First weekend of the term at the Hut. Photo by Elaine Oliver.
Your
editorial team is delighted to report that recruitment at the start of
the new term has been amazing, with 64 student members already signed up
to the club; this is almost double the number we have had in recent
years! many thanks to everyone who was on the stall at the Welcome Fair
and all those who have organised socials, midweek caving trips and away
weekends. There were approximately 27 people at the first Mendip
weekend, followed by 30 people in South Wales shortly after.
We're delighted with all the trip write ups we've had for this newsletter, with only minimal arm-twisted needed! Particular thanks to Kat Osei-Mensah for all her help and to Klaudia Kalusa for her write up of an OFD 1 trip, which wins the prize for the best report, as anyone that managed to get the phrase 'rolling around like a piglet' into a report definitely deserves an UBSS buff for their efforts! Thanks and congratulations to Klaudia! Please claim your prize from Henry when you see him next. He still has some buffs, we think. We're now looking for someone who can use the phrase 'snuffling around like an aardvark' in a plausible way in a write up. We will also distribute coveted UBSS keyring torches and pens to all our other amazing authors!
If anyone else sent in reports that haven't appeared here, many apologies, but it seems there was a problem with the email address given in the competition mailshot. So if you did send in anything, please could you resend to Zac and Linda. If you mail both of us, that should make sure it gets through. Please keep the reports coming along with any photos you've taken.
And talking of photos, we'd like to give a big shout-out to all the people who have let us use their photos in this issue, as well as screenshots from films in the case of those from excellent film-makers Andy and Antonia Freem who, despite not being UBSS members, are incredibly generous with their material. Please check out their YouTube Channel. You'll find it's got loads of interesting stuff to help you plan where you fancy visiting next! We hope we've got all the credits for everyone right, but in the event of any errors, please let us know and we'll put in a correction next time. Even if you haven't done a trip write up, we're very happy to have photos sent in, and if there's any interest, we could even be persuaded to run a photography competition. Photos underground, overground and wombling free all welcome!
No prize was awarded in the 'guess the cave in the header photo' competition from last time. The cave was Shatter Cave in Fairy Cave Quarry and the caver was Helen Rossington.
Remember, your over-worked, desperately insecure editors love hearing from our adoring public so please get in touch! You do all adore us, don't you?
Back issues of the newsletter can be found here.
We're delighted with all the trip write ups we've had for this newsletter, with only minimal arm-twisted needed! Particular thanks to Kat Osei-Mensah for all her help and to Klaudia Kalusa for her write up of an OFD 1 trip, which wins the prize for the best report, as anyone that managed to get the phrase 'rolling around like a piglet' into a report definitely deserves an UBSS buff for their efforts! Thanks and congratulations to Klaudia! Please claim your prize from Henry when you see him next. He still has some buffs, we think. We're now looking for someone who can use the phrase 'snuffling around like an aardvark' in a plausible way in a write up. We will also distribute coveted UBSS keyring torches and pens to all our other amazing authors!
If anyone else sent in reports that haven't appeared here, many apologies, but it seems there was a problem with the email address given in the competition mailshot. So if you did send in anything, please could you resend to Zac and Linda. If you mail both of us, that should make sure it gets through. Please keep the reports coming along with any photos you've taken.
And talking of photos, we'd like to give a big shout-out to all the people who have let us use their photos in this issue, as well as screenshots from films in the case of those from excellent film-makers Andy and Antonia Freem who, despite not being UBSS members, are incredibly generous with their material. Please check out their YouTube Channel. You'll find it's got loads of interesting stuff to help you plan where you fancy visiting next! We hope we've got all the credits for everyone right, but in the event of any errors, please let us know and we'll put in a correction next time. Even if you haven't done a trip write up, we're very happy to have photos sent in, and if there's any interest, we could even be persuaded to run a photography competition. Photos underground, overground and wombling free all welcome!
No prize was awarded in the 'guess the cave in the header photo' competition from last time. The cave was Shatter Cave in Fairy Cave Quarry and the caver was Helen Rossington.
Remember, your over-worked, desperately insecure editors love hearing from our adoring public so please get in touch! You do all adore us, don't you?
Back issues of the newsletter can be found here.
Zac and Linda
MID-WEEK CAVING
Formations in Shatter Cave, Mendip. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Caving weekends are amazing, but they aren't the only way to get underground as Mid-week Caving Bloke, Si Hadfield explains.
