Goatchurch Cavern - A Mendip adventure

Oscar D

Active member
So today I went on my first trip in Mendip, to Goatchurch cavern. A fine system which has so much polished rock, that even walking was sketchy most of the time not to mention to coal chute or coffin lid. Anyway, the trip, I woke up early at about 6:00 and by 7:00 was on the road South, an early start being important as it takes a good 2.5hrs from Coventry to Burrington and we wanted to get ahead of the traffic. Fortunately, I didn?t have to drive and instead hitched a lift with my folks who were going to spend the day in Weston whilst me and Minty went underground. The sun was shining as we arrived in Burrington and we parked in the car park and nipped to the loo before getting changed and following an outdoors centre group up to Goatchurch, being to lazy to get the map out and find it myself  ;) .

We entered the cave through the old entrance and descended the giants stairs, saying goodbye to daylight and then bumping into the back of the group we had followed from the car park, who kindly let us pass and go in front. Then, me being useless at reading surveys, thinking we were not as far into the cave as we actually were, and then being quite surprised finding ourselves at the top of the coal chute. Which was nice because that was the route we were planning to take. Then with swiftness and infinite skill, I effortlessly rigged the handline down without any fumbling with tangled rope whatsoever. I did notice that the natural anchor above the top of the chute which is used for the anchor has been worn through about a 1-2cm by rope. This was slightly alarming as the rock is only about 6cm thick. This made me glad that I had brought a sling to clip the rope to. I descended the rope first, the drop is a little scary and I was surprised at how little grip the slab offered and how few footholds it yielded also. Once at the bottom I produced my camera from the gear loop on my belt and took a step back to frame Minty coming down the chute, only to find a lack of surface behind me. I fell backwards about a metre or so before a nicely placed rocky outcrop broke my fall, landing on my backside however, I fell backwards again off the rock and hit my shoulder and helmet on the floor. After checking that nothing was broken and answering the concerned ?Are you ok? from my partner at the top of the chute, who hadn?t seen the fall and had only heard it, I stood up and took a few snaps of her coming down. Once we were both at the bottom of the chute we heard the slightly nervous banter of the group from earlier descending the Midgets staircase and then entering the boulder chamber. Not wanting to have to squeeze past them again, we took a break on some comfortable boulders at the side of the passage and listened in on the group as they tried some of the boulder chamber squeezes. In the boulder chamber we spied a lone bat hanging out at the side of the chamber and after staring briefly to try to establish what he was actually clinging onto, we slipped down the coffin lid and into the passage below. The coffin lid is far too smooth but with a mixture of amazement and sheer terror we made quick work of this glassy-smooth demon. Below the lid we found some stumpy stalagmites and some columns. Then before us lay another chamber filled with large boulders. This is where the group in front turned around and we were left by ourselves to munch on some chocolate bars and think about what to do next. Being a tall-ish fellow and not the biggest fan of small spaces, I opted to do the Drainpipe because I am quite partial to a good old phreatic tube. However, being bad at surveys and all, I was unable to find the real drainpipe and so a low crawl ending in a small 1x1m chamber had to do instead. The crawl was similar to the start of Daren Cilau, being just over a foot hight and a couple feet wide and filled with small fist sized boulders in places. Anyway, after taking some some photos in the crawl and giving both our elbows and shins a good beating, we turned around and began to exit the cave. The coffin lid was sketchy on the way back up as its smoothness refused us any grip and we had to grapple at the edges, almost bear hugging the huge slab of rock, in order to get up. Our wet boots from exploring the lower parts of one of the chambers made the job harder. After a short while of trying not to slide down everything we tried to climb up, we reached the start of the cave again and after de rigging the handline at the top of the coal chute, we ambled back up the giants stairs and back into daylight.

On the way back to the carpark we explored Avelines hole at the side of the road, speeding trucks making the road crossing hazardous. Exiting the hole and walking up to our car in the carpark, we chucked off our dusty but otherwise relatively clean kit, almost no mud or water at all in the cave, we tucked into tea and batches. To end the day, our car didn?t start due to a flat battery and we sat in the carpark snacking until the nice man from the AA arrived and got us on the move again. An all round good trip, I will have to return sometime to tackle that elusive drainpipe though and Sidcot next door.  ;)
 

ZombieCake

Well-known member
Fantastic report, what caving is really all about.
Goatchurch is one of the best caves on Mendip. It's reputation as 'just a beginner cave' isn't really fair as it's quite fun and varied in nature.  OK, over time, the 3 dimensional ice skating elements of polishing and wear and tear do have an added effect!
From the main entrance, once down past the Giant steps there's three ways down on the right. Midget steps is in the middle. You did the last one. First one has some fine acrobatics for shorties. Once past that left to Coal shute area tc. and bear right to delve further.
There's a bypass to the Coffin lid.  If, like me, you can't be arsed to climb up it, look to the left and there's tube that goes around and pops out nicely at the top. Likewise left on the way down.
Speaking of spectre's Goatchurch is also a witch cave - see the UBSS article by a famous cave instructor.
MCG is just up the road by the way in case of need of cups of Tea.
 

Oscar D

Active member
Tribal Chestnut said:
I enjoyed reading that, however, what is a ?batch??

Ahah, well a batch is a kind of bread item often called a ?breadroll? or a ?bap? or a ?roll? or a ?bun?. All of which are incorrect of course  :tease: . I believe it?s called a teacake up North too. The term ?Batch? seems to be almost exclusive to Coventry however, as most people I know who live in other nearby towns seem to all call it something else as well.
 
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