I fancied an evening trip on the Euro-Speleo ropes and as I had done pretty much everything before or the trip would be too long for an evening trip, I settled on a quick trip down Simpsons and out Swinsto as I have never been out that way before.

I got there at about half 6 and fought my way up through the ferns that often towered above my head, probably the hardest part of the trip! Once at the top and I got my breath back I headed down Simpsons and was soon at the bottom after about 45 minutes, 5 minutes of that was me figuring out how to get through the slit. Best way I found was to climb up about 2 feet, thread my stop tight and lock off. I then Swung through here as it’s possible to fit at this height, floor level is just too tight at least for me it was, my hips with my harness on would not go through.

Coming up Swinsto I passed a few people coming down and was forced to wait about 10 minutes on the ledge of the “big pitch”. Some bugger had de-rigged the devi so on the top half I was in the full force of the water. However, thankfully due to the Berger fitness I guess, my current prussicing speed meant I was only in the water for a minute or two.

From then onwards it was wet but steady progress out to the surface where I emerged in the fading light of the full moon. As the trip had been far quicker than I anticipated I popped into Euro-Speleo for a pint on the way home.

Trip time 2 hours.