We are very lucky to have some great caves nearby, and so we can also run evening trips during the week. Trips are typically organised informally in the pub, but I’ll also be posting details on the club Facebook group.
If you don’t use Facebook then email me and I’ll keep you posted. The limiting factor for these trips is drivers/cars, so if you happen to have a car then let me know and I can sort a trip out for any day of the week!
Typical Plan:
In short: Lots of caving will be happening! Chat to us in the pub or keep an eye on the Facebook group!
Yay Caving! :)
Formations in Shatter Cave, Mendip. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Caving weekends are amazing, but they aren't the only way to get underground as Mid-week Caving Bloke, Si Hadfield explains.
We are very lucky to have some great caves nearby, and so we can also run evening trips during the week. Trips are typically organised informally in the pub, but I’ll also be posting details on the club Facebook group.
If you don’t use Facebook then email me and I’ll keep you posted. The limiting factor for these trips is drivers/cars, so if you happen to have a car then let me know and I can sort a trip out for any day of the week!
Typical Plan:
- Meet at the student’s union at 6pm.
- Jump in a car and drive to a cave on the Mendips.
- Cave for a couple of hours.
- (Optional) Go to an amazing (and cheap) pub for some food.
- Drive back to Bristol for around 11pm.
In short: Lots of caving will be happening! Chat to us in the pub or keep an eye on the Facebook group!
Yay Caving! :)
Simon (Mid-week Caving Bloke)
UBSS FLEECES
By now you should have seen various people modelling the excellent club fleeces. perfect for keeping you warm in caving huts or after a trip. To enable us to order more, we need a minimum of 15 more orders.
Fleeces cost £36 each. Postage will be extra if you are outside Bristol. The colour is shown in the above graphic. The fleeces have the UBSS shield instead of the university one.
The SU have fleeces available for trying the size, the merchandise shop is open Thursdays 10:00-16:00.
If you would like a fleece, let Henry and Merryn know asap.
By now you should have seen various people modelling the excellent club fleeces. perfect for keeping you warm in caving huts or after a trip. To enable us to order more, we need a minimum of 15 more orders.
Fleeces cost £36 each. Postage will be extra if you are outside Bristol. The colour is shown in the above graphic. The fleeces have the UBSS shield instead of the university one.
The SU have fleeces available for trying the size, the merchandise shop is open Thursdays 10:00-16:00.
If you would like a fleece, let Henry and Merryn know asap.
BOUNCING AROUND IN THRUPE LANE SWALLET
Thrupe Lane provides a good opportunity to practice SRT skills. Kat says it's a good substitute for the Berger. Well, maybe she didn't say quite that, but we're allowed some artistic licence!
On Sunday 17th October Jakob, Ash and I had a successful route finding and rigging adventure down Thrupe Lane Swallet. As the only non-Berger member of the party, I spent Saturday brushing up my SRT skills, first up a tree under Jakob's (and several intrigued local toddlers') watchful gaze, and then down Hunter's Hole.
Fully prepared for the kind of airy pitch that necessitated borrowing a 70m rope from stores, I was not expecting spending an hour 'high contact' caving in crumbly dig sites before we found the top of the High Atlas pitch. From there we descended down a free hanging pitch which met a wet rockface halfway down. I celebrated by bouncing repeatedly into the waterfall.
While Jakob and Ash were well oiled Prussick machines on the way back up, I had so much fun on the way down I also spent most of my ascent bouncing around in the waterfall. After another half hour of muddy squeezing we were out in the sunshine. I highly recommend Thurpe Lane for a bewildering mix of caving styles and some really fun SRT.
PS. Jakob's just told me that High Atlas is approximately 10m higher than the biggest pitch in the Berger, and now I feel much more accomplished waterfall bouncing aside.
Thrupe Lane provides a good opportunity to practice SRT skills. Kat says it's a good substitute for the Berger. Well, maybe she didn't say quite that, but we're allowed some artistic licence!
On Sunday 17th October Jakob, Ash and I had a successful route finding and rigging adventure down Thrupe Lane Swallet. As the only non-Berger member of the party, I spent Saturday brushing up my SRT skills, first up a tree under Jakob's (and several intrigued local toddlers') watchful gaze, and then down Hunter's Hole.
