We like coloured lights. So sue us. Wookey Hole. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Well, what a month. We ate, we voted, we danced and somewhere along the way somebody rescued a frog. Not a bad showing.
The AGM itself brought the usual mix of democratic proceedings and fun reunions amongst friends. Bristol Caving and UBSS now have newly elected committees - congratulations to everyone who ran, and a sincere thank you to those who handed over the reins.
Our local Burrington and the wider Mendip area has been the most popular destination this March! With exploring around our beloved hut, new and old and Aveline’s Hole - a place that reminds us that people have been drawn to these caves for an extraordinarily long time - and there’s still more to find out!
And our favourite story from the month- a life-saving trip down Technical Masterpiece. Public Service Announcement, the frog is fine. The cavers should be proud.
And as always, if you have anything to contribute - tales old and new, drawings, photography (anything cave related really), please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us!
PS If anything is in blue and underlined, it’s a clickable link!
PPS You can find all previous newsletter back to 1919 on our website!
The AGM itself brought the usual mix of democratic proceedings and fun reunions amongst friends. Bristol Caving and UBSS now have newly elected committees - congratulations to everyone who ran, and a sincere thank you to those who handed over the reins.
Our local Burrington and the wider Mendip area has been the most popular destination this March! With exploring around our beloved hut, new and old and Aveline’s Hole - a place that reminds us that people have been drawn to these caves for an extraordinarily long time - and there’s still more to find out!
And our favourite story from the month- a life-saving trip down Technical Masterpiece. Public Service Announcement, the frog is fine. The cavers should be proud.
And as always, if you have anything to contribute - tales old and new, drawings, photography (anything cave related really), please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us!
Grace and Linda
PS If anything is in blue and underlined, it’s a clickable link!
PPS You can find all previous newsletter back to 1919 on our website!
THE 2026 AGMS AND DINNER
Grace Smith recalls the social highlight of the calendar - the AGM, Dinner and After Party.
After an extremely successful, busy and efficient pair of AGMs, please welcome the new committees for the year 2026/2027…
Bristol Caving
Joshitha Sivakumar – President
Kenneth MacIver- Secretary
Dylan Tooley - Treasurer
Grace Smith - EDI officer
General committee members: Joe Bidie, Emily Wormleighton, Ben Pett and Mungo Palmer.
UBSS
Elaine Oliver - President
Joshitha Sivakumar - Student President
Linda Wilson, Clive Owen, Merryn Matthews and Andrew Atkinson - Vice Presidents
Secretary - Kenneth MacIver
Treasurer - Graham Mullan
Student treasurer - Dylan Tooley
Grace Smith - EDI Officer
General committee members: Joe Bidie, Emily Wormleighton, Ben Pett,Mungo Palmer, Stanley Lewis
The following appointments were made at the first committee meeting:
Tom Headington - co-opted to committee
Tess Hopes - Social Media
Noah Lewis & Stanley Lewis - Hut Wardens
Ben Morgan - Safety Officer + CSCC rep
Dan Wose - Trip Sec
Willem Glass - Tackle Warden
Victor Tripp - Assistant Tackle Warden
Thomas DeAth - Welfare officer
Marty Hebden & Molly Foster - Social Secs
Grace Smith - Training Officer
Leila Nicholson - Assistant Training Officer
Mowgli Palmer - Dig Sec
Linda Wilson - Museum Curator
Mungo Palmer - Student Museum Curator
Joshitha Shivkumar - Librarian
Jan Walker - Sales Librarian
Emily Wormleighton - Merchandise
We would also like to welcome the following new members who were voted in at the AGM:
Tess Hopes, proposed by Graham Mullan, seconded by James Hallihan
Harry Foord, proposed by Graham Mullan and seconded by James Hallihan
Susan Walker, proposed by Linda Wilson and seconded by Mungo Palmer
The Dinner and the Awards!
As ever, this was a roaring success and so much fun to see faces new and old getting to know each other. It’s one of those evenings that starts with a civilised meal and ends with people singing caving songs and popping dance moves you didn’t know were possible… In case you’d forgotten (there was a lot of wine okay), your newly elected student president, Joshitha, gave out the annual club awards! Here are some of the winners…
1.Buffest fresher. Leila Nicolson. A buff.
2.UBSS sock wrestler. Tommy DeAth. wetsocks.
3. Most dedicated archaeologist. Mungo Palmer. Old issues of Cave and Karst Science magazine
4. Most relaxed dig sec. Mowgli Palmer. Portable fan (will actually come handy for France)
5. UBSS chef. Stanley Lewis. An apron with the UBSS crest. And also best EDI duo, with Grace Smith.
6. Most iconic duo? Ben Morgan and Daniel Rose
7. Most drunk and least hungover. Molly Foster - A bottle of vodka
8. Best above ground injury. Dylan for injuring his lungs by coughing too hard on a ski trip - First aid kit
9. Pothole Princess & best cave car packer - Emily Worm
10. Most horrible trips done. Ben Morgan & Dan Rose. A selection of Energy gels. They also came first in the most iconic duo category.
11. Best SRT trainer. Jess Brock. An assorted selection of colourful dry bags to organise kit for expo.
11. Best Bongo. Kenny MacIver. UBSS-certified BONGO car stickers
12. For Doing Stuff. Graham Mullan & Linda Wilson. A beautiful painting of the hut hand-sketched by Tess Hopes.
13. Most fashionable caver. Tess Hopes. Old issues of Descent.
14. Caver to climber pipeline awards. Clive Owen, Joe Bidie & Tom Headington. Honourable mentions to Zaid Muna, Noah Lewis & Ben Morgan.
15. Amazing Social sec and Linda McCartney's No 1 promoter. Billy Evans. Linda McCartney burgers.
18. Best quiz master. Ben Pett. Microphone.
Grace Smith recalls the social highlight of the calendar - the AGM, Dinner and After Party.
After an extremely successful, busy and efficient pair of AGMs, please welcome the new committees for the year 2026/2027…
Bristol Caving
Joshitha Sivakumar – President
Kenneth MacIver- Secretary
Dylan Tooley - Treasurer
Grace Smith - EDI officer
General committee members: Joe Bidie, Emily Wormleighton, Ben Pett and Mungo Palmer.
UBSS
Elaine Oliver - President
Joshitha Sivakumar - Student President
Linda Wilson, Clive Owen, Merryn Matthews and Andrew Atkinson - Vice Presidents
Secretary - Kenneth MacIver
Treasurer - Graham Mullan
Student treasurer - Dylan Tooley
Grace Smith - EDI Officer
General committee members: Joe Bidie, Emily Wormleighton, Ben Pett,Mungo Palmer, Stanley Lewis
The following appointments were made at the first committee meeting:
Tom Headington - co-opted to committee
Tess Hopes - Social Media
Noah Lewis & Stanley Lewis - Hut Wardens
Ben Morgan - Safety Officer + CSCC rep
Dan Wose - Trip Sec
Willem Glass - Tackle Warden
Victor Tripp - Assistant Tackle Warden
Thomas DeAth - Welfare officer
Marty Hebden & Molly Foster - Social Secs
Grace Smith - Training Officer
Leila Nicholson - Assistant Training Officer
Mowgli Palmer - Dig Sec
Linda Wilson - Museum Curator
Mungo Palmer - Student Museum Curator
Joshitha Shivkumar - Librarian
Jan Walker - Sales Librarian
Emily Wormleighton - Merchandise
We would also like to welcome the following new members who were voted in at the AGM:
Tess Hopes, proposed by Graham Mullan, seconded by James Hallihan
Harry Foord, proposed by Graham Mullan and seconded by James Hallihan
Susan Walker, proposed by Linda Wilson and seconded by Mungo Palmer
The Dinner and the Awards!
As ever, this was a roaring success and so much fun to see faces new and old getting to know each other. It’s one of those evenings that starts with a civilised meal and ends with people singing caving songs and popping dance moves you didn’t know were possible… In case you’d forgotten (there was a lot of wine okay), your newly elected student president, Joshitha, gave out the annual club awards! Here are some of the winners…
1.Buffest fresher. Leila Nicolson. A buff.
