Online Logbook 2009

[Chris Lank]

Swildon?s Hole ? Short Round Trip
Sunday 1st March 2009
Rachel, Andy P, Chris L

This was one of those trips where all the indicators (e.g. lack of fitness, sore knee, missing knee pads, hangover, etc) promised an epic but the reality was a trip without incident.

There was not much to report.  Swildon?s Hole was busy, as you would expect for a Sunday.

Mud Sump was sumped.  The first person made it through but as it was a bit uncomfortable, it was slightly bailed for subsequent people.  Both of the Double Troubles were low, which was a relief and made for swift progress.

Thanks for Andy P and Rachel for a good trip.

 

[chriscastle46]

Did I really write such illiterate nonsense (bares!)? Such things have no place on this forum!

 

[Chris Lank]

Swildon?s Hole ? St Paul?s Series
Saturday 7th March 2009
Ken, Dani, Chris L, Tim B (guest), Adam (guest) & Dave M (guest)

We took a gentle stroll down the Short Dry Way to the top of the 20? Waterfall.  Dani made an excellent job of rigging the lifeline and got everyone down safely.  Nimble footwork ensured that no one got baptised at the Double Pots.  At Tratman?s Temple, we climbed out of the streamway and continued up St Paul?s Series.  Shortly after passing Blasted Boss, we stopped and turned around.  ?Twas a good trip.  Well done to the guests.

 

[chriscastle46]

Wigpool Iron Mine
Wed 4th March 2009
Chris Castle, Nix D., The Sparrows, Chris L, Dani G, Trisha D-K., Judi D., Chloe J., John C. (MCG), Greg (Shipbadger - RFDCCCC), Tim, Malcolm (RFDCCCCCCCC) + one more, who was that?

After a fairly long drive after work and a wait for a few latecomers we climbed down a rope into one of the many entrances to the mine and came out of another. There was a bit in the middle, with something called the "It's Around Here Somewhere" Series and another called "Back Up, It's A Dead End" Passage. There were a lot of surprisingly fine formations and we were met towards the end by two caving dogs. A fine and muddy trip, although none of us really know where we went and I'll ask Greg to put a brief description on our Forum.

 

[Dani]

Chris has just beaten me to it, but thought I would add my two peneth worth and a few photos

Wigpool Mine
Wednesday 4th March 2009

Andy S, Rachel S, Chris C, Chris L, Nicky, Tricia, Judy, Chloe, Dani + Greg, John, Tim, Malcolm and I?m afraid I can?t remember either

I thought finding this cave was going to be fairly straightforward.  I mean, how you can go wrong with directions ?we?re meeting at a gate by a t-junction? is anybody?s guess.  I also hadn?t taken account of the Bermuda Triangle effect of the Forest of Dean.  Eventually after some intervention with mobile phone technology and a kindly passing stranger, we did manage to find our meeting point, being told on arrival that the blurry map provided was spot on.

As Chloe and I were rather late, the others had already made their way to the entrance, so we quickly changed and walked up to meet them.  Once there, we each took our turn to abseil down the entrance, under the critical eye of the ?Forest Boys?.  Having all passed muster, we met up in a chamber near the entrance.  A short familiarisation and navigational foray from here soon took us on the right track for the through trip.  Friendly banter and exchanging of stories was the soundtrack to the trip, my personal highlight being Nicky?s Wookiee (as in Chewbacca from Star Wars) impression (it?s very good)

Steady, sludgy progress was made until we came to the short climb down.  With some encouragement and assistance, this obstacle was soon overcome by all and we continued on our way.

A slight detour took us to the ?pretty bits? we had been promised ? very impressive

Judy

Drips on stal

Muddy Chris

From here we continued our way out, guided by two black Labradors, who, whilst not bad cavers, weren?t entirely helpful when we asked them which was the way out.  We finally emerged on the surface, a little later than planned, but all in one piece with very muddy smiles on our faces.

Thanks to the Forest Boys for making it such an enjoyable trip and showing us round your stomping ground ? hopefully we?ll be back soon for another trip.

 

[Ship-badger]

We entered through Sway Hole, and followed the "high level" through-trip to Fox Hole. En-route we visited the Wigpool formations, including the beautiful pompoms. The route was not our first choice; we would have preferred to exit through Steam Hole, but were prevented from doing so by a buggered padlock.

We Foresters thoroughly enjoyed playing host to Cheddar for the evening, and hope we can repeat it sometime.

The man with the dogs was Spade; and the one nobody remembered the name of was Steve, though he is not a RFDCC member, and so doesn't count anyway!

