I accomplished Lasciate Ogne Speranza on my second attempt. When I was there I saw the crack in the floor that leads on to where this cache is now located, and I had no desire whatsoever to head down that way.

But caches are like the Sirens of Greek Mythology - even a 35mm film pot can lure a cachers heart to do what they know in their heads they should not be doing at all .

So when this one appeared it was like the irresistible song of a Siren, and I followed it .

But I hadn't taken all leave of my senses. While I reached Lasciate Ogne Speranza, I believed that was at the limit of my 64 year old body's abilities. I realised that to have any chance of reaching THIS cache I would need the assistance of somebody vastly more competent and experienced that myself, and DigDug most kindly volunteered to command the expedition. Ian, of Woking Wonders, joined us.

This time we reached Lasciate Ogne Speranza in about half an hour, about a third of the time it took on my previous visit. And at that point things got more difficult - MUCH more difficult. It became apparent that in addition to his competence and experience, DigDug was far fitter that myself. He also brought with him the equipment and local knowledge that I believe to be essential for this part of the cave.

The route is not obvious, even with the instructions, and I believe the local knowledge is of paramount importance. There are numerous ways to go wrong, and on some of those it might be very difficult to reverse the route. I believe that unless you are a VERY experienced caver you should NOT attempt this without expert guidance.

So, we set off down the crack, using a caving ladder. Even with DigDug holding the bottom of the ladder I found this incredibly difficult, as the narrowness of the crack meant for some of the way I could reach the ladder only with my left side. But, down we went, and reached the bottom. DigDug's patience was exemplary - even when I was standing on his hand and couldn't release it because I was off balance he maintained his gentle good humour.

Every foot of progress was a battle - unlike the first part to Lasciate Ogne Speranza there were few places you could take a simple forward step - it was all up and down, squeezing between cracks, into and out of small holes.

Until we got to a point about three quarters of the way from the entrance. I lowered myself feet first into a small hole. My tummy went through - but my chest didn't. I got sqeezed tighter and tighter until I couldn't breathe - it's one thing squeezing bottom or tummy, but not at all the same thing squeezing ribs - a 42 inch chest wasn't going to go through a 40 inch circumference hole. With great difficulty I managed to pull myself back up a couple of inches and took a relieved and much needed breath! And at that point I decided I would have to call it a day. Who knows, maybe a different angle might have let me squeeze through, but I felt the risk was too great - had I not been able to pull myself up that couple of inches to take a breath, I would have been in some trouble.

So I made my way back towards the ladder, while Ian and Steve finished their journey. Going back was no easier, and when I reached a point about which I was unsure, I turned off my lights to conserve the batteries and waited in the darkness for them to come back. And it was well that I did - the route onwards was very non-obvious to me, and had I carried on I think I would have become well and truly stuck down a blind alley.

Getting back up the ladder, and especially getting over the projecting stone back into Lasciate's chamber, proved to be spectacularly difficult for me. We were both too tired to visit Charon's Obol, so immediately descended the pitch from Lasciate's chamber, where we met abanazar.

My strength was now ebbing fast, and I was nursed most of the way back from there. Abanazar offered me his shoulders to climb one pitch. For the final pitch we were given the luxury of a ladder, but although I have climbed this pitch twice before with little difficulty, this time was very different - I struggled so much that DigDug wisely dropped a safety sling for my waist. But eventually, with my last dregs of energy, I emerged at the top of the pitch. And there was further indication of just how exhausted I was - it took me ten minutes of intense effort to ease myself the straightforward last 10 feet out into the daylight.

We retired to the pub, where I could barely lift my pint .

We drove home. There are a lot of roundabouts on the way to the motorway, and Ian could be heard groaning as his bruises touched the side of the seat. I moderated my cornering speed .

I'm covered from head to toe with bruises. I woke up once every hour last night with severe cramps in my legs. I'm a physical wreck .

There is no doubt that this is the toughest thing I've ever done. I was disappointed to fail, but pleased that I did at least try.

Many thanks to abanazar for setting this one. I think this will be one of the VERY few caches where I have awarded a TOP CACHE coin for a DNF (visit the TOP CACHE page).

Congratulations to Ian for getting there, and to DizzyPair for getting there last week.

And most especially thanks to DigDug for shepherding me safely in and out again.

Rgds, Andy