Exeter Uni Fresher's Weekend on Mendip

aricooperdavis

Moderator
Exeter University Speleological Society - Fresher's Weekend on Mendip

It's that time of year again, when all the university clubs are out and about with their fresh new members! For us this generally entails us really toning down the nudity alcoholism weirdness and pretending to be normal for at least a short while whilst we gain their trust.

So for our first weekend trip we headed Mendip-wards to show our new members the best caving that the South of England has to offer. It was a nice group, 9 new cavers and 3 seasoned oldies, and we were staying at The Shepton. On Friday night we abstained from drinking too heavily, deciding instead that we'd get up early and be organised for a change, but somehow we still found ourselves waking up at 11am with a mild hangover...

So by early Saturday afternoon we had two groups in Swildon's, and one group not in Swildon's :halo:. Swildon's was very dry, but the novices we took down had a fantastic time! They were an excellent bunch - very keen and competent, and we took them through the sump to The Landing and back in less than 4 hours. KUCC very kindly belayed us up and down, as on both the way out and the way in we managed to meet them going the other way! The other team, not in Swildon's, had a great trip once they'd managed to find the entrance to the cave...



That night everyone was raring to go, so partying happened! After introducing our new cavers to all the classic caving games we popped over to the Belfry to join in the festivities over there. The rest of the night is somewhat hazy, but at some point two of the "responsible committee members" forgot they were supposed to be pretending to be normal, and went on a naked woodland adventure to climb trees. Whilst the alcohol has almost completely obliterated their memories, the nettle stings and splinters live on as a reminder that this sort of thing is generally a bad idea. Amazingly this didn't seem to concern the new cavers too much, which is great, as they'll probably see quite a bit more of it as the year goes on.

After a medicinal full-english breakfast on Sunday we went caving yet again (twice in one weekend?! :eek: ) with a new group not in Swildon's and a keen group in Eastwater! We gave the Eastwater group a proper good scare with the Upper Traverse and then the tight vertical squeeze back down again, so had to get the emergency shelter out and feed them biscuits to calm them down.



All in all it was a proper good weekend. Thanks to the Shepton for putting us up, and to the Belfry for helping us to get down again.
 
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