Shattered on a Saturday

Mark had been invited back to Shatter Cave by Kermit to take a few more photos, so we arranged to meet up at 2pm at the Fairy Caves Quarry. We left Stratford, with Keith, about half 9 to make sure we could fit in a decent brunch on the way. A lie in, on a caving Saturday!!  Unfortunately the traffic through Bristol was heavy and as we approached Mendipshire we realised that the Priddy Good Farm Shop would not be serving breakfast when we arrived, so we were forced to stop en route at a garden centre caff.

We met up with Kermit and were introduced to his friend John who would be our ‘leader for the day’. If you’ve been into Shatter you’ll know that even I would struggle to get lost, so 2 leaders was possibly overkill, but he was very pleasant and came in useful for holding Mark’s flashguns.  As I hadn’t been in before, Kermit and I went ahead so he could show me the whole cave while Mark and Keith were setting up shots in the main chambers.

Suffice to say I was very impressed with the formations in Shatter, you really don’t know where to look first, and many are both large and pure white, such as the Angel Wing at the far reaches of the cave. After a whistle-stop tour, Kermit and I joined the others back at Tor Chamber where we posed for photos and a short piece of video on the way out.

A very pleasant hour was spent chatting to Kermit and John in the Queen Vic before they had to leave. It was unusual to feel so relaxed and not tired at all on a Saturday, almost like cheating, but the next day more than made up for it…

Jess in Tor Chamber

Trip report: Jess Burkey

Present: Mark Burkey, Jess Burkey, Keith Edwards and our leaders Kermit and John.