So! Help me plan! I find booking train tickets in advance works well to get me area to area...and uhm...hugs for auto rides to and from stations?  Please don't leave me alone =(( Last time I ended up at the Dump alone for quite a while!

Flight arrives around noon on Sept 12. I have to be back in London the morning of Oct 1 to fly home. In/out of Heathrow.

I'd like to hit:
Titan
Three Counties system (e.g. Lancaster Hole to Wretched Rabbit)
Gaping Gill
Alum Pot
GB (and see more this time!)
Swildon's (short round? I haz wetsuit! will it fit in my suitcase...)
Frozen Deep
OFD - gah probably could do multiple trips there, lol
dan yr ogof
Something with blues/greens...copper mine?
Would love to help with a dig project(s) at some point
and yar prettymuch anything with pretties =)))

I know people were suggesting other trips, some I added to above list.

Ideally, I would like to do smaller drops (like, Alum is what, 30meters or so?) first to ensure my rappelling and climbing system indeed works brilliantly there. I will never be a frogger. I'll either have my ropewalker variation or mitchell system and yes I am rigging and practicing rebelays. And since I suck at rigging rebelays, they are shitty, short rigged, umbrella, etc. So hopefully whatever I run into there will be easier. I plan on using my micro rack there. I am training on 9mm EZ bend pit rope. It's a softer sheath with good bend and movment and I figure that gets me working on close to what is used there. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Because HE is in Wales...I figure a good route plan is:

Peak/Dales the first weekend/week (12-16th or so?)
Mendip the second weekend/week (16/17th - 23/24)
Wales the third (23/24 - Oct 1)

Mendip I will be at the Wessex again, if they will have me 
Wales I don't know where...Paul Fairman is coming to the states and staying with us in October...so probably whatever his club is? lol I should find that out.

Do I need to join the BCA for insurance? I hear Dan yr Ogof can be rather picky about such things.

Can't help at all with the trips at all but insofar as kit is concerned I'd forget about the suitcase - probably the least convenient travel accessory ever invented - and use a whopping great rucksack instead.

I'd also leave the wetsuit behind too. They are heavy, take up as much space as any other bit of kit and by the looks of your trip list you're largely going to be carrying it around just for the sake of carrying it. There's no shortage of quality trips where a furry is sufficient.

There's probably not much need for a rope-walking system for most or even any of those trips either.

Amy said:

Do I need to join the BCA for insurance? I hear Dan yr Ogof can be rather picky about such things.

Click to expand...

Hi Amy,

If you decide to join BCA (to take advantage of the PLI cover provided by membership) from today (August 1st) it benefits from 50% reduction. You can join online here http://caves.org.uk/payments/bca/index.html (form M1). But can I suggest you do it within the next couple of days to be sure that I can process it and post the membership pack to you in the US in time, as I will be on holiday between August 10th and 1st September.

Cheers,

Glenn
BCA Membership Person

Amy said:

Wales I don't know where...Paul Fairman is coming to the states and staying with us in October...so probably whatever his club is? lol I should find that out.

Click to expand...

Hi Amy

Paul is Wealden Cave and Mine Society - our cottage is called "The Stump" (not the DUMP you will be pleased to know!)

www.wcms.org.uk

The only issue is that we cannot accommodate guests staying by themselves as this constitutes a third party booking which we cannot do as tenants of a very accommodating landlord (SWCC). You can however stay as an accompanying guest of a WCMS member - discuss with Paul as we might have someone who could help you with this - it would be a shame if you missed the chance to stay at such a fantastic venue. To do Hidden Earth it is actually by far the best to camp on site. the venue is a long way from most Welsh caving cottages.

Thank you for the info. I will join the bca just to ensure my coverage should issues arise since ill be there much longer this time.

SWCC has been recommended to me (I messaged all my friends on fb too lol) and I do recall a brief dropin there before hitting oFD in 2010. Ill figure out a way to make arrangements. I really loved ofd and want to do it again and see more of it. I still spend hours on the online tour of it ))

Yes I shall leave wetsuit at home. Worst to worse I can borrow I'm sure. I do not have a "furry" but gods in 2010 I did everything in a single layer of polypro and was fine somehow. I have oversuit and much warmer layers now!

