Andrew Chamberlain, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Richard Nurse, Seán Tidey, Will Puddy, Yvette Jordan

Just about managed to park on a very crowded green, thought there must be lots of people down the cave, at the entrance found that somebody has “scattered” ashes down the entrance, around the tree and in the pond. Impossible to avoid it all. Note to self don’t scatter ashes when the stream is dry!

Took various routes down to the top of the Twenty, meeting a party of Mendip Outdoor instructors on the way, that would explain all the cars then. Rigged and descended the pitch and off we went down stream.

After a brief look at Tratman’s Temple we continued through Balch’s Forbidden Grotto and a water filled squeeze into St Paul’s Grotto. A brief wrong turn was looked at before Richard came back and put us on the right track. A nice phreatic passage was followed up and down to the impressive bailing engineering at the Mud Sump which was totally dry. Not far ahead Shatter Pot was reached.

Returned via the same route, emerging through the ashes at 22:10.

A sporting trip that got us to the heart of the fossil network, much talk in the Hunters afterwards of other trips that lead off from here.

— Lawrence