2.UBSS sock wrestler. Tommy DeAth. wetsocks.
3. Most dedicated archaeologist. Mungo Palmer. Old issues of Cave and Karst Science magazine
4. Most relaxed dig sec. Mowgli Palmer. Portable fan (will actually come handy for France)
5. UBSS chef. Stanley Lewis. An apron with the UBSS crest. And also best EDI duo, with Grace Smith.
6. Most iconic duo? Ben Morgan and Daniel Rose
7. Most drunk and least hungover. Molly Foster - A bottle of vodka
8. Best above ground injury. Dylan for injuring his lungs by coughing too hard on a ski trip - First aid kit
9. Pothole Princess & best cave car packer - Emily Worm
10. Most horrible trips done. Ben Morgan & Dan Rose. A selection of Energy gels. They also came first in the most iconic duo category.
11. Best SRT trainer. Jess Brock. An assorted selection of colourful dry bags to organise kit for expo.
11. Best Bongo. Kenny MacIver. UBSS-certified BONGO car stickers
12. For Doing Stuff. Graham Mullan & Linda Wilson. A beautiful painting of the hut hand-sketched by Tess Hopes.
13. Most fashionable caver. Tess Hopes. Old issues of Descent.
14. Caver to climber pipeline awards. Clive Owen, Joe Bidie & Tom Headington. Honourable mentions to Zaid Muna, Noah Lewis & Ben Morgan.
15. Amazing Social sec and Linda McCartney's No 1 promoter. Billy Evans. Linda McCartney burgers.
18. Best quiz master. Ben Pett. Microphone.
TRIP LOG
Don't forget to fill in our new Trip Log form, or Trip sec Dan Rose will set his friend on you...
01/03/2026. Dan Rose, Ben Morgan, Stanley Lewis. Yorkshire. Swinsto Hole pull through to Valley Entrance.
13/03/2026. Joshitha Sivakumar, Emily Wormleighton, Jess Brock. Mendip. Read's Cavern bimble.
01/03/2026. Dan Rose, Ben Morgan, Stanley Lewis, Willem Glass. Yorkshire. Simpson Pot pull through to Valley Entrance.
12/3/2026. Linda Wilson, Graham Mullan, James Hallihan. Mendip. Aveline's Hole. Checking the lock hadn't seized up in advance of next week's trip with Historic England. And remembering quite how pretty the cave is (see above).
12/3/2026. Tess Hopes, Mungo and Mowgli Palmer, Victor Tripp, Lucy Chrysostomou. Mendip. Sidcot Swallet and Goatchurch Cavern.
14/03/2026. Dan Rose, Ben Morgan, Billy Evans, Emily Wormleighton, Lewis Hope, Joe Bidie. Mendip. Stoke Lane Slocker to Throne Room
14/03/2026. Mungo and Mowgli Palmer, Kenneth MacIver. Mendip. Halfway down the Technical Masterpiece, Eastwater. Rescued a frog. The frog was suitably grateful.
14/03/26. Stuart Alldred, Cat and Adam Henry. Mendip. Swildon's Hole. Upper Series. (Photo above. Left to right: Stuart, Cat, Adam.)
14/3.2026. Molly Foster, Freya Bearn, Willem Glass, Vistor Tripp, Lucy Chrysostomou. Mendip. Swildon's Hole. Upper Series.
17/3/2026. Graham Mullan, Linda Wilson, Helen Fewless (Archaeology Dept), Chris Binding. Mendip. Wookey Hole. Visit to the museum collection for possible research tie up with Wookey, then continued our Grand Day Out with a pleasant wander through the showcave to put the archaeology in context for Helen and to say hello to the Witch of Wookey (left in above photo.). Saw Jess, who was busy professionally wrangling a school group. Impressed by her ability not to go all murdery on them.
18/03/2026. Linda Wilson, Graham Mullan, Jess Brock, Stuart Alldred, Cayley Howard and a cast of thousands (OK, ten) from Historic England and our Museum Mentor Kate Iles (left in photo above) from Bristol City Museum.
Team bonding for Historic England. LJW did her usual spiel at the entrance on the history and archaeology and GJM did the underground tour including the engravings (see above). Jess and Stu helped underground and Cayley was in charge of crowd control and making sure no one got flattened on the road! Pleased to report no one got flattened, for proof, see team photo taken afterwards.
19/03/2026. Mungo Palmer, Tess Hopes. Mendip. Hunter's Hole Direct Route.
20/03/2026. Jess Brock, Grace Smith. Mendip. Burrington cave-gasm (Fox's, Lionel's, Pierre's, Goatchurch, Sidcot, Aveline's, East Twin.
22/03/2026. Jess Brock, Joshitha Sivakumar, Tess Hopes South Wales. Half of the Aggy Grand Circle + Music Room.
25/03/2026. Rodger. Mendip. Hunters' Lodge Inn Sink (Mendip Cultist meeting and Shamanic healing session). Hmm, we think this one needs a full write up ...
Don't forget to fill in our new Trip Log form, or Trip sec Dan Rose will set his friend on you...
01/03/2026. Dan Rose, Ben Morgan, Stanley Lewis. Yorkshire. Swinsto Hole pull through to Valley Entrance.
13/03/2026. Joshitha Sivakumar, Emily Wormleighton, Jess Brock. Mendip. Read's Cavern bimble.
01/03/2026. Dan Rose, Ben Morgan, Stanley Lewis, Willem Glass. Yorkshire. Simpson Pot pull through to Valley Entrance.
12/3/2026. Linda Wilson, Graham Mullan, James Hallihan. Mendip. Aveline's Hole. Checking the lock hadn't seized up in advance of next week's trip with Historic England. And remembering quite how pretty the cave is (see above).
12/3/2026. Tess Hopes, Mungo and Mowgli Palmer, Victor Tripp, Lucy Chrysostomou. Mendip. Sidcot Swallet and Goatchurch Cavern.
14/03/2026. Dan Rose, Ben Morgan, Billy Evans, Emily Wormleighton, Lewis Hope, Joe Bidie. Mendip. Stoke Lane Slocker to Throne Room
14/03/2026. Mungo and Mowgli Palmer, Kenneth MacIver. Mendip. Halfway down the Technical Masterpiece, Eastwater. Rescued a frog. The frog was suitably grateful.
14/03/26. Stuart Alldred, Cat and Adam Henry. Mendip. Swildon's Hole. Upper Series. (Photo above. Left to right: Stuart, Cat, Adam.)
14/3.2026. Molly Foster, Freya Bearn, Willem Glass, Vistor Tripp, Lucy Chrysostomou. Mendip. Swildon's Hole. Upper Series.
17/3/2026. Graham Mullan, Linda Wilson, Helen Fewless (Archaeology Dept), Chris Binding. Mendip. Wookey Hole. Visit to the museum collection for possible research tie up with Wookey, then continued our Grand Day Out with a pleasant wander through the showcave to put the archaeology in context for Helen and to say hello to the Witch of Wookey (left in above photo.). Saw Jess, who was busy professionally wrangling a school group. Impressed by her ability not to go all murdery on them.
18/03/2026. Linda Wilson, Graham Mullan, Jess Brock, Stuart Alldred, Cayley Howard and a cast of thousands (OK, ten) from Historic England and our Museum Mentor Kate Iles (left in photo above) from Bristol City Museum.
Team bonding for Historic England. LJW did her usual spiel at the entrance on the history and archaeology and GJM did the underground tour including the engravings (see above). Jess and Stu helped underground and Cayley was in charge of crowd control and making sure no one got flattened on the road! Pleased to report no one got flattened, for proof, see team photo taken afterwards.
19/03/2026. Mungo Palmer, Tess Hopes. Mendip. Hunter's Hole Direct Route.
