Scouts go Caving

On the weekend starting 15th February 2008, 10 Scouts from 12th Chichester, 2 from Birdham and 5 leaders went to Somerset to go Caving in the Mendips under the direction of the West Sussex Scouts Caving Team from Horsham.

Saturday saw the Scouts being split into three groups to assess their skills down the "dry" caves of Burrington Coombe, including Rods' Pot, Goatchurch and Sidcott. We even had time at the end of the day to go swimming at the local leisure centre where we were staying.

On Sunday the groups were slightly re-arranged to tackle different parts of Swildon's Hole, one of the most popular caving systems in the Mendips. The "easy going" group went into the "Upper Series", whilst the second and third groups followed the water course down to the "Twenty Foot Pot" (a waterfall that required a climb down and up by metal ladder) and "Double Pots". The fastest group then continued on to "Sump 1" where Alice, Sam, Andrew and Tony (SL) successfully negotiated the one metre underwater section before returning.

A great weekend was had by everyone (including adults) with all Scouts demonstrating "Courage in all difficulties" by accepting the challenges put to them.