Otter Hole - 24 May 2008

Saturday May 24th 2008

Members present: Andy Tricklebank,  Imogen Shepherd,  Kevin Francis,  Nicola Gover,  Richard Gover

I think Andy has summed the trip up really well so I won't repeat too much of what he's said.

Basically though an ace-amazing-fantastic-fun-pretty trip! I loved it and it made me sad to have to leave. There was far too much to look at, you just didn't know where to look! I have never seen such fantsatically pretty formations. I hope it doesn't ruin my enjoyment of other supposedly pretty formations in the future! Jumping over the beautiful crystal formations in the middle of the path was mega scary. I was really really really scared that I'd slip and break it.

The cave itself was a huge challenge and I nearly got stuck just before the sump on the way back when I got into the water too early and it was almost too narrow for a Nemo and I got trapped by my helmet for a bit and Kevin had to help by hitting my head further down into the water. Oh, I'm a numpty sometimes! The foot deep gloopy mud through the entrance series ensured I was suitably covered in the lovely brown stuff. I had to wash my hair 3 times once home until the water stopped running brown. A new record for me I think! Also arsenic in the cave, for that added death risk.

The sump was quite easy (apart from the approach on the way back!) and I really enjoyed going through it. It wasn't as deep as I was expecting it to be.

Once we'd got past the sump on the way out we had an amazing well-deserved cave picnic to give us as much energy as possible for the entrance series crawls! It tasted fantastic and it's amazing how much food you can get in a Daren Drum. Definitely the best cheese and onion roll, banana, malt loaf and nuts and raisins I've had in ages.

Also the Forest of Dean itself is beautiful and it seemed like a really peaceful place. It would be nice to explore it further. A big thank you to Pete the Warden for showing us such a fantastic place. I'm not sure I'd have been able to find my way to the cave through the confusing forest, let alone through all the crawls etc in the cave to get to the pretty bits!

Plus aubergeine curry in Chepstow was yummy. Definitely not worth gauging your eye out instead of eating.