20/03/2026. Jess Brock, Grace Smith. Mendip. Burrington cave-gasm (Fox's, Lionel's, Pierre's, Goatchurch, Sidcot, Aveline's, East Twin.
22/03/2026. Jess Brock, Joshitha Sivakumar, Tess Hopes South Wales. Half of the Aggy Grand Circle + Music Room.
25/03/2026. Rodger. Mendip. Hunters' Lodge Inn Sink (Mendip Cultist meeting and Shamanic healing session). Hmm, we think this one needs a full write up ...
The British Cave Research Association's Cave Archaeology Group is holding a field trip on Saturday 9th May, with visits to local sites of Archaeological interest on Sunday 1oth May. If anyone is interested, please contact Linda Wilson, who is one of the organisers.
For anyone with an interest in cave archaeology, there are three talks in the morning on practical zooarchaeology, cave use in the Neolithic and Bronze Age and recording historic graffiti. In the afternoon there will be an introduction to the British Cave Science Centre in the cave, a talk on the archaeology of Poole's Cavern and a practical session on graffiti recording.
Accommodation is available at the Orpheus Hut.
Graham and I will be talking our camper-van because we will have the dogs with us, but we hope to be staying near the hut. We will also be taking a car for ease of transport on the field trip, so if anyone is interested and would like a lift, we will be leaving on Friday morning (9th May) and returning Sunday evening. I have three spaces available, on a first come, first served basis but you will need to book your own accommodation. No contribution to fuel needed.
You can find full details and clickable links here.
Linda Wilson
IN THE NEWS
Work by Dr William Marsh from the Natural History Museum hit the headlines recently with the discovery of the world's oldest genetic evidence for domestic dogs identified from a jawbone discovered at Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge.
William, who has also worked on wolf specimens from the UBSS museum said: "The genetic identification of two Palaeolithic dogs from Gough’s Cave and Pınarbaşı represents a step-change in our understanding of the earliest dogs. These specimens allowed us to identify additional ancient dogs from sites in Germany, Italy and Switzerland, which clearly show that dogs were already widely dispersed across Europe and Türkiye by at-least 14,000 years ago.”
NHM Press release
Article on Science.org
BBC news
Work by Dr William Marsh from the Natural History Museum hit the headlines recently with the discovery of the world's oldest genetic evidence for domestic dogs identified from a jawbone discovered at Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge.
William, who has also worked on wolf specimens from the UBSS museum said: "The genetic identification of two Palaeolithic dogs from Gough’s Cave and Pınarbaşı represents a step-change in our understanding of the earliest dogs. These specimens allowed us to identify additional ancient dogs from sites in Germany, Italy and Switzerland, which clearly show that dogs were already widely dispersed across Europe and Türkiye by at-least 14,000 years ago.”
NHM Press release
Article on Science.org
BBC news
HELP NEEDED
A call to arms with shovels and wheelbarrows has been received from Dave King of ATLAS/MNRC. If you're able to help, please do, as the work benefits all cavers. Message follows ...
It's that time of year again when the weather has improved enough to clear the entrance to Thrupe Lane Swallet. Although Hobnail Hole is accessible, Thrupe Lane Swallet remains blocked after the winter storms.
I would like to get Thrupe Lane Swallet cleared and open for caving in the next few weeks. I'm proposing a working/social weekend on the 11th and 12th April. But to do so I really need a number of volunteers to commit before I put in the effort of setting up for the weekend with tools, wheelbarrows, scaffold boards, gazebo, BBQ, tea brew station etc.
Thrupe Lane Swallet is one of Mendip's gems, so lets get it back open for business. It's only a few weeks away, so I'm sure you already know whether you are available on the 11th &/or 12th. Please let me know asap with your availability. Without enough support Thrupe Lane Swallet will remain inaccessible.
RSVP by email to
Dave King
or message him via Facebook
A call to arms with shovels and wheelbarrows has been received from Dave King of ATLAS/MNRC. If you're able to help, please do, as the work benefits all cavers. Message follows ...
It's that time of year again when the weather has improved enough to clear the entrance to Thrupe Lane Swallet. Although Hobnail Hole is accessible, Thrupe Lane Swallet remains blocked after the winter storms.
I would like to get Thrupe Lane Swallet cleared and open for caving in the next few weeks. I'm proposing a working/social weekend on the 11th and 12th April. But to do so I really need a number of volunteers to commit before I put in the effort of setting up for the weekend with tools, wheelbarrows, scaffold boards, gazebo, BBQ, tea brew station etc.
Thrupe Lane Swallet is one of Mendip's gems, so lets get it back open for business. It's only a few weeks away, so I'm sure you already know whether you are available on the 11th &/or 12th. Please let me know asap with your availability. Without enough support Thrupe Lane Swallet will remain inaccessible.
RSVP by email to
Dave King
or message him via Facebook
SUITABLY STOKED!
Left to right: Dan Rose, Joe Bidie, Billy Evans (rear), Lewis Hope (front) Emily Wormleighton (rear) Ben Morgan (front).
Between the UBSS Annual General Meeting and the annual dinner, Ben Morgan, Billy Evans, Emily Wormleighton, Joe Bidie, Lewis Hope and Dan Rose headed off to Stoke Lane Slocker for some midday fun. Dan describes their trip …
Having (somehow) missed the Throne Room on our last visit to Stoke Lane, we planned for a quick dip in and out, making it back for the black-tie dinner and the obligatory afterparty.
We arrived sometime around 12:00 and completed the short walk to the entrance. Having only been to Stoke Lane Slocker once before, the previous July, I was conscious of how much wetter the entrance appeared than in summertime. Still, it was sunny outside with no rain forecast, so we dropped into the violent entrance cascade and began the tedious crawl to the sump.
Stoke 1 is comprised almost entirely of hands and knees crawling over a cobble-laden streamway. It’s not very interesting, and my experience was worsened by my left kneepad mysteriously disappearing in the bottom of my bag before the trip, forcing me to fashion less-than-optimal makeshift alternatives. Still, good banter kept us in high spirits, especially from Lewis, who kept turning around and growling at me like a lunatic hound. He’s a member of the diving club who we’re gradually getting into caving, and so far he loves it; sadly, sometimes the darkness confuses him and he malfunctions a bit. It’s quite sweet, really.
After a while we reached the sump, the first ‘sting in the tail’ of the trip. A unique freedive, the Stoke Lane sump is shorter than Swildon’s sump 1, at around 0.6 metres in length. It feels much more committing, however. On the way in, you tackle it feet first, passing a narrow duck, then slipping into a body sized slot with the sump pool at your waist. From here, you grab the line, and pull yourself feet first, ducking under the rock and emerging a second or two later on the other side. We all dealt with this smoothly and enjoyed the pleasure typical of emerging from a freedive.
From here, the cave’s character changes dramatically. The Stoke 2 streamway is spacious and can be walked down without constriction all the way to the next sump. We, however, were interested in the real attraction of Stoke 2 – the chambers nestled above the streamway. We followed the water a short distance from the sump pool to reach a sand bank, then climbed up into the ceiling into a large chamber. Here, an exposed roped climb above a ten-metre drop leads to the Throne Room; the sight we came to see. This constitutes the second sting in the Slocker’s tail. Although technically easy, the thought of slipping, falling, and breaking your neck does cross your mind, and you tackle the move with deep care. None of us hesitated too significantly and with the demure characteristic of the cavers present, we were soon all across, traversing around the top of the chamber into the Throne Room.
This is a spectacular place. Glittery calcite and flowstone is everywhere, with huge stalagmites proudly plopped across its diameter like melting towers of cheese. Everywhere you look reminds you of the incidental beauty of geological process, and for a reason I can’t quite put my finger on, the whole place feels so quintessentially Mendip, in the best possible way.
