Online Logbook 2008

[Chris Lank]

Lionel?s Hole
Sunday 20th April 2008
Chris L (solo)

The purpose of this visit was to have a crack at the round trip (in reverse) ? having already done one half of the round trip on a previous visit.

Needless to say, I got confused by what I presume to be the Labyrinth.  I never made it to Suicide Rift but I did find some amazingly-sharp, suit-wrecking fossil shells in a rift that I somewhat pointlessly climbed.

The photo just about sums up this particular trip.

I will take some route-finding advice and have another go at a later date.

Grim-looking Tube:

 

[Sumpy]

Biddlecombe Swallet,Biddlecombe Rift Cave, Hazlenut Swallet, Beryl Swallet and Simonds Mine
Wednesday 16th April
Dani G, Martin, Steve P and Sumpy

We finally found each other and headed up to find the rift cave, after 10mins of looking we found the entrance and decided that Dani should go first. Very quickly Dani decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to go unless you could slide through your own letterbox! We turned around deciding that tat cave is just to small for anybody without super human abilities. Next we found Simonds Mine. We crawled in through a fairly small entrance and past a recently habited animal den and on through yet smaller passage until we were met with a short rift passage which seemed to go nowhere. Back on the main route we continued on until we where in a fair sized rift with obvious mining works. This rift was about 12 to 15mtrs in length with a 3mtr dry pot at the end. There was a small tube continuing on from this but looked as if it had collapsed 4mtrs along.Out we came and took the long stroll down valley to find the remaining three caves. First we found Hazlenut which has a 3mtr entrance chamber and then a strait flat out crawl for about 30mtrs with a dig at the end, thanks to Dani for finding that out for us hehe. After we left we looked for the other two caves which both turned out to be well and truly blocked! Thanks all for a great trip Sumpy

 

[Chris Lank]

Swiss Valley Cave (Clevedon)
Tuesday 22nd April 2008
Chris L (solo)

After an earlier reconnaissance trip to locate this cave, I decided to kit up and have a go at it.

At the entrance there is a small chamber full of leaves and rubbish leading to a boulder ruckle.  Skirting down the right hand side of the ruckle leads to a low, tight squeeze, which I discovered leads absolutely nowhere.  The squeeze was a rather snug fit and reversing back through it took about 5-minutes longer than I found comfortable ? it also took plenty of brute force and ignorance.

Climbing up through the ruckle leads to the rest of the cave.  It was interesting to see some evidence of flowstone on one wall, as the cave is now extremely dry.  A straight section of passage leads to an upwards tube/aven (8m high) that has been dug out.  This terminates in a mass of tree roots and loose soil/stones.

Prior to the upwards tube/aven is a cross rift.  The left hand side is too tight but an interesting void can be seen beyond the constriction.  The right hand rift leads on for about 20m before closing down.  The rocky floor in this area is a ruckle and looks like it could be easily be dug downwards.

There are a great number of extremely large cave spiders in residence in this cave.  If you suffer from arachnophobia then it might be best to give this cave a miss.

Entrance (complete with Cave Art):

Tight Squeeze to Nowhere:

The Way On (with Flowstone on right hand side):

Looking Upwards to Tree Roots in Tube/Aven:

The Cross Rift:

Cave Spider (this one is only a baby):

 

[Chris Lank]

Ogof Draenen (Round Trip)
Sunday 27th April 2008
Rachel, Andy S, Martin & Chris L

Apologies for any factual inaccuracies contained in this account.  My poor brain has struggled to retain all the details of our route.

After a short walk through some fantastic Welsh scenery, we entered the cave through a small trap door.  We then crawled and slid down various low passages and a 4m pitch before reaching the rather large passage at Cairn Junction.

We then went past Wonderbra Bypass (interesting name) along Carpet Crawl before reaching the traverse at Indiana Highway.  After some interesting times in the traverse we reached Megadrive, which was surprisingly airy and peaceful.  At the end of Megadrive we found the Nunnery (with its floor Stal?s) and headed down the passage to the fixed ladder into The Arm?s Park.