 

[Dani]

Goatchurch Cavern
Wednesday 11th March 2009

Dani + her mate Billy

I'm not entirely sure this counts as a club trip as I couldn't find any friends to play with, so went on my own .  The reason I don't normally go caving on my own, I've discovered, is my overactive imagination.  Especially on a dark night in the Combe, when owls (or it could have been werewolves, flesh eating zombies or worse) were calling out to each other (or looking for fresh meat) .  Once I'd pulled myself together and given myself a stern talking to and ignored my thumping heart beat bounding in my ears, I got changed and set off for the cave.  I'd decided to practice my photographic technique after some recent disappointing results.  I can't say that these efforts were much better (so much so that I'm not going to share them with you), but at least I wasn't holding anyone up and I had a bit of a play with different lighting techniques.  After about an hour and without any suitable models to pose, I'd decided that I ought to brave the wilds outside and headed back to the car.

 

[anfieldman]

Goatchurch Cavern
Wednesday 11th March 2009

Dani + her mate Billy

when owls were calling out to each other (or looking for fresh meat) .

How would you like that then eh? Stuck in the hole in the ground in the middle of the night in the fog, with an owl!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_a1wxqloEs

 

[Dani]

See, it wasn't just my imagination!  There was even someone filming!

 

[Nix]

Brownes' Hole
Wednesday 25th March

Chris C & Nicky

We were shocked to find the cave after a previous mission failed, but happy in our success we made our way through the large entrance passage. From here we climbed up some mud to Coronation Chamber and then back to the main route to the Pulpit where we had a look a the start of the Upstream Series. We didn't venture any further as I saw a dead bat almost a skeleton with fury bits on, right in our way (plus i's another cave that Chris seems to think has shrunk) so we headed back towards Tommy's Dig. Chris ventured out the Second Entrance (or rather disappeared while I was admiring some wildlife) and called me back to the main entrance. There were a few pretties to admire and I enjoyed the trip!


Brownes' Grotto

Since this little cave was only 20m away we had to have a little explore. A narrow entrance leads to a big drop, which we climbed down and went through a squeeze. Chris tried one passage and decided it was too narrow so we looked at the only other passage there which again seemed to get quite narrow...and so we headed back towards a pub, via a quick paddle in Stoke Lane Slocker entrance.

 

[Marty]

Swildon's Hole - Upper Series

Wednesday 25th  March

Martin L and Mark W

After an irresistible invite from Mark to go caving on a Wednesday, followed by a pint at the Hunters how could I refuse!

We had a quick look at the members keys at the Wessex (Mark is a member) and decided that OFD was a bit of a trek, so we made our way across the fields towards the cave entrance. As we were approaching from the Wessex Hut it took a little longer than normal but made a nice change.

Once in the cave we made our way around the Short Dry Way, then from the Old Grotto we went via Water Chamber to the Eight Foot Drop. A quick look up Rolling Thunder was abandoned due to false advertising! (should be called slight drizzle). A quick peek over the 20 Foot Pot and it was time to start heading back. At the Water Chamber we headed right towards the Oxbows and explored various high and low passages before finally finding our way to the surface.

I am sure we found parts of the cave not mentioned above but without a map it is hard to recall exactly where they were and what they were called!

With Chris Lank away we were forced to rely on our own navigational skills, which was a real test and much enjoyed. A previous route finding exercise with him really paid off.

As promised we got back to the Hunters in plenty of time for Chilli and beer.

 

[anfieldman]

Yes, a great time I had, even though the onset of a B**tard of a cold was coming on!
Route finding exercise complete and back to the centre of the universe in time for beer and medals!

 

[Aubrey]

Swildon's Hole - Upper Series


A quick look up Rolling Thunder was abandoned due to false advertising! (should be called slight drizzle).

Rolling Thunder is very aptly named from the sound effects when we are digging there!
    "false advertising" is just a novel excuse for not getting to the end.

Aubrey

 

[anfieldman]

Swildon's Hole - Upper Series


A quick look up Rolling Thunder was abandoned due to false advertising! (should be called slight drizzle).

Rolling Thunder is very aptly named from the sound effects when we are digging there!
    "false advertising" is just a novel excuse for not getting to the end.

Aubrey

Cheers Aubrey. We will have to take another look soon. Does it open up a bit then?

 

[Aubrey]

Cheers Aubrey. We will have to take another look soon. Does it open up a bit then?

There is a small chamber at the end where some people have been able to turn around!

Please drag some rocks out if you make it to the end, there is a pile on the right just as you enter the chamber.

 

[Andy Sparrow]

late entry

18th March
Eastwater
Speleo-Sparrows, Neil R, Castle, Nicky, Trisha
A quick circuit round the upper series. In via Traverse and down the Canyon.  Andy and Neil back via Hallelujah Hole to see if I could still fit - answer is yes with Neil giving me a shove!  Others through Woggle Press and a quick exit.