After admiring this for a while, we headed back down to the streamway and began our return journey, conscious of making it to the Annual Dinner before 18:00. The sump on the way back is a bit more interesting than on the way in. The actual length on the way back is much longer than on the way in, as you can keep going for over 20 metres if you miss the exit. The key is to duck under the arch and feel at ceiling height for the hole you exit through, being sure not to overshoot it and end up swimming into an ill-fated dead end. Thankfully, none of us made this mistake, and it went about as smoothly as it did on the way in. After that, we sped through the crawls of Stoke 1 and exited with plenty of time to spare – I was even able to grab my bow-tie before rushing to the restaurant.
Stoke Lane Slocker is a fantastic trip and, from what I can gather from talking to people, quite rarely visited (at least by students). If you are itching for a relatively short trip that offers some excitement with (extremely) pretty payoff, all within a half hour drive from Bristol, go fill your boots!
Left to right: Dan Rose, Joe Bidie, Billy Evans (rear), Lewis Hope (front) Emily Wormleighton (rear) Ben Morgan (front).
Between the UBSS Annual General Meeting and the annual dinner, Ben Morgan, Billy Evans, Emily Wormleighton, Joe Bidie, Lewis Hope and Dan Rose headed off to Stoke Lane Slocker for some midday fun. Dan describes their trip …
Having (somehow) missed the Throne Room on our last visit to Stoke Lane, we planned for a quick dip in and out, making it back for the black-tie dinner and the obligatory afterparty.
We arrived sometime around 12:00 and completed the short walk to the entrance. Having only been to Stoke Lane Slocker once before, the previous July, I was conscious of how much wetter the entrance appeared than in summertime. Still, it was sunny outside with no rain forecast, so we dropped into the violent entrance cascade and began the tedious crawl to the sump.
Stoke 1 is comprised almost entirely of hands and knees crawling over a cobble-laden streamway. It’s not very interesting, and my experience was worsened by my left kneepad mysteriously disappearing in the bottom of my bag before the trip, forcing me to fashion less-than-optimal makeshift alternatives. Still, good banter kept us in high spirits, especially from Lewis, who kept turning around and growling at me like a lunatic hound. He’s a member of the diving club who we’re gradually getting into caving, and so far he loves it; sadly, sometimes the darkness confuses him and he malfunctions a bit. It’s quite sweet, really.
After a while we reached the sump, the first ‘sting in the tail’ of the trip. A unique freedive, the Stoke Lane sump is shorter than Swildon’s sump 1, at around 0.6 metres in length. It feels much more committing, however. On the way in, you tackle it feet first, passing a narrow duck, then slipping into a body sized slot with the sump pool at your waist. From here, you grab the line, and pull yourself feet first, ducking under the rock and emerging a second or two later on the other side. We all dealt with this smoothly and enjoyed the pleasure typical of emerging from a freedive.
From here, the cave’s character changes dramatically. The Stoke 2 streamway is spacious and can be walked down without constriction all the way to the next sump. We, however, were interested in the real attraction of Stoke 2 – the chambers nestled above the streamway. We followed the water a short distance from the sump pool to reach a sand bank, then climbed up into the ceiling into a large chamber. Here, an exposed roped climb above a ten-metre drop leads to the Throne Room; the sight we came to see. This constitutes the second sting in the Slocker’s tail. Although technically easy, the thought of slipping, falling, and breaking your neck does cross your mind, and you tackle the move with deep care. None of us hesitated too significantly and with the demure characteristic of the cavers present, we were soon all across, traversing around the top of the chamber into the Throne Room.
This is a spectacular place. Glittery calcite and flowstone is everywhere, with huge stalagmites proudly plopped across its diameter like melting towers of cheese. Everywhere you look reminds you of the incidental beauty of geological process, and for a reason I can’t quite put my finger on, the whole place feels so quintessentially Mendip, in the best possible way.
After admiring this for a while, we headed back down to the streamway and began our return journey, conscious of making it to the Annual Dinner before 18:00. The sump on the way back is a bit more interesting than on the way in. The actual length on the way back is much longer than on the way in, as you can keep going for over 20 metres if you miss the exit. The key is to duck under the arch and feel at ceiling height for the hole you exit through, being sure not to overshoot it and end up swimming into an ill-fated dead end. Thankfully, none of us made this mistake, and it went about as smoothly as it did on the way in. After that, we sped through the crawls of Stoke 1 and exited with plenty of time to spare – I was even able to grab my bow-tie before rushing to the restaurant.
Stoke Lane Slocker is a fantastic trip and, from what I can gather from talking to people, quite rarely visited (at least by students). If you are itching for a relatively short trip that offers some excitement with (extremely) pretty payoff, all within a half hour drive from Bristol, go fill your boots!
Dan Rose
BROTHER FROM ANOTHER ... MASTERPIECE?
Looking remarkably cheerful for having participated in an impromptu rescue. MCR watch and learn.
Eastwater's daunting Technical Masterpiece has become a firm favourite recently, with one group even heading there for a trip between the AGM and the annual dinner! What they didn't expect was to get sidetracked by the need for a daring rescue. Mowgli Palmer takes up the story ...
The day began with seeing many UBSS members pack into the Stables, our museum and library. where two efficient AGM’s were carried out, first for the baby Bristol Caving then for the proud parent, UBSS. We finished both within the hour. Great - more time for caving!
Kenneth, Mungo and I agreed we’d use the time wisely and thus began the process of begging anyone who’d listen to let us use their wheels to go on a special trip. Stanley Lewis obliged and gave us fair warning about a certain troublesome front tyre.
After paying the princely sum of £1 to inflate the tyre at a garage in Bristol only to have it deflate on us immediately, our morale remained unpunctured - we would just have to drive carefully. A painfully slow crawl out of the city transformed into a battle of Civic vs Tarmac - the car thundering down the dual carriageway towards the mighty Mendip. Our destination? Eastwater, more specifically the Technical Masterpiece extension.
Mungo and I had never set foot in Eastwater before, so Kenny led the way in. We foolishly believed we would find the way easily and without much ado.
We were wrong. Confusingly, we managed to get our wires crossed and wasted an hour navigating what turned out to be an extremely straightforward descent using the most obvious route. We are not taking any more questions about that at this time.
Finally, we found the rusty scaffolding-turned-make-shift-ladder, and dropped into a wet, low crawl.
The Masterpiece demands those who enter it to bend and contort for hundreds of metres in a prolonged game of Twister. After some excellent progress by the three of us to manoeuvre our way down Eastwater’s prickly colon, we were feeling like we could do with a rest and a snack. Just at the same moment I tilted my head down to unfasten my oversuit pocket and release the Mars bar it held within - something stopped me in my tracks.
A frog was settled in one of the smaller puddles. It must have been washed down in a deluge.
This was a conundrum for the three of us. We estimated that we still had about 1/3 of the way to go to complete the extension. If we wanted to do that there wouldn’t be enough time to rescue the frog and get back in time for the annual dinner.
It was an easy decision in the end. We would turn back immediately and rescue the frog. Those who have rescued anything living from a cave might understand the frustration we wrestled with for the next 15 minutes trying to delicately negotiate the animal's welfare with our urgency to secure it. Secure it where? Kenny dutifully volunteered his helmet and eventually we wrapped the animal carefully in a wet buff and stowed it in our makeshift shift carrier.
An hour passed. We’d not gone far. Slowly but surely, we picked up the pace. After what seemed an eternity, we reached the section close to the beginning where it got slightly easier. At some point Kenny checkpointed at the bag we had left behind us when things had started getting Tekky. An empty ammo container from a paintball session weeks earlier became a handy home for our compadre. Kenny could have his helmet back. That made Kenny happy.
Soon Kenny started to sing. Dehydrated and elated we struck our way back out the rest of the Masterpiece and soon we were once again walking on God's green canvas - reassuringly above ground. But there was no time to rest. We decided to set free the frog free an appropriate distance away from the entrance to the cave but not so far that it wouldn’t be able to recount its divine experience to the kincroak it had left above ground. After an emotional goodbye, we stripped out of our gear and bundled into the Civic.
