Andy Sparrow
Active member
As many of you know the road through Cheddar Gorge is officially closed because of flooding problems. The Longwood swallet is choked and the entire stream is flowing on the surface down to Blackrock gate, and into the gorge. The only solution is the re-opening of a swallet that can take the whole flow of water. The obvious site is the old swallet just downstream from the cave entrance, which used to take the whole flow, but that is not going to be easy while the water is filling it. The water could be sent down the current cave entrance, which would be a simple and ideal solution for everybody except the caving community.
There is another solution. The upstream end of the August series terminates very close to the surface. I am not sure where this relates to on the surface but it is somewhere upstream from the footbridge which crosses the stream. Opening this swallet would alleviate the flooding problems. There is nothing quite as effective as the passage of cavers to keep a route clear of accumulating debris, which would be one good argument for making this a second entrance to the cave.
Anyway, that's the suggestion. What do we think?
There is another solution. The upstream end of the August series terminates very close to the surface. I am not sure where this relates to on the surface but it is somewhere upstream from the footbridge which crosses the stream. Opening this swallet would alleviate the flooding problems. There is nothing quite as effective as the passage of cavers to keep a route clear of accumulating debris, which would be one good argument for making this a second entrance to the cave.
Anyway, that's the suggestion. What do we think?