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Caving
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Rock-Climbing      Caving      Moorland Walking      Climbing Wall       Archery      Team Challenges     Orienteering
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Devons caves, though few, are intricate and interesting, offering a fantastic taster to the sport. The Mendip Hills offer. The Caves of the Mendip Hills  with large areas of limestone worn away by water makes it a national centre for caving. The Hills conceal the largest underground river system in Britain.
 

Pridhamsleigh Cavern is a cave on the outskirts of Buckfastleigh. It is approximately 1.1 kilometers in length and reaches 60 meters in height in some passages. Pridhamsleigh is a good site for novice cavers although it is quite muddy. It has a large variety of passages which lends itself to longer explorations. Due to the nature of the connecting and non connecting overlapping passages in the cave, surveys (maps) of the cave are hard to interpret. The cave contains 'The Lake', a large elongated pool, which has been dived to discover a second chamber, with no passages leading off it. This chamber is the biggest in Devon.

 

Bakers Pit is the largest in Devon, the passages having a total length of 3.5km. The system is quite complicated in that it consists of chambers and passages at various levels. The cave is still being actively developed by a stream that runs through a part of the system and flows on to the River Dart. The cave system largely runs beneath the church and the churchyard. The cave is used by cavers for sporting purposes and access is controlled by the Devon Cave Rescue Organisation.

 

Swildon's Hole is an extensive cave in the Mendip Hills. The first recorded exploration occurred in 1901. The cave contains an active streamway, which has caused a highly varied cave system. Areas of the system range from low passages, through which cavers must crawl, to impressive chambers with sheer drops, and from dry fossil passages to thundering waterfalls and its infamous sumps.

 

Sidcot Swallet in the Mendip Hills, After Goatchurch Cavern, Sidcot Swallet is probably the most popular cave on Mendip for novice parties. What it lacks in length or depth is adequately compensated by its sporty squeezes and narrow crawls. Despite its popularity, many calcite formations still remain intact in the farthest reaches of the cave.

 

Goatchurch Cavern in the Mendip Hills is approximately 1500m and reaches a surveyed depth of 61.5m. It has a complex network of predominately dry passages and has two entrances. The cave is especially popular for beginners. This is due to its easy access and wide range of terrain

 

GB Cave is 1.95km in length and reaches a depth of 134 m. It is named after Goddard and Baker who first discovered it in 1939. GB Cave is remarkable for the Gorge, a passage large enough to contain several double-decker buses, and the main chamber which is the largest cavern amongst the Caves of the Mendip Hills.

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"The Caves"