Fully prepared for the kind of airy pitch that necessitated borrowing a 70m rope from stores, I was not expecting spending an hour 'high contact' caving in crumbly dig sites before we found the top of the High Atlas pitch. From there we descended down a free hanging pitch which met a wet rockface halfway down. I celebrated by bouncing repeatedly into the waterfall.
While Jakob and Ash were well oiled Prussick machines on the way back up, I had so much fun on the way down I also spent most of my ascent bouncing around in the waterfall. After another half hour of muddy squeezing we were out in the sunshine. I highly recommend Thurpe Lane for a bewildering mix of caving styles and some really fun SRT.
PS. Jakob's just told me that High Atlas is approximately 10m higher than the biggest pitch in the Berger, and now I feel much more accomplished waterfall bouncing aside.
Kat Osei-Mensah
THANKS, SUPERTED!
Recent heavy rain resulted in a rescue call out for a group in Eastwater Swallet. Kat Osei-Mensah recounts what happened and recaps the lessons learned. Safety Officer Ash Gregg has held the necessary debriefs and will be holding a further safety seminar to close off all actions arising. many thanks to Mendip Cave Rescue and the emergency services for their help!
On Wednesday 20th October, Jakob, Kat, Elliot, Omri and Lizzie were rescued from Eastwater after heavy rain made return through the entrance completely impassable. We'd turned our trip around having done the ladder and were happily heading out when we heard roaring water in the boulder choke beneath the entrance.
We were expecting a sporting exit but Jakob quickly realised there was no way we could climb out through the entrance shaft which was effectively a vertical sump. We retreated to a dry chamber and used a bothy bag and lots of jogging, dancing and questionable singing to stay warm.
We had left a callout for 12:30 and when we missed it Henry immediately phoned the police (and was later praised by them and Mendip Cave Rescue for his calm manner). We noticed the water level had dropped away around 2:30am, made contact with MCR around 2:45, and were all out of the cave, unharmed, by 3:15.
Wayne from MCR kindly explained that there were six fire engines, that had pumped water out of the streamway going into the cave (hence the reduced water level), and several police present, which was a bit overwhelming. We were taken back to the Wessex to change, and warm up with tea in front of the fire.
We learned several important things worth sharing more widely:
- To always check the weather, even if heading into a 'dry' cave
- To consider various sources of information about a cave; Mendip Underground was not enough!
- The importance of being prepared; we were soaked to the skin and very cold after our initial exit attempt and had Jakob not thought to bring a bothy bag and several spare buffs things might have ended quite differently
- Henry had to insist that the police call cave rescue rather than just dispatch a police car; we all need to be confident to do that when acting as call outs.
Recent heavy rain resulted in a rescue call out for a group in Eastwater Swallet. Kat Osei-Mensah recounts what happened and recaps the lessons learned. Safety Officer Ash Gregg has held the necessary debriefs and will be holding a further safety seminar to close off all actions arising. many thanks to Mendip Cave Rescue and the emergency services for their help!
On Wednesday 20th October, Jakob, Kat, Elliot, Omri and Lizzie were rescued from Eastwater after heavy rain made return through the entrance completely impassable. We'd turned our trip around having done the ladder and were happily heading out when we heard roaring water in the boulder choke beneath the entrance.
We were expecting a sporting exit but Jakob quickly realised there was no way we could climb out through the entrance shaft which was effectively a vertical sump. We retreated to a dry chamber and used a bothy bag and lots of jogging, dancing and questionable singing to stay warm.
We had left a callout for 12:30 and when we missed it Henry immediately phoned the police (and was later praised by them and Mendip Cave Rescue for his calm manner). We noticed the water level had dropped away around 2:30am, made contact with MCR around 2:45, and were all out of the cave, unharmed, by 3:15.
Wayne from MCR kindly explained that there were six fire engines, that had pumped water out of the streamway going into the cave (hence the reduced water level), and several police present, which was a bit overwhelming. We were taken back to the Wessex to change, and warm up with tea in front of the fire.
We learned several important things worth sharing more widely:
- To always check the weather, even if heading into a 'dry' cave
- To consider various sources of information about a cave; Mendip Underground was not enough!
- The importance of being prepared; we were soaked to the skin and very cold after our initial exit attempt and had Jakob not thought to bring a bothy bag and several spare buffs things might have ended quite differently
- Henry had to insist that the police call cave rescue rather than just dispatch a police car; we all need to be confident to do that when acting as call outs.