A quick rest later and we continued on our journey by going along The Player?s Tunnel.  In turn, this led to St David?s Hall.  Along the way, we found some interesting crystalline deposits and stal on the roof.  At the end of St David?s Hall, we climbed the boulders to reach the Squirrel Rifts.

Although route finding is extremely intimidating in Squirrel Rifts, we were helped by the small cairns kindly left by others and a polished nature of the route ? although there were several well polished wrong turns to contend with!

At this point my memory lets me down slightly.  I recall abseiling down a 10m pitch and reaching the Agent Blorenge Streamway, but there may well be some important details missing.  The streamway was extremely sporting and contained some hard traverses.  There was also a nice, bracing duck section requiring neck-high immersion in very chilly water.  After hacking downstream for what seemed like ages, we eventually reached the junction of Agent Blorenge Streamway and The Beyond A Choke Streamway.

Another quick rest later and we continued up The Beyond A Choke Streamway.  There were some strange deposits along most of the streamway that caught our attention (see separate posting for more details).  We walked for a very long time up the well decorated streamway before finally reaching Tea Junction.

A short walk up from Tea Junction and we reached Wonderbra Bypass.  I made this bit slightly more sporting for the others by inadvertently emptying my waterlogged wellies on the already slippery mud floor.  Sorry!

On passing through Wonderbra Bypass, we were once again reunited with Cairn Junction.  It only remained for us to head upwards through the entrance series and back to the world of daylight and clouds.

Thanks to Andy, Rachel and Martin for making this such a superb trip.

Picturesque walk to the entrance:

Crystals on the roof slab:

Wet Stal:

Martin in the Squirrel Rifts:

Andy in the Squirrel Rifts:

Rachel in the Agent Blorange Streamway:

Andy & Rachel restocking their energy supplies:

Dried up Pool next to The Beyond A Choke Streamway:

 

[mrodoc]

I see you  blanked out the scary chokes in the main streamway. It's like crawling through a house of cards IMHO 

 

[Chris Lank]

Goatchurch Cavern
Tuesday 29th April 2008
Dani, Emily (Guest), Steve (Guest) and Chris L

After much cajoling, I finally managed to get my friends Emily and Steve on a caving trip.  I need not have worried about their reaction to being underground as they shot around Goatchurch Cavern with no problems at all.

We took the standard route in through the Old Entrance, down the Giants Staircase, along Bloody Tight and into Boulder Chamber.  In no time at all we had dropped down the tube into Water Chamber.  A short detour was taken to the grotto with the waterfall before heading down into the Drainpipe for a taster of crawling.  Our exit was via the Coffin Lid and Tradesman?s Entrance.

Thanks to Dani for technical assistance and acting as group porter.

Postscript to Ogof Draenen trip (above) - Yes the chokes are scary and yes I had blanked them out.  Martin and I had a short discussion about them at the time but decided not to dwell on them!

 

[mrodoc]

Is Dani contactable by PM. After chatting to Anfieldman and Misty it appears there is a site in Devon that she might be able to squeeze into - it's an ascending chimney in Skullcap Cave at Chudleigh which looks negotiable by a small but also competent caver.

 

[Dani]

Rods Pot to Bath Swallet
Wednesday 30th April
Andy S, Rachel, Tricia, Chris L, Barry, Robin, Dani + Dobbin

A first real outing for Cheddar's newest member Dobbin the SAP.  The plan was to start the survey for Rods to Bath through trip and to use our new piece of kit.  All gathered and ready to go, we set off with a plan to start in Rod's and see how far we got before it was time to go to the pub.

We took the right hand route down the cave to the pots, with various members taking turns at target practice, shouting out measurements to chief scribe Rachel.  We managed to survey down to purple passage before Barry and Robin decided that they were quite clean and didn't fancy getting muddy, so they exited back out of Rods.  The rest of us wanted to complete the through trip (even that delightful climb out of shower pot that I love so much), so descended purple pot and headed out, whilst Chris and Andy made a few final measurements.

All in all I think it was a fairly successful surveying trip (although I might be getting ahead of myself as we haven't seen the results of our measurements yet).  I think we've now started to suss out a system that works and have picked up a few ideas on ways to improve our surveying, which we can try out when we finish the Bath Swallet side of the survey.

