Which (Mendip) cave have you visited this week?

[bagpuss]

Note their Texolex helmets. All the thing 50 years ago. Boiler suits so no over suits back then. Pete looks to have his home made wet suit jacket on. Oh yes. Those heavy ex army ammo boxes. Hope you can forgive an old man's ramblings on your thread Bagpuss.

Always good to hear about the history. Was so warm last night I almost wished I was in a boiler suit!
Visited Withybrook Slocker on Monday, keen to visit St Dunstans Well which I've not yet been to, nice to link up what's in the catchment. Noone else is that keen though

 

[bagpuss]

PS do you know who added all the labels in Fairy, was that one of the diggers?

 

[The Old Ruminator]

I reckon those labels were done decades ago. St Dunstan’s Well Cave is just above the footpath so no access issues that I can think of. Of course if you have a CSCC key you can park in the car park but always lock the gate behind you. The first bit of the cave is OK. Some nice white flow of sorts. When you see the Boots bucket you are at the dreaded Domestos Bend. It looked impassable to me some years ago. We nearly killed Pete Rose with a pipe b%mb in the cave. The fuse was too short. Some "nice". features beyond Domestos Bend. The Buttocks and Shredded Squeeze my names from the 70's. As I was CSS newsletter editor many names in the quarry were made up by me including Withyhill and Hillwithy , Green Lake Chamber and Jonathan's Chamber. Found the latter when son Jonathan was one. He is over 50 now. Maybe a quick look there next week but its off the usual tourist route now. ( Finders Rights ) . Sadly my chest wont allow me into Green Lake Chamber now.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Thanx Mods XX

 

[The Old Ruminator]

My working survey of Withyhill and Shatter knocking off new bits here and there .

 

[The Old Ruminator]

St Dunstans Well Cave new sump extension added to original.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Domestos Bend and my tray from many years ago. I suppose its an historic artifact now.



The late Pete Rose near the entrance. Some sort of Moonmilk stal I guess.



I do love this thread. It always brings back memories for me. How great for B. to see it all with new eyes. To still feel the thrill of a new adventure. I am 80 next year. I just can't believe it. I have two consecutive days caving next week. I hope to cope. There comes a time when you lose track of your physical abilities. I would not dare do a very long trip now. Anyway here I go ruminating again. Hope to meet up some day B as I have not a clue who you are but I do like your style. N.C.

 

[bagpuss]

Domestos Bend and my tray from many years ago. I suppose its an historic artifact now.



The late Pete Rose near the entrance. Some sort of Moonmilk stal I guess.



I do love this thread. It always brings back memories for me. How great for B. to see it all with new eyes. To still feel the thrill of a new adventure. I am 80 next year. I just can't believe it. I have two consecutive days caving next week. I hope to cope. There comes a time when you lose track of your physical abilities. I would not dare do a very long trip now. Anyway here I go ruminating again. Hope to meet up some day B as I have not a clue who you are but I do like your style. N.C.

I hope to still be caving at 80! Thanks for the comments and photos, really interesting.
In terms of difficulty what would the tightness of the domestos bend compare to?

 

[Huge]

Saturday -
Aveline's
Sidcot (got stopped by the Tie Press)
Goatchurch
Drunkards (by mistake - should have been Rod's!)
Read's
Sunday - GB
Monday - Rod's - Bath through trip

Had a great bank holiday weekend on Mendip. Due to a family emergency, two of us had the whole of the Shepton hut to ourselves! We were joined by two others for GB on Sunday and one other for Rod's-Bath on Monday. Also caught up with a caving friend, who is an exile from South Wales. And it was great to briefly catch up with Martin Ellis, who I hadn't seen since the first Shepton expedition to Thailand in 2000 (I think it was). My first time caving on Mendip since the 90s!

 

[The Old Ruminator]

I hope to still be caving at 80! Thanks for the comments and photos, really interesting.
In terms of difficulty what would the tightness of the domestos bend compare to?

Domestos Bend is exactly that, A jackknife position rising sharply up the bedding on the other side.



