Now here's the problem of not updating one's caving log immediately...
Last Saturday I went caving. I'm quite sure on this point - I distinctly remember sitting in the hut and talking about it and oh... the great ladders of fear.
Yep. Can't forget *that* one.

So, Eastwater cavern, 13 pots. Rich, Jude, Geoff, Clive Westlake (who is 67, and a fitter, harder, and more active caver than I'll ever be) and I.

( Read more... )

Lionel's Hole was the cave of choice on Wednesday evening - went with Rich, Anton (Darthnoddy), Andy and Fi. Much as I remembered it, in that I didn't recognise everything and there was a duck. (Not a real duck, more a muddy puddle, really).
Next time, it's exploring Horofice 1, I think. Fi and Rich went back last night to go to the end.

Rest of the group went down Pierre's Pot (Jude, Ade, Geoff, Stu, Jonathan, Niknak)- Stu gave Jonathan a lesson in traversing, and then we sat in Mad Bev's Cafe in Burrington in the back room whilst a group of oldies had their Christmas dinner and sang songs out the front.

dum de dum, I've been caving...
( Swildons to Sidcot U-tube )

Didn't cave last wednesday - exhausted.

( Manor Farm Swallet )

Nice trip - Fi took Adam down the dry easy way to Sump 2 and reports that he's 'very fit.' Wondered if she should be saying that with Stu just beyond the sump :-)
Rich, Jude, Andy went the long dry way (I think). Geoff, Charlotte, Stu and I went the Wet way. And I've no idea where Bean and Adrian went - Bean's one of those who does sump 1 in 20 mins, and seems to float down, free climbing the 20' and all.
We all met up and passed at various points - the ladder of course, and down at sump 1. Charlotte Stu and I went through just for the sake of it. It's deeper and I ended up going through on my back. Apparently after the floods in '68 you could walk through. And as we played the 'don't touch the water' challenge for most of the passageway between the 20' and Sump one, we were overtaken by just about everybody.
Came out the Wet Way too. Jude's selling me her wetsuit, which is fantastic. And Geoff's given Charlotte his old lid - we be proper cavers now (and proper Wessex members too after Sunday's meeting.)

Well, that was nice - never been there before. Went with usual suspects - Jude, Adrian, Geoff, Rich, Charlotte, Stu, Fi and new guy called Andy. Getting too many of us Wed night cavers now, so next week we'll probably do a two parter down Swildons.
Geoff removed the bung for us so it was nice and full of water - I balked at the canal/duck (I'm *sure* it's the cold hitting me that causes that panic feeling) but it was no problem at all when following people. Makes me glad Jesus asks us to follow him, he doesn't just push us out in front...
Down to bottom, right to end with Fi, one at a time: it gets narrower and narrower and more and more full of water (somehow neither 'shallower' nor 'deeper' describes that adequately) and then you get to a point where you think - if I keep going, I can't get back. So you peer at the little eyelet and stop.
Coming out, Ade had put the bungs in and it was a different cave. And not as interesting. And we made it to the pub by ten past 9 (doubt we were underground more than an hour, hour and a half.)

Last week, Jonathan said he wouldn't mind caving 'occasionally but didn't want to be a hard caver'. But this week he was back underground, and next week only depends on his project - think we've got him hooked. Adam came too, and really enjoyed it - so he owes me a climbing trip now. Rest of party was Jude, Adrian, Pauline, Stu, Geoff, Charlotte, Fi (in two groups, of course).

Back to GB - the largest cave in Britain, or so they tell me. Hadn't ever realised before that the Gorge (where I have been) isn't as big as the Main Chamber (where I haven't been). Went in through Devil's Elbow, came down the pitch on a flying angel (oh, one day I will do that for real, rather than just a rope round my back, under my arms, used as a brake.) Just before the main cavern I found a silly little hole, which Stu said I would never get through, and bet me a months wages. Digging is allowed, so one day I'm going back and getting through there. Down to landing, round and out, ended up in the Hunters for a drink.
All good.

My computer at home is no longer working (story of my life huh?) which means I'm updating at the office now (at least, that's my excuse for my lack of regular weekly posts and I'm sticking to it.)

So since I last posted I have been caving (of course), had an exciting weekend away with Eutychus, my youth group, seen my old friend Andrew and even started to get my work life sorted out a bit.

In order then:
Caving. ( Read more... )

Eutychus Weekend Away( Read more... )

Seeing Andrew( Read more... )

Work: ( Read more... )

Caving Last Wed: Went down Swildon's, Sump 2 and back. *Most* impressed by Charlotte - her second ever trip. It's a long way out when you are tired...

Cat-traps: Today I have been mostly catching feral cats. About a month ago we had a note put through our door - a neighbour had found a small black cat and kittens in their shed, and wondered whose they were. A few weeks later, the family appeared in our back garden, so I phoned the neighbour, and we decided they were strays.

Time went by - the kittens grew up, and eventually the whole family was walking in Monty's catflap to eat his food whenever they felt like it. The mother is aggressive, and will come in to attack Monty when he's sleeping. None of them will bear you getting anywhere near though.