Thanks to all for a fun trip.  I'm off to eat some pies so I can't fit into all the new small bits that everyone keeps finding  :tease:

 

[Sumpy]

Mmmmm Pies!

 

[Chris Lank]

Mine's a Steak & Onion Pie please.

Swildon?s Hole ? Black Hole Series
Sunday 4th May 2008
Judy, Martin, Rachel, Andy S & Chris L

A minor clothing shortage necessitated a quick dash to Cheddar by ?somebody who shall remain nameless?.  We reconvened at the 20-foot Waterfall and headed on down to Sump 1.  After a quick bit of photography and repeated sumpings (with associated ice-cream headache), we found and entered the muddy Black Hole Series side passage.

The Black Hole itself was easily found and we had much fun climbing down and across the bold step (where long legs are a definite benefit).  We then continued along the small streamway passing Well Chamber, Sore Knees Creep and First Boulder Choke.  On the way we passed Helictite Wall and were suitably impressed with it and all of the numerous stal and flow forms in the area.  Just before the Second Boulder Choke we refuelled our engines before heading back.

Rachel at Sump 1:

Andy at Sump 1:

Judy at Sump 1 (and enjoying it):

Chris at Sump 1 (pretending to be a submarine):

Judy descending the Black Hole:

Helictite Wall:

Grotto near Sore Knees Creep:

4/5ths of the Team just before the Second Boulder Choke:

Judy heading back across the Black Hole:

 

[Dani]

Bath Swallet Surveying Trip
Wednesday 7th May
Andy S, Rachel, Dani + Muffin the Mule

A slightly depleted party this week headed down Bath Swallet (I managed to nearly strangle myself on my belt whilst abseiling down Shower Pot), we quickly made our way to Purple Passage.  We found our final survey point from last week, then worked our way back out of the cave, getting a good rhythm going and making fairly efficient progress.  A slight sticking point on our way back up Shower Pot, with the measure deciding it didn't want to go all the way back down to Andy (a disto would be really handy!) but other than that, no real problems.  We resurfaced just after 9 and speedily surveyed the surface to join back up with our start point at Rods Pot.  Now all we have to do is cross our fingers and hope that the measurements have been accurate! Watch this space!

 

[Andy Sparrow]

Bath Swallet Surveying Trip
Wednesday 7th May
Andy S, Rachel, Dani + Muffin the Mule

A slightly depleted party this week headed down Bath Swallet (I managed to nearly strangle myself on my belt whilst abseiling down Shower Pot), we quickly made our way to Purple Passage.  We found our final survey point from last week, then worked our way back out of the cave, getting a good rhythm going and making fairly efficient progress.  A slight sticking point on our way back up Shower Pot, with the measure deciding it didn't want to go all the way back down to Andy (a disto would be really handy!) but other than that, no real problems.  We resurfaced just after 9 and speedily surveyed the surface to join back up with our start point at Rods Pot.  Now all we have to do is cross our fingers and hope that the measurements have been accurate! Watch this space!

Unfortunately the closed loop has an error of over 7% so something has gone amiss.  The line looks right until the last section above Shower Pot - there could be an error in the cave, or maybe it was the rather hurried surface legs.  Rach and I are hoping to go back tomorrow evening and resurvey the last section, and then to survey very accurately to Rods and Drunkards.  Any other sados out there with nothing else to do on a Saturday evening?

 

[Dani]

Goatchurch Cavern
Wednesday 14th May 2008

Brendan, Steve P, Martin, Sumpy, Chris L, Lucy, Tricia, Dani, Rachel + Lesley (guest) + I think there were 11 of us (sorry to whoever I have forgotten) and Andy S a bit later on (he might be the person I've forgotten)

Going on the fact that I can't even remember who went, this might be a rather vague trip report, please feel free to berate/correct me. 