I can bring my frog system, but I can only clb about 100-150ft on it. And I hate climbing it on bouncy ropes. I've seen on videos how much your ropes bounce - shit!!!! Lol no, I reserve my frog for nuisance drops of 100/150-ft or less. Titan definitely doesn't qualify there.

What you need is an itinerary so people can fill in the spaces. It could get quite complicated with caves, transport and accommodation.
Has anyone from Yorkshire offered to sort any caves yet? They are a bit dour up there but once shaken out of their lethargy will be only too glad to help.

Yup! I know! And stuff falls into place.

Hatstand, whom I met in 2010 and caved with, wanted to chat with me first. And as it works out, he has decent bits of time off and so it's looking like....

Thursday (12) my arrival, I will have most the day to tootle around London. I wanted to get to Lush, and Pepperberry/Bravissimo. I think I can find my way to Covant Gardens again! I did in 2009....LOL So I can do all that and then grab a lift back to their place.

Friday (13) hoping to get into Frozen Deep...checking on this if the awesome Peter Glanvil is free =)

Sat/Sun 14/15 has two options currently...apparently there may be a diving thing and I've never been and have always wanted to scuba (not cave dive ) and if that happens I'll jump on that chance. Otherwise I'll be in Mendip I assume at Wessex. Or, I'll be heading back Mendip after the diving thing. Would love to do GB again and go up the ladder dig I hear many pretties are up there and we didn't have time last time. I know there is a lot more there. And whatever the heck else. I like white pretties take me somewhere =) I think Ferret knows some copper mine...gotta get in touch with him for that for sometime in this time frame.

18 or 19th might head up Dales-way, prob there for the weekend. Alum pot, and GG trip (like, down Bar Pot and through trip, anyone?)

*Up until after Dales, I have Hat's transport for sure*
Then early that following week probably head out to South Wales. I want to see LOTTTTS in OFD. I friggin love that cave. It was my 7th cave trip ever (if you can believe that! lol! gosh I was such a no0b in 2010) and now after 170 cave trips still ranks as one of my top alltime fav caves (and the trip itself was just a blast, loved the people and just the whole thing!). Want to redo the round trip in OFD1...I do love the streamway so I hear OFD2 is lovely....maybe a through trip? Columns??? I am seriously addicted to the virtual OFD tour website! And of course DYO. And whatever else. Of course finishing up with Hidden Earth. If anyone is coming to HE from London, I'd appreciate a lift back on Tuesday (or Monday, beggers can't be choosers ) although I can probably get back with Hat since he's coming. I'm sure that won't be an issue.

The only potential lack of major distance transport is mendip to wales. And of course, from Wessex/SWCC/etc to the cave and back.

Looks like I"ll probably miss the Peak district all together, but that's okay. I just got back from El Capitan (2650-ft rappel) and had kinda a harrowing experience (couple hundred pound rock fell from around the "Tower", which is about 1600-ft up, landing about 30 ft from me - damn rock climbers, at least they yelled ROCK. Then, not an hour later, a huge still-green pondorosa pinecone, probably 1.5-2lbs, fell from a tree off the top and HIT MY HELMET oh gods that' fucking SCARY.) So to be fair I'm a bit skittish about rope work at the moment anyway. Getting back into it slowly (I've been off rope for 2 weeks - that's a long time for me!). And luckily, I'm only currently terrified of cliffs, but I haven't experienced any fear with caves. Titan will be there quite a while longer maybe my next trip I can focus more up in the northern bits. I love Mendip and I love Wales and I would rather much rather do the GG trip than Titan, gotta pick and choose somewhere. Right now I'm very much missing good horizontal caving anyway!

.checking on this if the awesome Peter Glanvil is free =)

Please, please dont let him see this ----

Okay....apparently I can't edit so I'm screwed. What did I do wrong??

English humour Amy  :

Another possibility is that with Hidden Earth being in Monmouth this year there are the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley.

Some excellent caving here: Wetsink, only 6 miles away,  has nearly 10 miles of passage but very few pretties.
  Otter Hole which is one of the best decorated caves in the UK and has a unique tidal sump is only 13 miles away but late september may after the cave has closed for the year.

No nearby caving huts but several good campsites. The locals are generally friendly and helpful and a few do post on here.

Ah...sorry, I'm still learning.  :tease: you had me all worried! And, I've still not heard back so, well, hopefully FD will happen!