The above photo from Dec 2020 with a fair bit of water. My boot is a size eight length eleven inches so you have a scale. I did suggest capping the bedding out to remove the roof on our club website. Supposedly a Mendip " classic " nobody seemed to care if it was removed.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

I had a plan recently to raise the roof by capping. Its a " Mendip Classic " but from the response on my club website nobody would miss it. That might open up the cave for further exploration as there is a good draught in there. Most likely its a remnant of the Stoke Lane stream way. Remember though that there is still Shredded Squeeze and The Buttocks both awkward and the scene of a protracted rescue when somebody got stuck around there. In the early days we got Peter Glanvill's dad in there with full diving kit . He was in his 40's back then. Whilst I would love to see more photos beyond D B I would exercise caution . If DB has drained a bit you could dig out the floor and use my ancient tub.

 

[mrodoc]

My father would have been 48 then. This is the bowl formation above the sump in St. Dunstan's Well Cave.

 

[bagpuss]

Saturday -
Aveline's
Sidcot (got stopped by the Tie Press)
Goatchurch
Drunkards (by mistake - should have been Rod's!)
Read's
Sunday - GB
Monday - Rod's - Bath through trip

Had a great bank holiday weekend on Mendip. Due to a family emergency, two of us had the whole of the Shepton hut to ourselves! We were joined by two others for GB on Sunday and one other for Rod's-Bath on Monday. Also caught up with a caving friend, who is an exile from South Wales. And it was great to briefly catch up with Martin Ellis, who I hadn't seen since the first Shepton expedition to Thailand in 2000 (I think it was). My first time caving on Mendip since the 90s!

Sounds like a great selection. Drunkards is one of the few caves that feels like it has no redeeming features! Where did you get to in Reads?

 

[Huge]

Didn't go far in Read's. It was the last cave of the day and after wandering around in the heat in caving gear, even stripped down to the waste, we'd had enough. Had a good look around the main chamber and a little explore down into the boulders. Nearly left my phone behind at the entrance, when we started back to the car!

 

[bagpuss]

Milliar's quarry cave and Rickford Fox Hole on a short walk on Sunday, after too much pond digging during the morning only had the energy for a look at two small caves and some nature at Burrington Ham. Bonus free roast potatoes and yorkshires at the Plume of Feathers with a pint.

Question- was Rickford Foxes Hole named because of the bones, or are these bones more recent ones of a different animal?

 

[bagpuss]

Spider Hole (under the Longleat access agreement) last night. As impressive void! Some interesting fossils.

 

[mikem]

Looks like lithostrotion coral

 

[bagpuss]

A social walk around some of the smaller caves/rock shelters of Burrington Combe was planned for our club trip this week. Thoughts of a nice balmy summers evening were imagined, but instead it rained and felt a bit more like a rainforest scramble!
Caves visited: Supra Avelines shaft, Pseudo Nash's Hole, Johnny Nash's Hole, Quidlers Arch, Whitcombe's Hole, Tunnel cave and a 3 minute in-out of the two Goatchurch entrances.

 

[cap n chris]

Quiddler's in Burrington is (in my opinion) a key site which I suspect could become a massively important route into the fabled Goatchurch Master System, as it's (albeit offset somewhat) above Goatchurch and some way up the side of West Twin Brook; it's unlikely that digging permission would be granted, but nonetheless the nearby Tween Twins nicely exhibits the potential for this part of the oft-overlooked and rarely visited Burrington Complex.

 

[domestos bend]

Domestos Bend is exactly that, A jackknife position rising sharply up the bedding on the other side.



The above photo from Dec 2020 with a fair bit of water. My boot is a size eight length eleven inches so you have a scale. I did suggest capping the bedding out to remove the roof on our club website. Supposedly a Mendip " classic " nobody seemed to care if it was removed.

It used to be a thing in the 80s to do post pub StDW trips due to the proximity to the CSS cottage. My last trip here ended abruptly as I rapidly sobered up when wedged halfway through DB….