Not Caving - Mostly

We went across to Mendip this weekend to visit some of our close friends in the the ISSA cave art group for their AGM meet.

As we left wales I had a sudden realization.. I had left my caving camera at home

Well at least I still had my above ground equipment with me so I could concentrate on taking pictures in the sunshine OK. Plan B looked inviting until just as we arrived in the Mendip area the clouds rolled in, it started to rain and and plan B looked a little less inviting as well

Nothing ventured as they say and we headed off to a secret location to see the site of one of the cave digs and maybe even take part. I got roped in literally as my rope and ladder were sequestered into the cause to make the diggers safe, but I (not reluctantly) stuck to the above ground support role with my camera

So I kept myself entertained with some of the excellent views you can find in a small Mendip woodland

Somewhere deep in the depths of the wood lurks an as-yet unknown to science new type of tree crawler. Well that's at least what it looked like to me when I first saw this leaf frozen to the branch of the tree.

Deep in the woodlands you find other unusual things and this is a lesser spotted Meg wandering around at the back of this picture. I have kept the depth of field short to protect the innocent

 Also with a close depth of field is a close up of the old winding gear of a cavers winch used when excavating into the bed of a stream to find out where the water was going to. It's now a bit beyond its productive life, but forms an interesting unusual feature on this nature reserve walk

I'd like to thanks Robin and Barry for arranging an excellent weekend and in particular for showing me the delights of East Twin Swallet and the major engineering works that have been done by the local cavers in trying to explore more of this cave. In particular the link to Spar Pot which has the most incredible fossils on-show and is a place I really need to go back to WITH my caving camera