Kat Osei-Mensah
SOUTH WALES WEEKEND
Henry Morgan (centre), a worthy finalist in Strictly Come (Furniture) Dancing. Photo by Klaudia Kaluza,
Nearly 30 UBSS members went to South Wales on the 23rd October for a weekend of caving, drinking, making new friends and drinking. Our roving reporter Kat Osei-Mensah recounts the bits that are printable ...
Merryn organised for us all to stay at the Westminster, a lovely hut with several fantastic bits of furniture to traverse around. Friday night saw the arrival of several cars full of eager cavers, as well as seemingly the whole content of the tackle store.
On Saturday we divided into groups with everyone heading down OFD via the SWCC cottages, bar one lucky group lead by Zac who got to visit some plastic dinosaurs first.
See, we told you there were plastic dinosaurs! Hugo, Mahmood and two new friends. Photo by Zac Woodford.
After a great day of caving we all reconvened at the Westminster on Saturday night for a fantastic veggie chilli (and plenty of rice). Much merriment ensued. The following morning several hungover groups of cavers dragged themselves off to the various joys of Ogof Draenen (crawl through river to big passages), Eglwys Faen (crawl crawl crawl), and Aggy (no crawling without wellies). We then made our way back to the SU in Bristol to wash gear and slink off home for an early night. A fantastic weekend of excellent caving.
Henry Morgan (centre), a worthy finalist in Strictly Come (Furniture) Dancing. Photo by Klaudia Kaluza,
Nearly 30 UBSS members went to South Wales on the 23rd October for a weekend of caving, drinking, making new friends and drinking. Our roving reporter Kat Osei-Mensah recounts the bits that are printable ...
Merryn organised for us all to stay at the Westminster, a lovely hut with several fantastic bits of furniture to traverse around. Friday night saw the arrival of several cars full of eager cavers, as well as seemingly the whole content of the tackle store.
On Saturday we divided into groups with everyone heading down OFD via the SWCC cottages, bar one lucky group lead by Zac who got to visit some plastic dinosaurs first.
See, we told you there were plastic dinosaurs! Hugo, Mahmood and two new friends. Photo by Zac Woodford.
After a great day of caving we all reconvened at the Westminster on Saturday night for a fantastic veggie chilli (and plenty of rice). Much merriment ensued. The following morning several hungover groups of cavers dragged themselves off to the various joys of Ogof Draenen (crawl through river to big passages), Eglwys Faen (crawl crawl crawl), and Aggy (no crawling without wellies). We then made our way back to the SU in Bristol to wash gear and slink off home for an early night. A fantastic weekend of excellent caving.
Kat Osei-Mensah
PIGLET-ROLLING IN OFD
From left to right: Ash, Klaudia, Kiren, Kat, Jake and Lucy. Photo taken on Klaudia's phone by a random passerby.
At the UBSS South
Wales weekend, after a filling fry-up and a hectic race to pack
everything, a group of six decided to begin their journey to Ogof
Ffynnon Ddu. New member Klaudia Kaluza takes us on that journey with
them ...
The
cave began with a few ladders leading down to lovely spacious passages,
with large polished rocks and stunning little pools eroded into them.
We all walked up the passage, except for Kiren and Jake who were feeling
crazy enough to take on the tight squeeze of a “short cut” that Ash
pointed out.
We reached 'The Step’ formation which we used to judge whether the water level was low enough to safely walk through the stream. Fortunately, it was safe to continue so we carried on with us all slyly but desperately trying to avoid getting water in our wellies for as long as possible.
Eventually,
we all slowly gave up on the idea of staying dry and embraced the
drenched oversuit look when the stream progressively got deeper. We
stumbled upon a few pools of water that reached 2m in depth in some
areas and yet the only thing separating us from these mini ice baths was
a thin metal pole that we gripped onto with our wellies and ‘shimmied’
across.
OFD 1 streamway. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Despite being drenched up to our hips, the adrenaline rush kept us warm
as we continued across rock and marble, slipping and sliding as we
marched on with a few ladders along the way. We also had a few
well-deserved breaks where we all eagerly indulged into some tea and
biscuits – fancy I know.
We
got to the ‘roly poly’ part where instead of slithering across the
narrow entrance to the next passage, we all rolled our way across; and I
can safely say there was something so joyful and therapeutic about
rolling around like a piglet. Once we shook off our dizziness we carried
on until our next big attraction – the bolt traverse.
Ash and Kat fixed our cow tails and we began the traverse across the
Bolt Traverse ledge, with the stream below us on the left. We finished
the cave off by strolling through a shallow stream, before climbing back
up the ladders to leave.
It was without a doubt one of my favourite trips – 10/10
Klaudia Kaluza
TO THE HARD ROCK CAFE IN DAREN CILAU
Formations in Bonsai Streamway. Photo by Si Hadfield.
For those who fancy stretching themselves (quite literally, it seems) and don't mind crawling to get to the good bits, it's worth considering a trip to Daren Cilau in South Wales, described here by Sioned Haughton
It was a very soggy Saturday that Si Hadfield and I had originally earmarked for a Southbank round trip in Eastwater, but considering the weather we went looking for alternatives. After realising that most of the trips on our to-do list are not really wet weather options, we eventually settled on a trip to Hard Rock Cafe, the first Daren camp.
Having only ever done the through trip previously we scoured the internet for useful route-finding information. This was not too successful - there are many detailed accounts of the trials and tribulations of the entrance crawl, but they all seemed to skip forward to ‘and then we were at camp’. One report we found looked promising but turned out to be just a list of the passages visited on the way, with no detail on how you actually got from one the next. We had been told that the key was ‘knowing how to get out of the loop’ and we did find reports describing people circling around this loop several times before eventually finding the way on, but that failed to provide any more specific instructions for this.
Undeterred, we set off, only taking two wrong turns on the way there (in an effort to save up all our route finding good luck for inside the cave maybe..?)
When we arrived, the car park was full of South Wales cavers getting ready for a rescue practice in Price’s Dig and they were all very glad to hear we wouldn’t be attempting the through trip. This was also a golden opportunity for us to get some invaluable route-finding tips, including the revelation that once you’re in the loop you’ve already gone wrong. Many thanks to Tarquin for this.
We were underground at 11.15am. The entrance crawl was considerably wetter than when we were last there earlier in the summer but at least the water was relatively warm. Once in Big Chamber Nowhere Near the Entrance we poked around a bit before finding the way into the crawl that takes you to Five Ways Chamber (up the slope to the right, then take the left hand route). Once in Five Ways it is pretty straightforward - the wrong ways are indicated by stone barriers and the way on is very polished. You then pop into Valentine’s Chamber by a massive collapse of weird blueish rock spoil, and from here another very polished hole in the floor takes you down towards the ladder.
Ah, the ladder. How much of this report should I dedicate to the truly dreadful time I had there? In case anyone doesn’t know, this is the ‘fixed but flexible’ (?) ladder that takes you up the 22m pitch into Higher Things. It is in two sections linked by a diagonal overhang (??), and was clearly made for someone taller than me, as I had to fully extend to reach the rungs. And if this wasn’t enough the ladder was put in upside down (???) which means each rung has a little slot on each side that’s just big enough to painfully trap the side of your foot with every step up.
I’m sure there must be a way round these problems that does not involve putting myself on a rack or turning the whole ladder the right way round, but I haven’t come up with it yet. Si did offer to lend me his wellies so I could wear them over my own but it turns out that size 4s won’t actually fit inside size 11s. Maybe next time I’ll have to go with someone with bigger feet.
After the ladder, route finding wasn’t really an issue although there are a couple of exciting roped climbs down into the Time Machine. This is apparently the biggest passage in the UK, complete with house-sized boulders and reflective way markers but coming straight from the Berger it didn’t really seem that big. Clearly French caving has spoilt me.
Then we dropped into Bonsai Streamway where we actually managed to take a photo for once! From here it was straight down to camp, passing Crystal Inlet on the left. Even though I’d heard all about the cocktail-fuelled parties, the camp itself was much more well kitted out than I expected. We didn’t stay long though, to be honest it felt a bit strange being around so much human stuff so far underground.
The way out was uneventful, the ladder much less painful on the descent, and we were on the surface at 6.30pm. We timed ourselves coming out and managed to exit the crawl in exactly 30 minutes, although I think I paid for that enthusiasm the next day.
Formations in Bonsai Streamway. Photo by Si Hadfield.
For those who fancy stretching themselves (quite literally, it seems) and don't mind crawling to get to the good bits, it's worth considering a trip to Daren Cilau in South Wales, described here by Sioned Haughton
It was a very soggy Saturday that Si Hadfield and I had originally earmarked for a Southbank round trip in Eastwater, but considering the weather we went looking for alternatives. After realising that most of the trips on our to-do list are not really wet weather options, we eventually settled on a trip to Hard Rock Cafe, the first Daren camp.
Having only ever done the through trip previously we scoured the internet for useful route-finding information. This was not too successful - there are many detailed accounts of the trials and tribulations of the entrance crawl, but they all seemed to skip forward to ‘and then we were at camp’. One report we found looked promising but turned out to be just a list of the passages visited on the way, with no detail on how you actually got from one the next. We had been told that the key was ‘knowing how to get out of the loop’ and we did find reports describing people circling around this loop several times before eventually finding the way on, but that failed to provide any more specific instructions for this.
Undeterred, we set off, only taking two wrong turns on the way there (in an effort to save up all our route finding good luck for inside the cave maybe..?)
When we arrived, the car park was full of South Wales cavers getting ready for a rescue practice in Price’s Dig and they were all very glad to hear we wouldn’t be attempting the through trip. This was also a golden opportunity for us to get some invaluable route-finding tips, including the revelation that once you’re in the loop you’ve already gone wrong. Many thanks to Tarquin for this.
We were underground at 11.15am. The entrance crawl was considerably wetter than when we were last there earlier in the summer but at least the water was relatively warm. Once in Big Chamber Nowhere Near the Entrance we poked around a bit before finding the way into the crawl that takes you to Five Ways Chamber (up the slope to the right, then take the left hand route). Once in Five Ways it is pretty straightforward - the wrong ways are indicated by stone barriers and the way on is very polished. You then pop into Valentine’s Chamber by a massive collapse of weird blueish rock spoil, and from here another very polished hole in the floor takes you down towards the ladder.
Ah, the ladder. How much of this report should I dedicate to the truly dreadful time I had there? In case anyone doesn’t know, this is the ‘fixed but flexible’ (?) ladder that takes you up the 22m pitch into Higher Things. It is in two sections linked by a diagonal overhang (??), and was clearly made for someone taller than me, as I had to fully extend to reach the rungs. And if this wasn’t enough the ladder was put in upside down (???) which means each rung has a little slot on each side that’s just big enough to painfully trap the side of your foot with every step up.
I’m sure there must be a way round these problems that does not involve putting myself on a rack or turning the whole ladder the right way round, but I haven’t come up with it yet. Si did offer to lend me his wellies so I could wear them over my own but it turns out that size 4s won’t actually fit inside size 11s. Maybe next time I’ll have to go with someone with bigger feet.
After the ladder, route finding wasn’t really an issue although there are a couple of exciting roped climbs down into the Time Machine. This is apparently the biggest passage in the UK, complete with house-sized boulders and reflective way markers but coming straight from the Berger it didn’t really seem that big. Clearly French caving has spoilt me.
Then we dropped into Bonsai Streamway where we actually managed to take a photo for once! From here it was straight down to camp, passing Crystal Inlet on the left. Even though I’d heard all about the cocktail-fuelled parties, the camp itself was much more well kitted out than I expected. We didn’t stay long though, to be honest it felt a bit strange being around so much human stuff so far underground.
The way out was uneventful, the ladder much less painful on the descent, and we were on the surface at 6.30pm. We timed ourselves coming out and managed to exit the crawl in exactly 30 minutes, although I think I paid for that enthusiasm the next day.
Sioned Haughton
SCAFFOLDING, SQUEEZES AND BIG STUFF
Formations in Ogof Draenen. Image taken with permission from the film Starting Over by Andy and Antonia Freem about conservation work in the cave. You can watch this on their channel on YouTube.
The Wales weekend saw lots of underground activity, rounded off for some with a trip down Ogof Draenen. Thanks to Kat for this write up.
On Sunday 24th October Henry, Guy, Elliot and I finished off our Wales weekend with a fantastic trip down Ogof Draenen. We were initially feeling a bit worse for wear as we hopped around changing in the rain on the side of the road in the middle of Welsh nowhere, and had Elliot not been so keen we might have listened to our hangovers and lack of sleep and turned tail for Bristol.