The time was… well, we were late. Fortunately, there is an absence of speed cameras on Mendip, so we safely yet narrowly observed the speed limit on our return to the city. Consequently, we made it in time for the first course being served and even managed to put on some half-decent attire beforehand.
The dinner was lovely, before dessert was served Joshitha and Grace expertly conducted the awards and subsequent auction, to raise money for the museum, where I narrowly lost out on a bid for a limited-edition mug (next year is my year). Soon it was time for us to head to Emily’s House in Stokes Croft where there was some merriment and … I couldn’t believe it: Twister. At the sight of it I'm sure my hip twinged.
Looking remarkably cheerful for having participated in an impromptu rescue. MCR watch and learn.
Eastwater's daunting Technical Masterpiece has become a firm favourite recently, with one group even heading there for a trip between the AGM and the annual dinner! What they didn't expect was to get sidetracked by the need for a daring rescue. Mowgli Palmer takes up the story ...
The day began with seeing many UBSS members pack into the Stables, our museum and library. where two efficient AGM’s were carried out, first for the baby Bristol Caving then for the proud parent, UBSS. We finished both within the hour. Great - more time for caving!
Kenneth, Mungo and I agreed we’d use the time wisely and thus began the process of begging anyone who’d listen to let us use their wheels to go on a special trip. Stanley Lewis obliged and gave us fair warning about a certain troublesome front tyre.
After paying the princely sum of £1 to inflate the tyre at a garage in Bristol only to have it deflate on us immediately, our morale remained unpunctured - we would just have to drive carefully. A painfully slow crawl out of the city transformed into a battle of Civic vs Tarmac - the car thundering down the dual carriageway towards the mighty Mendip. Our destination? Eastwater, more specifically the Technical Masterpiece extension.
Mungo and I had never set foot in Eastwater before, so Kenny led the way in. We foolishly believed we would find the way easily and without much ado.
We were wrong. Confusingly, we managed to get our wires crossed and wasted an hour navigating what turned out to be an extremely straightforward descent using the most obvious route. We are not taking any more questions about that at this time.
Finally, we found the rusty scaffolding-turned-make-shift-ladder, and dropped into a wet, low crawl.
The Masterpiece demands those who enter it to bend and contort for hundreds of metres in a prolonged game of Twister. After some excellent progress by the three of us to manoeuvre our way down Eastwater’s prickly colon, we were feeling like we could do with a rest and a snack. Just at the same moment I tilted my head down to unfasten my oversuit pocket and release the Mars bar it held within - something stopped me in my tracks.
A frog was settled in one of the smaller puddles. It must have been washed down in a deluge.
This was a conundrum for the three of us. We estimated that we still had about 1/3 of the way to go to complete the extension. If we wanted to do that there wouldn’t be enough time to rescue the frog and get back in time for the annual dinner.
It was an easy decision in the end. We would turn back immediately and rescue the frog. Those who have rescued anything living from a cave might understand the frustration we wrestled with for the next 15 minutes trying to delicately negotiate the animal's welfare with our urgency to secure it. Secure it where? Kenny dutifully volunteered his helmet and eventually we wrapped the animal carefully in a wet buff and stowed it in our makeshift shift carrier.
An hour passed. We’d not gone far. Slowly but surely, we picked up the pace. After what seemed an eternity, we reached the section close to the beginning where it got slightly easier. At some point Kenny checkpointed at the bag we had left behind us when things had started getting Tekky. An empty ammo container from a paintball session weeks earlier became a handy home for our compadre. Kenny could have his helmet back. That made Kenny happy.
Soon Kenny started to sing. Dehydrated and elated we struck our way back out the rest of the Masterpiece and soon we were once again walking on God's green canvas - reassuringly above ground. But there was no time to rest. We decided to set free the frog free an appropriate distance away from the entrance to the cave but not so far that it wouldn’t be able to recount its divine experience to the kincroak it had left above ground. After an emotional goodbye, we stripped out of our gear and bundled into the Civic.
The time was… well, we were late. Fortunately, there is an absence of speed cameras on Mendip, so we safely yet narrowly observed the speed limit on our return to the city. Consequently, we made it in time for the first course being served and even managed to put on some half-decent attire beforehand.
The dinner was lovely, before dessert was served Joshitha and Grace expertly conducted the awards and subsequent auction, to raise money for the museum, where I narrowly lost out on a bid for a limited-edition mug (next year is my year). Soon it was time for us to head to Emily’s House in Stokes Croft where there was some merriment and … I couldn’t believe it: Twister. At the sight of it I'm sure my hip twinged.
Mowgli Palmer
RECLAIMING SIDCOT
Determined not to be defeated, Molly Foster staged a return to face her arch-nemesis ...
On a beautiful Thursday afternoon, me, Mungo (the photographer for this trip), Mowgli, and Victor took Lucy Chrysostomou on her first caving trip – yet another climber converted to the dark (and damp) side. After a bumpy ride up Link Lane, we began our trip with what is notoriously my absolute favourite cave of ALL time: Sidcot Swallet. On our way down we said hello to the gorgeous cave spiders, and, led by Mungo, continued through the cave. We found time for an obligatory mid-cave photoshoot whilst Mungo was tying a hand line, and I hyped myself up to confront my arch nemesis: the Lobster Pot (dun dun dunnnn) …
Left to right: Mowgli Palmer, Molly Foster, Victor Tripp, Lucy Chrysostomou , Mungo Palmer.
Climbing back down into the Pot of Doom and Despair was definitely intimidating, but armed with extreme stubbornness and filled with energy from a cheeky Sainsbury’s meal deal, I knew it was something I had to do. I managed to get down okay, without landing on Victor this time (my bad). At the bottom we explored deeper into the cave than I’d been before, and came across a species native to Sidcot, The Rubber Ducky.
Next, we encountered our greatest challenge yet, getting out of the Pot. Despite my personal vendetta against the Lobster Pot, it is a pretty interesting climb, and with Mungo helping me find the footholds I was able to get most of the way out. Having basically no arm strength whatsoever, the part I struggle with is the very last part where you have to pull yourself out without much help from your legs. At this point I did have to resort to standing on Mungo’s shoulders, which was much appreciated and allowed me to push more with my legs and, with extreme elegance and grace, drag myself out. Lobster Pot conquered!
The rest of the journey out went without a hitch, and safe to say Lucy’s first Sidcot trip went a lot better than mine (though I fear I may have set the bar quite low).
With Lucy now officially addicted to caving, we were all eager to get underground again and decided to go for a chill trip down Goatchurch: the eighth wonder of the world. Goatchurch is of course, a beautiful cave, with noteworthy landmarks including rocks, stones, and sometimes even pebbles. After a relaxing crawl through the drainpipe, which made me sincerely regret forgetting my knee pads, we had a lovely snack break in the dark and listened to some Talking Heads songs.
After we got out, the post-cave yearning for a pub hit us all hard. Devastatingly, Hunters was closed, but all was not lost as we were able to make it to the Queen Vic, for a much-deserved feast of cheesy chips and crumble.
Determined not to be defeated, Molly Foster staged a return to face her arch-nemesis ...
On a beautiful Thursday afternoon, me, Mungo (the photographer for this trip), Mowgli, and Victor took Lucy Chrysostomou on her first caving trip – yet another climber converted to the dark (and damp) side. After a bumpy ride up Link Lane, we began our trip with what is notoriously my absolute favourite cave of ALL time: Sidcot Swallet. On our way down we said hello to the gorgeous cave spiders, and, led by Mungo, continued through the cave. We found time for an obligatory mid-cave photoshoot whilst Mungo was tying a hand line, and I hyped myself up to confront my arch nemesis: the Lobster Pot (dun dun dunnnn) …
Left to right: Mowgli Palmer, Molly Foster, Victor Tripp, Lucy Chrysostomou , Mungo Palmer.
