Swildon's short dry, twenty, inclined rift, sump 1 & return via same route, normal water levels - party of 6 @JonnyC: Deciding to relive memories of "Cold dips and chilly showers - April 2015" where KC & CC successfully (albeit slowly) tackled Sump One and to push a little bit further from "What an adventure! - 9 Jul 2022" where AC took his first steps into Swildon's Hole, a trip was (eventually) organised to also give NK her first trip of this amazing cave. Due to the nature of the party, progress ...

Wet moorland walk after night in the van @AdamEvans: After a blustery, rainy night, the prospect of going out on the moors seemed rather bleak. However, we mustered the bravery to face the weather with the promise of a cafe only 3k down a decent path into Princetown. Just as well as TJ realised his boots had died on a previous trip, only at the time of deployment. After a gentle jaunt along the motorway footpath, escorted by Jimmy the black lab, we arrived in Princetown with birthday pleasantries complet ...

First joint training day to learn intra operable capabilities and network between teams @RichM: Great venue in the disused Livox quarry which offered mixed terrain including cliff, rough ground and a lake. First class catering provided by Rapid Relief Charity. Bases included water rescue from land, cliff scaling using a ladder from a boat, team building challenges, rope rescue casualty care, cave rescue (pff site Piccadilly cave) hauling up 3 pitches using Larkin frame and Z rigs. Very effective ne ...

A first trip into Swildons for the younger boys, enabled by Mr Marlow they navigated their way in via the long dry way to the top of the twenty and out via the (not so) wet way. @JonnyC: Having heard my desire to stretch Aaron and Jacobs legs a little further afield than Goatchurch, a plan swiftly ensued, and with Rich managing to collect suitable sized PPE we RVd at the WCC. A hot day and cut fields made for interesting navigation to the entrance, but we were soon welcomed by Swildons cooler clima ...

Swildon upper series - individual reflections to follow, photos to start stories

Parked at 'Blaen y Glyn Uchaf' car park. Climbed up the Breacons way to the plateux, across to Fan y Big, back across access land.

Short trip in Sludge Pit @AdamEvans: Due to time restraints for John and worse than normal lack of sleep for Rich, as well as significantly high water tables, we opted for a short, relatively dry trip down sludge put. This was John’s 3rd cave, first time underground for Adam since May’s lockdown busting adventure week, and Rich’s first time underground since 8am this morning so anticipation was high. It proved a great choice of cave from Rich, providing a chilled out reintroduction to the underground wor ...

Sunday morning paddle held some surprises… 8km, Av Speed 5.2km/h, paddling duration 1hr45, swims 0. @AdamEvans: RV at ALHQ on Saturday night for planning. After a debate around location, Axemouth was decided due to ‘flat’ sea state, despite 14mph SSW wind forecast. A private showing of the full T2T video added anticipation for the paddle to come. AE was lazy and couldn’t get out of bed despite being provided with tea … after RJM handed over on call, it was all go and prep began to head south in time f ...

A Wednesday evening trip to Pierre's Pot, nice explore hunting for the bypass. @JonnyC: Grateful to be invited out with the Wednesday crew, especially to a long awaited tick off of Pierre's Pot. We collectively aimed to find the bypass, albeit others focused more on route finding whilst I was distracted capturing some clips. We found a likely contender for the bypass, but not a route that looked inviting without route confirmation, thus a return is necessitated. Glad to visit Pierres, but also ...

A nice little socially distanced Sunday stroll around Shipham to have some face to face time with Rich to adapt plans for May. @RichM: 5.3km with a 187m height gain. Great walk in Great company