Slight update on current working plans:
13-15 in Mendip
16-20/21 in Dales
20/21-29th S. wales

Need lift up to the Dales and trips - so that might get edited some. Hopefully Josh is free. If not maybe some mines with Ferret on 16/17 and then up to the Dales. Other alt is staying in Mendip the 16 and 17th since it's close to stuff and I can walk for what I need easily.

I just joined the BCA so I have insurance! Annnnd I got an auto-reply that Glen is out of the office until Sept 1st. Well, SHIT. Because that means I for sure won't get the damn insurance card in time. HOPEFULLY the receipt is proof enough for the caves that require it. In my experience, regular post takes 2-4 weeks depending on if it gets stopped at customs or not. If anyone knows anyone in the BCA and can get that membership processed and sent out, that'd be ace! So much for trying to play by the rules.  I guess maybe I'll end up having to spend even more money and join a club and then bca through the club to get the insurance? Blurgh. That'd suck.  Not the becoming a member of yet another club, just the damn cost. Pounds be expensive, yo! My 19 GBP bca membership was $35!

Amy said:

I just joined the BCA so I have insurance! Annnnd I got an auto-reply that Glen is out of the office until Sept 1st. Well, SHIT. Because that means I for sure won't get the damn insurance card in time. HOPEFULLY the receipt is proof enough for the caves that require it. In my experience, regular post takes 2-4 weeks depending on if it gets stopped at customs or not. If anyone knows anyone in the BCA and can get that membership processed and sent out, that'd be ace! So much for trying to play by the rules.  I guess maybe I'll end up having to spend even more money and join a club and then bca through the club to get the insurance? Blurgh. That'd suck.  Not the becoming a member of yet another club, just the damn cost. Pounds be expensive, yo! My 19 GBP bca membership was $35!

Click to expand...

Hi Amy, please see my reply #2, and re-read my "out of office" reply. I go away on Saturday. Your membership will be processed and in the post to you tomorrow.

Glenn said:

Amy said:

I just joined the BCA so I have insurance! Annnnd I got an auto-reply that Glen is out of the office until Sept 1st. Well, SHIT. Because that means I for sure won't get the damn insurance card in time. HOPEFULLY the receipt is proof enough for the caves that require it. In my experience, regular post takes 2-4 weeks depending on if it gets stopped at customs or not. If anyone knows anyone in the BCA and can get that membership processed and sent out, that'd be ace! So much for trying to play by the rules.  I guess maybe I'll end up having to spend even more money and join a club and then bca through the club to get the insurance? Blurgh. That'd suck.  Not the becoming a member of yet another club, just the damn cost. Pounds be expensive, yo! My 19 GBP bca membership was $35!

Click to expand...

Hi Amy, please see my reply #2, and re-read my "out of office" reply. I go away on Saturday. Your membership will be processed and in the post to you tomorrow.

Click to expand...

I was just coming back to edit this but ya already quoted me, LOL.

Yay! I just got your email. Cheers! =D I must have miss-read it I thought you were gone! 

Amy, I've sent you a PM regarding the Dales.

Peter seemed quite excited at taking you to TFD Amy. If all fails I will give you Martin Grass's details and he should be able to fix you up a trip. Only problem would be previous bookings. Ie three visitors per trip. One trip per day. Perhaps you should arrange something ASAP if you have definite dates.

I've been emailing him!!! He won't reply (((

Hopefully he sees my emails soon! Want something the 13 14 or 15!!!

It is always best to book Reservoir trips officially through Martin Grass.

m.grass@btinternet .com

I assume you mean emailing Peter but he is away from the computer for a while. Martin will book the date and provide a leader and maybe top up the trip to three visitors as well. If the dates are already booked it is unlikely you would get a trip. If Peter is around no doubt he would take the trip but Martin must be the first port of call to avoid double bookings. I hope it all works out for you. Sorry I am not about when you are here.

No problem thanks for your help.

I got an auto reply from Peter and it said he is away from his email until the 25th. So yes I agree I best book it myself. Hopefully can find a leader! I emailed Martin.

I checked my diary to see if I could lead your TFD trip but I am in the Dales while you are on Mendip and no doubt caving on Mendip while you are in the Dales. Just bad timing!

It would have been good to say hi after seeing all your posts on UKC...