I've been down Sunset hole many a time, however not for many years.

A few weeks ago, the Dudley came to visit and a quick trip down Sunset was suggested, 'Great, I like that trip I thought' so off I went.  Lovely walk over with that fab view down the valley, great company and a fun trip  - thanks for the photo Mark and Jess Burkey & Kermit 

However, the Sunset I remembered wasn't a bit like the Sunset I went down at all - those climbs - where did they come from?  I was sure, absolutely sure you could easily walk side by side down the steamway, err no single file and although the top of the pitch was still where I remembered (phew)  the chamber at the top of the pitch was smaller, much smaller.

Anyone else revisit caves after a few years, sure they remember them only to find it's all change?? 

I find that the way out of caves is never as I remember them from the way in.........

And that caves I repeat often seen to get harder.....the slot in Cow Pot , the boulder choke climb in Haytime Hole, the awkward bits of Grey Wife Hole (ie most of it) , the last pitch in Jean Pot.

But the Bar Pot Bastard is now easier thanks to whoever it was in the CPC demonstrating a nifty way to rig the pitch head .

One of the advantages of a poor memory is that even an oft repeated cave stays fresh

We went to S. Wales for the Easter weekend and, on Easter Sunday, visited Pant Mawr Pot, which we'd only been to once before, ages ago. I remembered this as having a pleasant but small stream passage, and was surprised by the size of the place; I'd also forgotten that there  are a number of nice formations down there. (Pity about the walk over there on a blistering hot day!!)

Last year I did the Swildon's Round Trip for the first time in at least three decades. It was no surprise that I found the Not Birthday Squeeze rather tougher, though I did get through. But I remembered the Troubles, the series of ducks, as being pleasant, floaty glides on my back in clean water between clean, white stal walls. This time they were just muddy, aquatic grovels. I can't explain that. Other caves I've done decades apart don't seem to have changed at all, apart from the P-bolts, including various Yorkshire classics, OFD, Aggie, Otter Hole and Pozu del Xitu in Spain. 

Happily I am now so old I can barely remember any of my early caving. Good job I kept the logs.

I am often intrigued by the ways in which sections of cave get longer or shorter!  Having not visited Craig y Fynnon for some years I was surprised recently by how quickly we arrived at the The Hall of the Mountain  King. Squeezes of course have got generally tighter. In other cases caves have got more complicated. I used to find my way in and out of Gnome Passage in OFD with no trouble at all but in recent years have had a couple of occasions where I have got lost. I attribute this to the better lighting we have nowadays which shows up far more passage options than we used to have! A friend of mine has traverse amnesia and on a couple of occasions has failed to find the correct route if it involved a traverse along a rift.