Read’s Cavern - Wed 25 Jan 2023
Andy Sparrow, David Cooke, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Rich Nurse, Will Puddy, Rachel Sparrow, Tim Gouge, James Howarth
Drove through fog to the Burrington Inn where we parked and changed before climbing into Tim’s minibus for the drive up to the cave. After a 5 minute walk we arrived at the entrance. Here we split into two groups, Andy, Cookie, Rachel and I followed the rest at a more relaxed pace into the impressive Main Chamber where lots of bats were hibernating.
Having walked across the chamber we got going on Zed Alley, effectively a large boulder ruckle with lots of squeezes, climbs and dead ends. Thankfully after a while we found the guideline and followed it down, sadly it had been moved and lead us to a dead end! Retracing our steps we soon found the correct way on, rerouted the line and continued to the top of Splash Pot.
Cookie went first but just as he got to the bottom the other group emerged from the tight squeeze having gone through the Windpipe to visit the stream way and Browne-Stewart series. So we all turned around and made our way back to the Main Chamber, here we had a look around before exiting the cave into a beautiful starlit night. With only a minor diversion we all got back to the minibus just as some Wessex members were leaving having been down Rods Pot.
A nice little cave with plenty of challenges, due to the vast amount of fossils protruding from the walls it remains a sharp suit shredder. Debriefed at the Woodborough.
— Lawrence Wilson 26/01/2023
