Swildon’s Hole

Team: Scott, Tom, Sophie, James and Ami (with guest appearance by Jerome)

Day one in the Mendips so it had to be the classic.

After journeying down in Storm Amy’s torrential downpour, I was worried Swildon’s might be too wet for the day’s plan. But apparently Somerset doesn’t work like that – with such a huge flood basin and a dry summer, Swildon’s was about the driest I’ve ever seen it. The wind however was really trying to finish off the long-sick Ash tree at the entrance.

In we went and straight down the Short Wet Way, through the various chambers to the main streamway. It’s a pleasure showing people this cave, as it is easy to forget how beautiful it is when you’re just trying to make it beyond the 20. Lots of appreciative noises echoed around the formations.

Scott’s expertise helped me rig the 20 (requires an 8 metre ladder climb or a totally disgusting free climb) with a life line for all and we were back to all the fun of Swildon’s – scrambling, sliding and getting soggy through various pots and water falls.

Taking the higher route we soon reached Sump 1. Despite having been through goodness-knows how many times, I still made James take the lead. But once he’d bravely taken the plunge, we all followed on with no issues, to see the various stolen road signs on the other side that show you the way on.

Today we opted for the Approach Passage round – an old favourite of mine and Jerome’s. The character of the cave changes completely beyond Sump 1 – and we set the team off up to the leap in to approach passage. This is a bit of a bold step, but what really makes it is that that step is in to an uphill mudslide. Thankfully these days there is an in situ rope to assist, but it highlights why we don’t go round this route the other way – ending with a downhill slide straight over a massive drop.

Approach Passage is a narrow and extremely muddy uphill crawl, followed by some downhill slides (cries of ‘Weeeeee’ from James). There’s some fun and challenging drops beyond to get you back down to the original sump level, and I think the whole team thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps next time we should go on to Blue Pencil.

Back up with a few variations, including the Rift, the Long Dry route and the Zig Zags. No exit through the tree as it really was trying to come down in the wind. James and Jerome even tried to give it a hand, but it is still clinging on.

Back to the hut for a hot shower, an incredible goat curry by James and a trip to the Hunters for a pint. The day was finished in style by some very fancy late-night cheese crumpets which were produced in their droves by Courtney and Monica. Team Wessex certainly treated us.