Andy S

 

[Andy Sparrow]

Wednesday 1st April
Singing River Mine
Speleo-Sparrows, Dani, Martin, Neil, Trisha, Steve, and the welcome return of Mr Gary Amos
Had a nice chat with the old girl who owns the cave - very friendly and pleasant lady who seems to quite like having her garden invaded.  Very straightforward trip to see the best bits.  Nobody could be persuaded to free-dive the optional sump for some strange reason - where are you when you are needed Mr Lank?  Set up the patent Sparrow ladder climbing accelerator to ensure that we were in the Kings Head by 10.00. 

Andy S

 

[mrodoc]

late entry

18th March
Eastwater
Speleo-Sparrows, Neil R, Castle, Nicky, Trisha
A quick circuit round the upper series. In via Traverse and down the Canyon.  Andy and Neil back via Hallelujah Hole to see if I could still fit - answer is yes with Neil giving me a shove!  Others through Woggle Press and a quick exit.

Andy S

I did a similar trip with Ken Passant about 5 years ago and tried to descend through the Hallelujah Hole - concluded I had gone  the wrong way but then did the round trip and came back up through it.  I needed more than a shove to get through but made it. I then read a log I wrote when I was 18 where I had described the squeeze as 'quite tight' - which made me feel a whole lot better. Mind you Ken then did the Traverse bypass beyond Kentish Cairn and I wimped out after feeling like the meat in a rock sandwich.

 

[Andy Sparrow]

Extract from the Salisbury Caving Group log:

September 14th 1973
Stoke Lane Slocker
Andy Sparrow, Neil Rigiani, Rich Websell
Sparrow got stuck in the sump.

Yes, Sparrow got stuck in the sump.  The underwater archway was silted and quite small and when I came back through my collar was caught on a projection which stopped me surfacing.  Websell saw my light underwater and tried to pull me up while I was trying to go back the other way.  I eventually surfaced back on the Stoke 2 side, very scared and very lonely.  On my second attempt I got snagged again but managed to get free and surface.  I did not hurry back to Stoke Lane Slocker.  Eventually, after more than 35 years the time seemed right and the scene was set for...

RETURN TO STOKE!
8th April
Andy and Rachel Sparrow, Neil, Judi, Dani, Martin, Gary, Trisha, and the welcome return of Alun Williams

The club must have been afflicted by some sort of mass insanity or perhaps blissful ignorance for so many eager recruits to assemble at short notice for this trip.  There are some things I remembered about the cave - like the route.  There are things I had forgotten - like just how much wet crawling is required.  There was flood debris jammed up in the roof near the entrance which is sobering.  The cave always was prone to pollution but was never as bad as it is today.  Every pollutant and item of rubbish from the quarry and the village ends up in the cave.  There is decaying detritus everywhere and the disturbed sediments release the odour of diesel as you crawl over them. 

The floating crap ends up in the sump pool which is far from inviting.  I plunged through and found the archway to be more spacious than my last visit.  Neil popped up after me, then Trisha, Dani and Rachel coughing up some of the horrible water.  We made our way downstream to the Main Chamber where the girls were amazed at the sudden change in character - from low grotty streamway to very big and highly decorated.  The rest of the group turned up everybody having successfully come through the sump.  We had a quick look at the adjacent CB Chamber but decided to leave a proper exploration of Stoke 2 to another day.  I led back to the sump quite anxious to get it over with.  I used a hood and mask which seemed to help and surfaced easily back in Stoke 1.  Neil, Dani and Judi came through next, all without wetsuits, and set off out as briskly as they could.  Meanwhile Trisha and her helmet were making independent journeys through the sump. 

Eventually everyone was through and we started out.  Gary amused us by approaching the Nutmeg Grater feet first, an act which required longer and more awkward reverse caving than he had anticipated.  By 10 o'clock we were out and shortly after could be found in a giant huddle in the Knatchbull Arms as we attempted to re-warm ourselves.  I am not sure when I will return to Stoke.  The demons of the sump have been exorcised but the crawls and pollution are not an enticement to return for a while.  But it would be nice to see the Throne Room again....


Andy Sparrow

 

[Dani]

Great trip, thanks to Andy for organising and facing his demons and others for encouragement to get through that disgusting sump and warming me up afterwards.  It was great to see Alun back caving with us (hopefully we haven't put him off for life) and Gary for the second time in two weeks. 

My knees are still sore, so it might be a little while before I make the return trip (with wetsuit next time), just need to watch out for signs of Weil's disease now!