interesting' routes to dead-ends, like Andy I've also never found the way round myself.
Someone must be able to tell us an easy way to find the route?

Andy Sparrow knows! - apparently the key to it is to look up... the way on is in the roof somewhere along the line.

The Mendip Underground description is pretty good but has one major error. It doesn't tell you that the Boulder Ruckle on the return journey is only found by climbing into the roof of the rift passage after it passes the route down to the Duck Bypass. Even armed with this knowledge it takes a trip or three to find the way through the Round Trip.

Done the round trip once, very fast, following Alison Moody! There is no way I could retrace that.

Has anyone done a decent surevy of the place?

According to Mendip UG, Wessex did a survey in 1970 to grade 5-6c. JRat didn't have a copy for sale when I asked him a while back though. (Andy S did you have anything to do with surveying it?)

I wonder why Lionel's never seems a popular trip? It has no access problems and there are a variety of trips available. Perhaps everyone just gets lost and gives up....!

andymorgan said:

According to Mendip UG, Wessex did a survey in 1970 to grade 5-6c. JRat didn't have a copy for sale when I asked him a while back though. (Andy S did you have anything to do with surveying it?)

Click to expand...

That was Willie Stanton's survey and only covers the "upper" part of the cave. It was published in the Wexses journal at the time. I was wondering whether the rest had been done.