why haven't I caved in Mendip before?

[damo8604]

Maybe it's because my initiation was up in the Dales and my peers were hardened SRT fanatics who sneered at the thought of horizontal caving.

I broke my mendip duck last weekend with a short but very enjoyable trip around the upper series of Swildons to the top of the 20 with my eldest daughter and the nice people of SUCC who were good enough to let us tag along.

First impressions? I am literally so angry with myself for not taking the relatively short 2-3 hour drive over to such a beautiful part of the country, the gorge is breathtaking, I was torn between spending a few hours there or getting down a cave (in the end the cave won). I wanted to spend more time down Swildons and try the sumps but it would probably be a bit mean of me considering this is my daughter's first caving trip.

I was gutted to drive back home on the Saturday evening however this was sweetened by the thought of returning again soon.

It turns out I've managed to wrangle this weekend off to so I'm looking forward to joining in on some digging, any recommendations?

As for the new Mendip underground book, this has to be the best caving guide I have ever read, I don't read this for reference, I find I'm reading it for pleasure!

I bloody love Mendip now!

 

[Les W]

Welcome to Gods country 
We do have some excellent caves here but don't tell everyone or we will be inundated... 
I hope you found time to visit the Centre of the Universe 

 

[damo8604]

Would that be the Hunters?

 

[Les W]

Would that be the Hunters?

The one and only 

 

[damo8604]

I got there for opening!

 

[estelle]

It turns out I've managed to wrangle this weekend off to so I'm looking forward to joining in on some digging, any recommendations?

if you can make it for Friday evening from 8pm onwards, i'd recommend going to the Hunters where the digging teams should be trying to 'sell you' their dig. If not i think there is another meet up first thing Sat morning at the village hall for sorting out where you fancy digging or doing one of the workshops.

 

[Maj]

Shhhhhhhh! Plenty of superb caves on Mendip, Swildon's Hole (Mendips washing machine) is just one of many and one of my favorites. You'll also find that you don't have miles to walk to get to the caves, when planning permission was sought for the caves, we put them near the roads. So you can get to the C of U before the Dors' close.  

 

[Aubrey]

It turns out I've managed to wrangle this weekend off to so I'm looking forward to joining in on some digging, any recommendations?

if you can make it for Friday evening from 8pm onwards, i'd recommend going to the Hunters where the digging teams should be trying to 'sell you' their dig. If not i think there is another meet up first thing Sat morning at the village hall for sorting out where you fancy digging or doing one of the workshops.

And Saturday afternoon/evening there will be a BBQ and Stomp at Priddy Village Hall. Everyone welcome, bar opens 4.30pm

see: http://cscc.org.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=news:digfest

 

[Bottlebank]

Bugger, hadn't realised DigFest was this weekend. That clashes with just about everything 

 

[estelle]

That clashes with just about everything 

including currently a severe weather warning from the met office for rain and thunderstorms... really hope that doesn't happen as that could put a bit of a damper on some of the outside activities... 

 

[Spike]

It's gonna make the sofas heavier, that's for sure...

 

[rhychydwr1]

snip

As for the new Mendip underground book, this has to be the best caving guide I have ever read, I don't read this for reference, I find I'm reading it for pleasure!

Not sure about Mendip Underground.  It has given me the idea for a new book, "Not in Mendip Underground".  Many small and important caves have been omitted.