This was the day we were visiting Cheddar Caves,

seven of us there were, the bravest of the brave,

we crowded into a hut where into boiler suits we changed,

and then, as we set off with people looking at us strange,

a child asked his mum if we were looking for the crystal,

I didn't like to tell him that we were just a group from Bristol

None of us had a clue what would be in store,

which turned out to be much crawling along the floor,

the temperature around us was unnaturally warm,

the show caves hot lights making it far from the norm

Deep into the caves at Cheddar we went,

and shortly after we made a 40ft descent,

down a ladder and attached to a rope,

which would stop us falling...or so we all hoped,

when we reached the bottom, we each yelled out "Clear!",

and then praised ourselves with a little mental cheer

Through several tight spaces all of us did crawl,

with some of them seeming impossibly small,

occasionally having to wriggle on our bellies,

showing the person behind a set of green wellies

We then came upon a short angled ledge,

with a rather worrying drop over its edge,

we were clipped in turn onto a length of steel rope,

just in case we slipped off the precarious slope,

we then had to slide over a horizontal ladder,

I hoped anyone didn't have cause to empty their bladder

Later on we were asked to turn off our lights,

to show what it would be like without our sight,

we then had to crawl forward in the black,

with a single voice keeping us all on track

I can't go on without mentioning our guide

who was always reassuring and at our side

full of humour and always jolly

and sometimes acting a bit of a wally

lots of humour was just what we desired

to keep our courage up to the levels required

After one and a half hours, our quest came to a close,

we turned off our lamps, extinguishing their glows,

then after changing and washing, we walked down to the pub,

to fill ourselves up with some well deserved grub

This is an experience of which we should be proud,

I'm glad to be part of such a great crowd,

maybe I'm mad, perhaps I'm insane,

but this is definitely something I would like to do again.

"© 2005 Marcus Clark"