We certainly went in the top entrance and came out of the Tradesman's; where at both points I tried to take out Chris' ankles by losing my footing and sliding, rather than walking into the cave.  In between these two points, we split up with each group having a bit of a poke around in different sections of the cave.  Lesley went on a fairly traditional 'introduction to caving' trip with Rachel, Brendan, Tricia and Lucy and came out smiling, so I think she enjoyed it.  I completely failed to get the angle right to come out of the z-squeeze from the water chamber and then proceeded to prove Andy wrong when he said I wouldn't fit through F  -ing tight.  Chris meanwhile was ruining his future prospects by getting stuck into Hellish tight and the others were having a nose around at the bottom of the ladder dig.

Having recovered from the hysteria, we headed off for some refreshments (and ice!)

Thanks to all for a fun trip

 

[Sumpy]

GB
Wednesday 21st May 2008

Martin, Tricia and Sumpy

All met in the pull-in by the gate and hastily got changed and headed off across the field to the entrance. This being Tricia's first trip down GB we decided to do the tourist round trip. Ambled down to the Gorge where we found no water (not surprising really) and then walked along to the stall bridge, up and over to the Art Gallery where Martin stopped and noticed a large amount of helectights. Up white Passage and then decided to have a look up Extension Passage. Back down into Rift Chamber then up into Rhumba Alley which gets nice and tight at the end. Back on the route we made our way to the Hall to look out over the Main Chamber, unfortunately it was very foggy so the visibility wasn't that great. Then down the Oxbow to the little drop by the bottom of the Ladder Dig. We then made our way back up the waterfall and continued on up the Gorge and then back up to the block house. A nice trip that was enjoyed by all. Then of course back to the Pub for light refreshments.

 

[Chris Lank]

Cnoc Nan Uamh System ? Hill of Caves (Assynt, Scotland)
Tuesday 20th May 2008
Ken, Andy P, Meg, Mark, Andy M & Chris L

Uamh an Tartair ? Cave of Roaring:

After a walk through the fantastic Scottish scenery, we popped into Uamh an Tartair through the large dry entrance and made our way straight down the streamway and out of the resurgence at the surface collapse.  A short walk beneath the open sky took us into Uamh an Uisge (see below).

We re-entered the cave via the resurgence and split up to randomly explore its nether regions.  After various crawls, climbs and ducks, we eventually met up together in the large chamber containing a lake.

My highlight of the trip was crawling up a long phreatic tube towards a static sump.  The bottom of the tube was lined with soft, dry soil ? this being absolute heaven on the knees (I wish there was more crawling like this in Mendip).  It ought to be compulsory in all caves.  When retracing our steps away from the sump, we could see that the soil contained thousands of wriggling earth worms. Strange!

Upon inspecting the survey later that night, we found we had visited The Grotto, Landslip Chamber and Sump 1.

Uamh an Uisge ? Cave of Water:

The entrance to this cave is down The Waterslide ? a stream-filled thrust plane that is similar in appearance to a bedding place.  At the very bottom of the cave we found a sump with lots of evidence of recent flooding.  The descent and ascent of The Waterslide would rate as quite sporting under high water conditions.  Luckily, we were spared the experience.  Upon exiting, we returned back to Uamh an Tartair (see above).

Strange looking people:

Fantastic views:

Entering the streamway in Uamh an Tartair:

Heading back towards the resurgence at Uamh an Tartair:

Formations at the Grotto:

 

[Chris Lank]

Lower Traligill Cave (Assynt, Scotland)
Tuesday 20th May 2008
Chris L

On the walk back to the car from Cnoc Nan Uamh System, I had a quick poke around Lower Traligill Cave.  The entrance is contained within a tight thrust plane containing a stream.  At the bottom, the stream sinks into rocks.  Another stream also joins at the bottom of the cave ? this appears to be part of the main valley stream that has sunk further up the valley.

There was some fantastic limestone sponge on the ceiling (photographs didn?t come out though).  After a quick and lonely visit, I thrutched back to the entrance where I was met by a small man-made flood-pulse generated by my bored chums.

It was apparent that this cave would flood all the way to the entrance in the event of significant rains.  It would certainly not be a nice place to get stuck!

Entrance to Lower Traligill Cave:

 

[Chris Lank]

The Creag Nan Uamh Bone Caves (Assynt, Scotland)
Thursday 22nd May 2008
Andy M, Chris L

Yet again, the walk to the caves allowed us to experience the absolutely jaw-dropping Scottish scenery.  The steep climb up to the Bone Caves was also a rather laborious affair due to our heavy oversuits.  Our first objective for the day was to pay a visit to each of the four main Bone Caves.

