Jonny, Oliver and Phoebe all had their first adventure into Otter Hole; this trip was led by Joel. The 30-minute walk from the car park took us south off the hillside and into the Wye floodplain, which we followed for a short while until we reached the cave's entrance. Here, we kitted up ready for our over-tide trip, making sure we took a 'before' photo with all of our clean(ish) kit! Oliver had just bought some new caving gear being a new member, not least a new PVC oversuit which was sure never to look the same again after a trip into Otter!
After climbing up an iron ladder and through the proceeding streamway passages, we were well beyond the tidal sump. It was a tiring round-trip to reach the further chambers, but anyone who has experienced the awe-inspiring beauty of these chambers knows it is well worth the journey. Frequent decorations of long soda straws hinted at what was ahead, the first impressive chamber being the Hall of the Thirty – huge and abundant adornments of stalagmites and stalactites create a chamber like no other. This cave had almost every calcite formation imaginable – helictites, popcorn, curtains and columns were all abundant. Other notable chambers included Long Straw Chamber; we carried on for a further 20 minutes until we turned around and headed back for the entrance, now the tide was receding.
On the return trip, our tiredness showed at
this point, with Phoebe losing not one but both wellies in the thick estuary
mud of the tidal sump - luckily these were both retrieved! Upon reaching the
exit, we took a complimentary 'after' photo after our 9-hour trip, with Jonny's
looking a little worse for wear at this point.
Report by: Oliver
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