Climbing back down into the Pot of Doom and Despair was definitely intimidating, but armed with extreme stubbornness and filled with energy from a cheeky Sainsbury’s meal deal, I knew it was something I had to do. I managed to get down okay, without landing on Victor this time (my bad). At the bottom we explored deeper into the cave than I’d been before, and came across a species native to Sidcot, The Rubber Ducky.
Next, we encountered our greatest challenge yet, getting out of the Pot. Despite my personal vendetta against the Lobster Pot, it is a pretty interesting climb, and with Mungo helping me find the footholds I was able to get most of the way out. Having basically no arm strength whatsoever, the part I struggle with is the very last part where you have to pull yourself out without much help from your legs. At this point I did have to resort to standing on Mungo’s shoulders, which was much appreciated and allowed me to push more with my legs and, with extreme elegance and grace, drag myself out. Lobster Pot conquered!
The rest of the journey out went without a hitch, and safe to say Lucy’s first Sidcot trip went a lot better than mine (though I fear I may have set the bar quite low).
With Lucy now officially addicted to caving, we were all eager to get underground again and decided to go for a chill trip down Goatchurch: the eighth wonder of the world. Goatchurch is of course, a beautiful cave, with noteworthy landmarks including rocks, stones, and sometimes even pebbles. After a relaxing crawl through the drainpipe, which made me sincerely regret forgetting my knee pads, we had a lovely snack break in the dark and listened to some Talking Heads songs.
After we got out, the post-cave yearning for a pub hit us all hard. Devastatingly, Hunters was closed, but all was not lost as we were able to make it to the Queen Vic, for a much-deserved feast of cheesy chips and crumble.
Molly Foster
FOURTEEN BURRINGTON CAVES
Grace Smith and Jess Brock recently set out to conquer all 12 of the Burrington caves on the map in Mendip Underground. Despite occasionally being thwarted by bats, they succeeded, and even found two more caves along the way. This is the tale of their adventures as told by Grace ..
On a very sunny Friday morning, Jess Brock and I decided to take ourselves on a little Burrington adventure. Very excited to complete all the caves, we start driving… only to realise we'd left all our kit in stores. A quick whiz around later, we collected everything and we headed off!
We worked through the 12 Burrington caves on the map in Mendip Underground, finding two more along the way. The last four got a bit rushed (I really wanted to go out-out that evening), so we returned the following Thursday with Joshitha and Tess to do them properly!
1. Aveline’s Hole
A small cave just off the roadside, but rich in history. Having spent plenty of time with it in the Museum, I was thrilled to finally step inside. The highlight: Mesolithic X's carved into the cave wall, quietly marking the passage of thousands of years.
2. Mystery Hole No 1
We found this cave about 10m up the hill, from the road. In between Aveline’s and Foxes Hole. A little rifty cave, leading down to stagnant water. Does anyone know what its called? (See picture). Other editor's note: Yes, mystery solved, it's Trat's Crack, named after our esteemed president, Professor EK Tratman.
3. Fox’s Hole
A World War Two bunker hidden about 12m up the hillside from a bend in the road. Fox’s Hole is gated for conservation and stubbornly locked - after a bit of pondering, Jess squeezes herself between the gate and the rock, me, a bit bigger ponders more. I squeeze myself through the gate - a painful experience. We look around the room, taking a break from the sun's heat. It’s a beautiful, quiet cave and I imagine myself having to take shelter here. We then squeeze out, bruising our thighs but making it out successfully!
We later found out we had the code wrong the whole time!
4. East Twin Swallet
East Twin Swallet was beautifully easy to find - about 70m from the road, surrounded by greenery and a trickling stream. However, upon entering we were greeted with the smell of death, followed by a baby goat that had taken a fall. After a few moments spent in respect, and a few more considering whether this was a bad omen, we continued.
The cave is covered in scaffolding from previous digs. Following the streamway, we were surprised to find concreted stairs leading further down, eventually giving way to rusted pipes and more scaffolding all the way to the end of the dig. We then turned back to navigate our way to the long crawl, before heading out of the cave.
East Twin was such fun, with a great route description to follow, as there are a couple of places where you can go wrong, especially amongst the boulders. A great cave for newer cavers to do some nav practice!
5. Lionel’s Hole
Lionel’s was great fun, and very easy to find, sitting just off the side of the road. Navigating the way was very kind, following the polish most of the way! Although it had a very different personality to its opposing cave, East Twin.
... Hunger calls and it’s time for some lunch at our beloved hut.
6. Goatchurch Cavern
After a quick intermission, we made our way up to Goatchurch to knock out the three most well-known caves to UBSS freshers - Goatchurch, Pierre’s and Sidcot.
Having done Goatchurch more times than I can count, Jess and I decide to run it. Hopping over boulders on muscle memory, reached the end of the Drainpipe in just four minutes, and were back in the sun eight minutes after that.
After a quick 12 minutes underground, we are making our way to Pierre’s Pot.
7. Pierre’s Pot
This was my first time in Pierre’s, so I was very excited. Excitement quickly turned into crawling, and I found myself following Jess down vertical slots and through little holes in the floor. Once we got to the Hanging Gardens, I took the lead trying to nav us out of the maze.
8. Mystery Hole No 2
We found this hole on the way back from Pierre’s heading towards Sidcot. A squeezy little hole. Does anyone know what this is called? (See picture). Other editor's note: If it's down the slope from Pierre's then up valley towards Sidcot, it's Pseudo Nash's Hole. (So called because it's not Johnny Nash's Hole, don't ask.)
9. Sidcot Swallet
Sidcot - a beloved favourite. I wish we had more time, but the clock's ticking and I am going out tonight. We run through the cave and another ten minutes later are resurfacing from the classic squeezy fresher rite of passage.
10. Bath Swallet
Bath Swallet was a great cave, with smooth, polished nav. Jess rigged the first pit and we headed down - in particularly dry conditions! We went through the whole cave, trying to commit the route to memory. We reach the main chamber and plan to climb out through Rod’s Pot.
11. Rod’s Pot
After some very fun climbs and a squeezy rift out we find ourselves emerging covered in mud - always a good sign.
12. Drunkard's Hole
Drunkard's was a fun hole. However, once we squeezed ourselves down through the rift and down the climb, just as we reached the ladder climb, we ushered ourselves back out, not wanting to disturb the bats sleeping peacefully.
13. Bos Swallet
Bos Swallet was great fun. And pushing the tackle sack back up the mud was just as fun. We slid down, squeezing through with our SRT kits still on (possibly a mistake), we get to the first pitch, and once again two cute little bats hang peacefully next to the bolts. Impossible not to disturb them, so we head back out - we will return in summer!
14. Read’s Cavern
Read’s Cavern I love you. Or more so, I love your rope swing. Read’s Cavern is a peaceful big cave, as you walk through the forest you are greeted by a rope swing, remnants of an old bonfire and birdsong. Following the stream down, you enter a big, tall cavern with two passages leading onwards. Perfect
Grace Smith and Jess Brock recently set out to conquer all 12 of the Burrington caves on the map in Mendip Underground. Despite occasionally being thwarted by bats, they succeeded, and even found two more caves along the way. This is the tale of their adventures as told by Grace ..
On a very sunny Friday morning, Jess Brock and I decided to take ourselves on a little Burrington adventure. Very excited to complete all the caves, we start driving… only to realise we'd left all our kit in stores. A quick whiz around later, we collected everything and we headed off!
We worked through the 12 Burrington caves on the map in Mendip Underground, finding two more along the way. The last four got a bit rushed (I really wanted to go out-out that evening), so we returned the following Thursday with Joshitha and Tess to do them properly!
1. Aveline’s Hole
A small cave just off the roadside, but rich in history. Having spent plenty of time with it in the Museum, I was thrilled to finally step inside. The highlight: Mesolithic X's carved into the cave wall, quietly marking the passage of thousands of years.
2. Mystery Hole No 1
We found this cave about 10m up the hill, from the road. In between Aveline’s and Foxes Hole. A little rifty cave, leading down to stagnant water. Does anyone know what its called? (See picture). Other editor's note: Yes, mystery solved, it's Trat's Crack, named after our esteemed president, Professor EK Tratman.