On the path, we came across the resurgence for the valley stream.  It was remarkable for the fact that it looked just like a large shallow puddle ? but with no apparent source and with a fast running stream exiting from one end.  Clearly the stream resurges from the floor of the puddle, but it does look odd.

On our arrival at the cliff, we visited in order - No 1 Badger Cave, No2 Reindeer Cave, No 3 Bone Cave and No 4 Foxes Den.

In Reindeer Cave we managed to do the extremely short round trip and in Bone Cave we went one better and did the extremely short through trip to Reindeer Cave.

After a short breather, we marched off to our next cave ? further up the valley.

Yet more fantastic scenery:

The odd puddle (resurgence):

Attractive small-scale water feature in Bone Cave:

Completing the through trip from Reindeer Cave to Bone Cave:

 

[Chris Lank]

Allt Nan Uamh Stream Cave (Assynt, Scotland)
Thursday 22nd May 2008
Andy M, Chris L

After a short walk up the valley from the Bone Caves, we found the entrance to Allt Nan Uamh Stream Cave.  Having negotiated the small entrance area we found ourselves in the spacious Assembly Hall.  We strolled along the passage to Piccadilly, Oxford Street and up to Breakdown Cavern.

We then turned around and headed back to Piccadilly before reaching 1st Stream Chamber.  A left turn led us to Drip Chamber, where drips form the roof had cut a number of fine looking pockets in the mud floor.

Upon investigating one of the passages on the way back we found The Pit ? this being a hole in the floor containing a stream. I popped down, had a poke around, found the sump and climbed up again (with assistance).

Back at the 1st Stream Chamber, we followed the meandering water upstream into the Rift Stream Series.  This was a tight but interesting area and eventually we were surprised to pop out into Oxford Street.

From there we made our way out of the cave before walking back to the car.

Drip pool and pockets in Drip Chamber:

Andy at the head of the Pit:

 

[Chris Lank]

Swildon?s Hole ? Short Round Trip
Monday 26th May 2008
Tim & Chris L

We made our way down to the 20? Waterfall via the Short Dry Way.  After getting the Ladder and Lifeline stuff out of the way, we continued down towards Tratman?s Temple.  From there we commenced the Short Round Trip in a clockwise direction.

There was not much to report, other than we made unscheduled visits to Websell?s Dig and the duck/sump at Caliper Pot ? due to lack of familiarity with the route.

When diving through Sump 1, we had the dubious pleasure of surfacing in a thick layer of foam/scum that was tinged brown and had a distinctive bovine odour.  Lovely!

It was interesting to note that although the stream water level was high and quite torrential, the water levels in the various percolation ducks were relatively low.

Tim floating through one of the ducks:

 

[Chris Lank]

Swildon?s Hole ? Short Round Trip
Saturday 31st May 2008
Martin & Chris L

I decided to repeat the recent Short Round Trip to improve my route finding, and managed to get around without reference to the survey.  As for previous trips, we undertook the trip in a clockwise direction.

The Mud Sump was lower than I have ever seen it, obviously as a result of somebody?s bailing.  However, in general, the percolation ducks were relatively high with the stream water level being much lower than the previous week.

The most interesting part of the trip was getting through the first of the Double Troubles.  When we arrived, we found the water level extremely high, to the point where the duck was a sump.  The siphon had also stopped and the layout of the duck looked unfamiliar.  I attempted to dive through and got myself up a blind tube, which was a bit unpleasant.  After extricating myself, we restarted the siphon and started bailing out the water.  Eventually, enough water was removed that I could see the correct route ? the 90-degree bend to the left.  I floated through ?sans-helmet? using my nose as a snorkel and was then able to guide Martin through using my light as a beacon.

To mix it up, this week we made an unscheduled trip to Vicarage Pot.  I immediately realised that I had taken a non-optimal route and headed back to the Landing, before dropping into the streamway and heading home.

Martin getting through the Mud Sump: