Caves of the Mendip Hills The caves are recorded in the Mendip Cave Registry and Archive. The caves which are easily accessible to the public are at Cheddar Gorge and Wookey Hole, but the vast majority of the caves require specialist equipment and knowledge. Many of the caves are gated and operate leader systems in an attempt to reduce the damage caused when the caves are visited. Local caving groups organise trips and continue to discover new caverns. Some estimates put the number of cavers active on the Mendip Hills over a busy weekend at more than 500. Attempts made in the Mendip Hills to
Cheddar Gorge monuments as nationally important archaeological sites including: Gough's Old Cave, Great Oone's Hole, Saye's Hole, Soldier's Hole and Sun Hole. Cliff Road (B3135), which runs through the Gorge, offers a popular climb for bicyclists and has a maximum gradient of 16%. The ascent featured in stage 6 of the 2011 Tour of Britain. There are about 350 officially graded rock climbing routes on the 27 cliffs that make up Cheddar Gorge, which are generally open to climbers between 1 October and 15 March each year. Each of the routes is named and included in the British Mountaineering Council guidebook. Although