Monty got to the stage where he was too scared to go out into the back garden, so we blocked the catflap, got out the litter tray again and phoned the local RSPCA. Who said phone the cats home. Who said phone the national RSPCA. Who once we got through their insane message system and talked to someone (on the fourth call) told us to phone the Cat Protection League. Who told us to call the Bristol Cat Protection League. Who have an answering machine and said 'leave a message'.

Amazingly they did get back to us, and agreed to provide us with a cat trap, pay for the mother to be neutured, and rehome the kittens. Hooray!

Last week, the cat trap arrived - I set it out, with food, and every cat in the neighbourhood turned up. I didn't catch the mother, but did catch another scraggy black female stray. She was spayed last week.

Today I tried again, and caught all three kittens (one by one) and the mother (hooray!). Luckily Monty's out playing in the traffic so he doesn't know his house is overrun with his arch enemies. They are sitting meowing in cages downstairs, atm... the Cat Protection League should get in contact about picking up the kits, and I haev to drop the mother off to the vets before 6.30.
So if you want a tabby or black feral kitten, who is completely scared of humans, scruffy, smelly, and probably has fleas and worms and other nasty cat diseases, then get in touch asap.

( Caving update )


Other than adventures underground, I've been rather busy at church. Word Plus (a systematic theology course for everyone) started on Sat - we've got 100 people signed up, which is great. Stu and Graham took the first day on the Old Testament - my resounding memory will be of the line of kings, each one remaining standing if he was a good king or sitting down if 'He did evil in the sight of the Lord'. Which was most of them.

Been socialising a lot too (which is nice) - even spontanously once! Not bad for a woman who knows what she's doing every weekend between now and January...

Oh, and I've had my hair chopped off. Went home and saw Mum and Rozi for Rozi's birthday, and htey paid for me to get my hair restyled. So I've lost about a foot, and it's gone to shoulder length (much more sensible for caving). Hadi (the Somalian boy I tutor) didn't recognise me but everyone else thinks it was A Good Thing. If you're lucky I may even find a photo...

Maybe I'm going to have to start posting twice a week, otherwise all my entries will be caving-related from this point.

On Wednesday I went down North Hill Swallet, with the hospitable Jude, Stu and Graham. It was a nice little crawl - went to the bottom, rather grateful for the cold which prevented me from smelling the supposedly foul mud at the end. (The guys up the hut refrained from flushing the loos to make the cess pit overflow, which was kind of them too).
Up a going-nowhere side passage, I decided to see if I could get through a hole which Jude and sensibly refused on the basis that her helmet diidn't fit through, Graham as a 6ft something hadn't even attempted, and Stu couldn't get his chest through. After a bit of effort (and removing my own helmet) I succeeded - and there was even room on the other side to sit up and turn around in. Nice, and necessary as there was no way on.
Getting out was an awful lot harder than getting in - bending at a funny angle, lack of places to kick off from, difficulty of wedging my pelvis up three einches to get to the 'slightly wider' bit, and I was tired.Still, Stu didn't seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere (thankfully) and after it occurred to me that perhaps I could pray, I finally managed to get out. If it's new, I'll name it 'God who hears me' hole. (Being female, naming parts of caves after oneself can only be interpreted wrongly).

I went wandering with Albert on Thursday, to meet and chat to homeless guys around St Pauls. Before we went we prayed, and as we were praying for a guy we know who has recently made a commitment to Christ, and now needs to come out of his alcohol addiction, I was reminded of my trip down North Hill. Getting into that hole took effort, and time - but getting out was so much harder, and there was a point I didn't know how or if I would (just about when Stu said he knew of two cavers who'd died through being stuck, if I recall correctly). And for this friend of ours I think it will be like that - he's made choices and gone a down a path for a long time, and getting out again will be tough.


My second topic is an altogether pleasant one - my little sister is engaged! I'm very glad, and it will be either the last weekend of July or the first weekend of August next year. And she's asked me to be a bridesmaid! (my first time). So that's pretty exciting too. Oh, and for those of you who know her, it's my sister Sarah (I have many) and she's marrying Mark.

Ah it's all good. Went down to the hut yest morning, ably demonstrating my navigational skills by failing to leave Bristol on the A37 and consequently going the long way round. Got to hut, met up with Jude and Adrian who were persuading their friend Helen that Eastwater Cavern was a nice cave, really it is.

I don't have particularly *bad* memories of it - which is a fair assessment. We did the round trip at the top - Upper traverse, Hallelulujah Hole, came back through Boulder chamber and Woggle press (where rumour has it a scout got stuck and died once), found the string and exited. Hour and a half all told, dry, squeezey, and better than a trip to the gym.

In the afternoon Jude and I went down Swildon's to bring back some diving gear. What I remember as a pleasant enough bimble, especially going the short dry easy way, turned out to be hard work. I got tired on the way back, didn't even bother climing round the first of the two pots (there or back coz water was shallow anyway). And I freaked at Sump One - body hit the water and I just couldn't do it. Still, I'll be back - another time. And I forgot the climbing protocol.

On the other hand, it was like going home. My arms and feet and knees remembered the rocks and the best way round, even when I didn't. And I climbed the 20 better than I ever have before. And for someone who hasn't been underground in 4 years, two trips in one day isn't too bad.

Rounded off the day with hamandpasta at The Hunters, and sneaked in to the Cave Divers Group slide show on 'Caving beyond the sump'. I still think *that's* mad though.