3. Fox’s Hole
A World War Two bunker hidden about 12m up the hillside from a bend in the road. Fox’s Hole is gated for conservation and stubbornly locked - after a bit of pondering, Jess squeezes herself between the gate and the rock, me, a bit bigger ponders more. I squeeze myself through the gate - a painful experience. We look around the room, taking a break from the sun's heat. It’s a beautiful, quiet cave and I imagine myself having to take shelter here. We then squeeze out, bruising our thighs but making it out successfully!
We later found out we had the code wrong the whole time!
4. East Twin Swallet
East Twin Swallet was beautifully easy to find - about 70m from the road, surrounded by greenery and a trickling stream. However, upon entering we were greeted with the smell of death, followed by a baby goat that had taken a fall. After a few moments spent in respect, and a few more considering whether this was a bad omen, we continued.
The cave is covered in scaffolding from previous digs. Following the streamway, we were surprised to find concreted stairs leading further down, eventually giving way to rusted pipes and more scaffolding all the way to the end of the dig. We then turned back to navigate our way to the long crawl, before heading out of the cave.
East Twin was such fun, with a great route description to follow, as there are a couple of places where you can go wrong, especially amongst the boulders. A great cave for newer cavers to do some nav practice!
5. Lionel’s Hole
Lionel’s was great fun, and very easy to find, sitting just off the side of the road. Navigating the way was very kind, following the polish most of the way! Although it had a very different personality to its opposing cave, East Twin.
... Hunger calls and it’s time for some lunch at our beloved hut.
6. Goatchurch Cavern
After a quick intermission, we made our way up to Goatchurch to knock out the three most well-known caves to UBSS freshers - Goatchurch, Pierre’s and Sidcot.
Having done Goatchurch more times than I can count, Jess and I decide to run it. Hopping over boulders on muscle memory, reached the end of the Drainpipe in just four minutes, and were back in the sun eight minutes after that.
After a quick 12 minutes underground, we are making our way to Pierre’s Pot.
7. Pierre’s Pot
This was my first time in Pierre’s, so I was very excited. Excitement quickly turned into crawling, and I found myself following Jess down vertical slots and through little holes in the floor. Once we got to the Hanging Gardens, I took the lead trying to nav us out of the maze.
8. Mystery Hole No 2
We found this hole on the way back from Pierre’s heading towards Sidcot. A squeezy little hole. Does anyone know what this is called? (See picture). Other editor's note: If it's down the slope from Pierre's then up valley towards Sidcot, it's Pseudo Nash's Hole. (So called because it's not Johnny Nash's Hole, don't ask.)
9. Sidcot Swallet
Sidcot - a beloved favourite. I wish we had more time, but the clock's ticking and I am going out tonight. We run through the cave and another ten minutes later are resurfacing from the classic squeezy fresher rite of passage.
10. Bath Swallet
Bath Swallet was a great cave, with smooth, polished nav. Jess rigged the first pit and we headed down - in particularly dry conditions! We went through the whole cave, trying to commit the route to memory. We reach the main chamber and plan to climb out through Rod’s Pot.
11. Rod’s Pot
After some very fun climbs and a squeezy rift out we find ourselves emerging covered in mud - always a good sign.
12. Drunkard's Hole
Drunkard's was a fun hole. However, once we squeezed ourselves down through the rift and down the climb, just as we reached the ladder climb, we ushered ourselves back out, not wanting to disturb the bats sleeping peacefully.
13. Bos Swallet
Bos Swallet was great fun. And pushing the tackle sack back up the mud was just as fun. We slid down, squeezing through with our SRT kits still on (possibly a mistake), we get to the first pitch, and once again two cute little bats hang peacefully next to the bolts. Impossible not to disturb them, so we head back out - we will return in summer!
14. Read’s Cavern
Read’s Cavern I love you. Or more so, I love your rope swing. Read’s Cavern is a peaceful big cave, as you walk through the forest you are greeted by a rope swing, remnants of an old bonfire and birdsong. Following the stream down, you enter a big, tall cavern with two passages leading onwards. Perfect
Grace Smith
AGGY GRAND CIRCLE: PART 1 – THE PRELUDE
Left to right: Joshitha Sivakumar, Grace Smith, Tess Hopes. Photo by Jess Brock.
Joshitha Sivakumar recently set out with Jess Brock, Tess Hopes and Grace Smith to tackle a classic Welsh trip, and this is her tale of their adventures ..
.
Well, the original plan was indeed to do the Grand Circle in Agen Allwedd, however, three out of four members of the party were extremely hungover (and completely delusional) at 9am after an excellent party at Emily’s the night before. With five hours of sleep and still a little intoxicated from the heavy drinking, we decide perhaps the Grand Circle would be an ambitious undertaking for today.
The walk to the cave was like a fairytale, A generous sun lit the Welsh valleys into something almost unbearable in their beauty with the cliffs sweeping beside us. I open the cave entrance and immediately hear crawling. Another crew of diggers were making the infamous Aggy-Daren connection. We sign into the log book and Tess leads the way through the entrance series, all of us subtly making note of how well polished the rocks there were.
The plan (if you could call it a plan) was to do as much of Grand Circle as we felt like, turn back and head to the Music Room on the way out. This way when we do return to complete the trip after Easter, we will be quicker with navigation. After the entrance series we drop into the main passage, which is a big, airy passageway that continues for some time until we reach a junction with ‘the steps’ on the left and the right side of the main passage falls away into a boulder choke. This is where the Circle essentially begins, so on the way out, we would be coming back up this boulder choke. We went to have a poke around to note this route as we'd been told it can be difficult to spot the way out of the streamway and back into main passage.
Left to right: Tess Hopes, Jess Brock, Joshitha Shivkumar. Photo by Grace Smith.
We then returned and took the steps up to get into Southern Streamway. We ended up doing a good part of Southern Streamway and turned back as we were still quite far away from Waterfall Chamber. Southern Streamway is a very long passage, mostly crawling or stooping, that goes back and forth between a low stream and some dry bits, so progress is generally slower here. It was a shame we didn’t make it to the part where the passage opens up and the cave’s character turns more fun, but more to be excited for when we return to complete our quest. Given that Grace, Tess and I were running on five hours of sleep I think we managed to do a decent trip in surprisingly good form, and most importantly, did a lot of giggling and took fun photos. Grace and I decided the most appropriate use of a tackle sack would be to bring a mini egg into the cave, fitting the theme of Easter on the horizon. Thanks to Jess’s dry bags, the egg was in tip-top condition. We named her Egguina Egglouise.
Left to right: Jess Brock, Joshitha Shivkumar, Tess Hopes.
Overall, we had a successful bimble. Aggy Grand Circle had been on my list for about a year now and this trip has certainly made all of us keen to go back. It also felt way more intimidating to tackle an eight-hour trip with none of us having done it before and for two of the four of us it was our first time in Aggy altogether. We’ve taken an oath to not be hungover when we do circle back to this one.
To be continued ...
Left to right: Joshitha Sivakumar, Grace Smith, Tess Hopes. Photo by Jess Brock.
Joshitha Sivakumar recently set out with Jess Brock, Tess Hopes and Grace Smith to tackle a classic Welsh trip, and this is her tale of their adventures ..
.
Well, the original plan was indeed to do the Grand Circle in Agen Allwedd, however, three out of four members of the party were extremely hungover (and completely delusional) at 9am after an excellent party at Emily’s the night before. With five hours of sleep and still a little intoxicated from the heavy drinking, we decide perhaps the Grand Circle would be an ambitious undertaking for today.
The walk to the cave was like a fairytale, A generous sun lit the Welsh valleys into something almost unbearable in their beauty with the cliffs sweeping beside us. I open the cave entrance and immediately hear crawling. Another crew of diggers were making the infamous Aggy-Daren connection. We sign into the log book and Tess leads the way through the entrance series, all of us subtly making note of how well polished the rocks there were.
