David Cooke, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Seán Tidey, Will Puddy, Yvette Mayo

The six of us, Seán, Lawrence, Will, Peter, Cookie & Yvette met on Priddy Green at around 7pm and after changing and discussing where to go got to the cave entrance around 7.20pm. Water levels looked to be just perfect, enough to have / make it fun. We decided to stick as one team and head down to the sump to check out the dig that is currently trying to connect Swildon’s One with the Black Hole Series. We all headed, fairly swiftly and uneventfully to the 20’ where we had a 5 minute wait while a group of three from UBSS came up the pitch and derigged. Seán the rigged and we took turns in belaying each other down. The newly qualified Yvette belaying the last member, Cookie from the bottom. From the bottom of the 20’ we followed the stream way straight to the sump, some members of the team trying to stay dry and out of the water, others committing and just getting in. We found the dig with the stream from Black Hole flowing out of it on the right about 5m before the sump. Most of us had a crawl to the end, about 8m and decided we would stick to Sludge Pit! Looking at the survey and how close these two parts are there is the potential for a great round trip! We continued the few meters to the sump which Seán and Will went through but no further. The whole team then turned round and stared upstream. Will and Seán went via the beautiful (and harder to do going upstream) Barnes’ Loop and then we again belayed each other up the 20’ so everyone got to do some rope work. After packing the bag it was all up the Wet Way and out of the cave by 9.20pm. Six people to the sump and back in two hours without rushing, not bad. As always a fantastic trip enjoyed by all! Seán, Lawrence, Will & Cookie adjourned to a very bust Hunters.

— Seán Tidey 26/10/2023