Most of the others set out on a rescue practice on Saturday to Lionels Hole - unfortunately, when they got there, the cave was too busy to carry out a rescue attempt, so they went to rescue someone from another cave instead! I, on the other hand, had an invite to do TWO caves that I'd never been down - Rod's & Goatchurch! Not much can be said about these that hasn't been said many times before. I've never known a cave quite so well polished!

On our return, we discovered a bonfire had been found. There had been suggestions of using a little green hut, but I don't know where we'd have found one of those...! The bonfire do came & went - no body-burning contests; no "who's got the biggest hotdog?" contest and no exploding dogs - very quiet, compared with previous years. The barrel of beer came & went also, along with several gallons of chilli and half a dozen Aubergines (thankfully, these were not to resurrect Chris' Berger Pickle!)

But it was Sunday that was to be the caving highlight of the weekend for me. I had come to Mendip on a promise. The 'promise' was a trip down Charterhouse Cave, after 8 years of trying in vain to get a leader. Things had become a little desperate in recent years - the only person qualified to lead a trip into the cave was now too fat to get in the cave (mentioning no names!) - but, having gained two more team members in the form of Kenny & Karen, we set off with Chrissy Price to Charterhouse.

It was pretty dismal when we arrived at the parking area - I've always hated getting changed in the rain - but Chrissy assured me that it wouldn't be raining in the cave. Little did she know...

The rather small entrance led past a wheelbarrow (!) down a dubious-looking boulder choke into one of the best decorated caves I've ever had the chance to go down. The best sections being in the Citadel - with it's unique 'custard pie' formations. Below this chamber, however, a flat out crawl in the calcite-enveloped sttreamway led up into an amazing grotto of straws and helictites, better than any other I have seen. It's not easy to describe such a cave - from start to finish it contains an amazing array of pristine formations.

Back near the entrance, Chrissy was soon to learn her lesson. The rift narrowed to a point where my head was facing sideways - and I knew that I should start climbing up somewhere near this point. "Where does the climb start?", I asked Chrissy.

"I can't see," came the reply. "I'm stuck under a waterfall!" After a while discussing the dryness of Mendip caves, I climbed the rift, so letting CP find a more comfortable waiting place!

Back at the car park, the rain had stopped but the car was surrounded with mud. "There's got to be a good way of doing this", I said, trying to find a clean place to get changed.

"I suggest we get naked as quickly as possible", came Chrissy's reply!

It's difficult to find a suitable answer for that one in this sort of situation!

Thanks, Chrissy, for an excellent trip - it was worth the eight year wait!

Kev

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