The plan (if you could call it a plan) was to do as much of Grand Circle as we felt like, turn back and head to the Music Room on the way out. This way when we do return to complete the trip after Easter, we will be quicker with navigation. After the entrance series we drop into the main passage, which is a big, airy passageway that continues for some time until we reach a junction with ‘the steps’ on the left and the right side of the main passage falls away into a boulder choke. This is where the Circle essentially begins, so on the way out, we would be coming back up this boulder choke. We went to have a poke around to note this route as we'd been told it can be difficult to spot the way out of the streamway and back into main passage.
Left to right: Tess Hopes, Jess Brock, Joshitha Shivkumar. Photo by Grace Smith.
We then returned and took the steps up to get into Southern Streamway. We ended up doing a good part of Southern Streamway and turned back as we were still quite far away from Waterfall Chamber. Southern Streamway is a very long passage, mostly crawling or stooping, that goes back and forth between a low stream and some dry bits, so progress is generally slower here. It was a shame we didn’t make it to the part where the passage opens up and the cave’s character turns more fun, but more to be excited for when we return to complete our quest. Given that Grace, Tess and I were running on five hours of sleep I think we managed to do a decent trip in surprisingly good form, and most importantly, did a lot of giggling and took fun photos. Grace and I decided the most appropriate use of a tackle sack would be to bring a mini egg into the cave, fitting the theme of Easter on the horizon. Thanks to Jess’s dry bags, the egg was in tip-top condition. We named her Egguina Egglouise.
Left to right: Jess Brock, Joshitha Shivkumar, Tess Hopes.
Overall, we had a successful bimble. Aggy Grand Circle had been on my list for about a year now and this trip has certainly made all of us keen to go back. It also felt way more intimidating to tackle an eight-hour trip with none of us having done it before and for two of the four of us it was our first time in Aggy altogether. We’ve taken an oath to not be hungover when we do circle back to this one.
To be continued ...
Joshitha Sivakumar
MUSEUM NEWS
March saw some conservation work on the collections, as Linda Wilson reports ...
The target of our affections this month was a collection of mammoth bones from an excavation at Whatley Quarry on Menip. These are house in the top drawer of the first cabinet on the left as you enter from the museum door. I've wanted to gie them some additional protection for a while as when the drawer is open, they all rock slightly against the wood.
So together with my friend and neighbour Jo West and Mungo Palmer, now Student Museum Curator, I set out to improve our mammoth's living conditions and retrieved from the museum store a large quantity of plastazote (museum grade polystyrene stuff) and extracted a couple of huge sheets. First we had to cut these to size the line the drawers, then we cut aa second ship to fit neatly on top. Next, we arranged the bones neatly, with their museum speciment numbers visible, drew round them in pencil, then started to exercise our craft skills cutting out the shapes. A sharp craft knife really helps, as does the ability not to leave your own fingerbones as an addition to the collection. With huge dexterity, Jo and Mungo accomplished the job without even a tiny cut!
We were really proud of the end result! There are loads more drawers that would benefit from the same treatment. and we will also be collaborating with the small museum at Wookey Hole to help them conserve/display some of their specimens.
If you would like to get involved with the work of the museum, please either email me or message me on the WhatsApp group. I know loads of you have expressed interest so I would like to set up a museum WhatsApp group.
Linda Wilson
March saw some conservation work on the collections, as Linda Wilson reports ...
The target of our affections this month was a collection of mammoth bones from an excavation at Whatley Quarry on Menip. These are house in the top drawer of the first cabinet on the left as you enter from the museum door. I've wanted to gie them some additional protection for a while as when the drawer is open, they all rock slightly against the wood.
So together with my friend and neighbour Jo West and Mungo Palmer, now Student Museum Curator, I set out to improve our mammoth's living conditions and retrieved from the museum store a large quantity of plastazote (museum grade polystyrene stuff) and extracted a couple of huge sheets. First we had to cut these to size the line the drawers, then we cut aa second ship to fit neatly on top. Next, we arranged the bones neatly, with their museum speciment numbers visible, drew round them in pencil, then started to exercise our craft skills cutting out the shapes. A sharp craft knife really helps, as does the ability not to leave your own fingerbones as an addition to the collection. With huge dexterity, Jo and Mungo accomplished the job without even a tiny cut!
We were really proud of the end result! There are loads more drawers that would benefit from the same treatment. and we will also be collaborating with the small museum at Wookey Hole to help them conserve/display some of their specimens.
If you would like to get involved with the work of the museum, please either email me or message me on the WhatsApp group. I know loads of you have expressed interest so I would like to set up a museum WhatsApp group.
Linda Wilson
FROGGY McFROGFACE MADE IT HERE! DID YOU?
Due to a proof reading mishap in our last magnum opus, the reply email contained a critical failure, but a couple of eagle-eyed readers sussed out the problem and worked around it! Thanks, Stu and Chris, we luvs you! And because we're shameless attention hogs, we've included the responses to our special International Women's Day issue as well, just to make ourselves look popular.
- Good newsletter as always. [Stuart Walker]
- A fine drawing by Elaine ... [Chris Howes]
- No stories to offer, but just wanted to say how tremendous this IWD celebration is. So many great stories. And I loved the idea of the marathon with the 23 wine stops! I eeeeeked loudly at the galloping foot rot and also the bats. And once or twice I may have had something in my eye! [Sharon Wheeler and a deeply impressed FT Bear]
- Great stories. UBSS is thriving! [Hans Friederich]
- That was an amazing tribute to some amazing women for International Women’s Day. (Though I certainly wasn’t expecting my trip down Wild Wookey to show up!) [Jan Walker]
- Great newsletter, especially liked the UBSS history lesson and appearance of Mangle Hole, brought back memories of a bat flying into me when I was trying to solder two wires together halfway up (or down if you prefer) the entrance pitch. [Steve Hobbs]
- Other, less printable reacions, included Billy Evans sharing a cursed toe photo after which chaos and fungal accusations pervaded the WhatsApp chat sparking feverish conspiracy theories about footrot and amputation suggestions, giving rise to a late night interview slot for the toe on Truth Social. However, the toe didn't like the company there, is currently seeking a new agent and has declined all offers from GB news.
Froggy McFrogFace, we love you! We'll sit in your cave and read the newsletter with you ...
THE END
Due to a proof reading mishap in our last magnum opus, the reply email contained a critical failure, but a couple of eagle-eyed readers sussed out the problem and worked around it! Thanks, Stu and Chris, we luvs you! And because we're shameless attention hogs, we've included the responses to our special International Women's Day issue as well, just to make ourselves look popular.
- Good newsletter as always. [Stuart Walker]
- A fine drawing by Elaine ... [Chris Howes]
- No stories to offer, but just wanted to say how tremendous this IWD celebration is. So many great stories. And I loved the idea of the marathon with the 23 wine stops! I eeeeeked loudly at the galloping foot rot and also the bats. And once or twice I may have had something in my eye! [Sharon Wheeler and a deeply impressed FT Bear]
- Great stories. UBSS is thriving! [Hans Friederich]
- That was an amazing tribute to some amazing women for International Women’s Day. (Though I certainly wasn’t expecting my trip down Wild Wookey to show up!) [Jan Walker]
- Great newsletter, especially liked the UBSS history lesson and appearance of Mangle Hole, brought back memories of a bat flying into me when I was trying to solder two wires together halfway up (or down if you prefer) the entrance pitch. [Steve Hobbs]
- Other, less printable reacions, included Billy Evans sharing a cursed toe photo after which chaos and fungal accusations pervaded the WhatsApp chat sparking feverish conspiracy theories about footrot and amputation suggestions, giving rise to a late night interview slot for the toe on Truth Social. However, the toe didn't like the company there, is currently seeking a new agent and has declined all offers from GB news.
Froggy McFrogFace, we love you! We'll sit in your cave and read the newsletter with you ...
THE END