As it was Elliot's enthusiasm saw us off down a muddy field and into an unremarkable hole in the side of the hillside. Given that we had a key and the cave wasn't locked I was not convinced that Henry had found the right cave, a suspicion that kept growing as we crawled through puddles, past plastic buckets, down scaffolded shafts, and a bedding plane seemingly held up by bricks.
Ogof
Draenen. Image taken with permission from the film Starting Over by
Andy and Antonia Freem about conservation work in the cave. You can watch this on their channel on YouTube.
We pressed, wiggled, and squeezed on and after a climb which definitely wasn't in our route description, we suddenly found ourselves in the T-Junction chamber. It was incredible to go from crawling through gravel to unable to see the ceiling in the space of five metres. Having been there before, Henry took to our newly spacious Welsh cave with gusto, leading us in several rousing (and echoey) hymns as we pootled happily about for an hour.
We explored huge passages, climbed up and down various boulder piles, and had a tranquil moment by a totally still blue lake-let before turning around and making our way back out the now much more friendly seeming squeezy waterway. To perfect the narrative arc, the rain had cleared and blue sky was visible as we emerged, offering stunning views over the hills. We skipped back to the car surrounded by friendly sheep and all agreed we'd done the right thing to ignore our tired grumpy internal voices and just get underground.
Kat Osei-Mensah
Formations in Ogof Draenen. Image taken with permission from the film Starting Over by Andy and Antonia Freem about conservation work in the cave. You can watch this on their channel on YouTube.
The Wales weekend saw lots of underground activity, rounded off for some with a trip down Ogof Draenen. Thanks to Kat for this write up.
On Sunday 24th October Henry, Guy, Elliot and I finished off our Wales weekend with a fantastic trip down Ogof Draenen. We were initially feeling a bit worse for wear as we hopped around changing in the rain on the side of the road in the middle of Welsh nowhere, and had Elliot not been so keen we might have listened to our hangovers and lack of sleep and turned tail for Bristol.
As it was Elliot's enthusiasm saw us off down a muddy field and into an unremarkable hole in the side of the hillside. Given that we had a key and the cave wasn't locked I was not convinced that Henry had found the right cave, a suspicion that kept growing as we crawled through puddles, past plastic buckets, down scaffolded shafts, and a bedding plane seemingly held up by bricks.
Ogof
Draenen. Image taken with permission from the film Starting Over by
Andy and Antonia Freem about conservation work in the cave. You can watch this on their channel on YouTube.We pressed, wiggled, and squeezed on and after a climb which definitely wasn't in our route description, we suddenly found ourselves in the T-Junction chamber. It was incredible to go from crawling through gravel to unable to see the ceiling in the space of five metres. Having been there before, Henry took to our newly spacious Welsh cave with gusto, leading us in several rousing (and echoey) hymns as we pootled happily about for an hour.
We explored huge passages, climbed up and down various boulder piles, and had a tranquil moment by a totally still blue lake-let before turning around and making our way back out the now much more friendly seeming squeezy waterway. To perfect the narrative arc, the rain had cleared and blue sky was visible as we emerged, offering stunning views over the hills. We skipped back to the car surrounded by friendly sheep and all agreed we'd done the right thing to ignore our tired grumpy internal voices and just get underground.
Kat Osei-Mensah
GOING STRAIGHT ON ... AND ON ... AND ON ... IN AGGY
Agen Allwedd. Image take with permission from the film A Journey to Sand Cavern by Andy and Antonia Freem. You can watch this on their channel on YouTube.
Agen Allwedd is a cave that's long held a fascination for UBSS members, but it's rather fallen out of fashion with the club in recent years. Zac Woodford decided to refresh his memory of the cave recently, and wasn't disappointed.
On the Sunday of the Wales weekend, Megan, Oliver, Hugo and I managed to escape the clean-up chaos at the hut to actually go caving! Henry had insisted on organising the trips the night before, so all faff the next morning was in sorting people and kit (and finding Theo, who was supposed to be on our trip until they rudely decided to un-exist). With the car loaded with kit and hungover cavers we made our way to the Llangattock escarpment for a visit to Agen Allwedd.
I’d only been to Aggy once before and that was almost two years ago at CHECC so any recollections had to be treated with double caution. I’d tried to re-familiarize myself by studying the survey and briefly glancing over the route description. Finding the cave was the easy part as it’s right next to the path (albeit after a long but scenic walk) which I remembered from two years previously (but it wasn’t nearly as scenic then).
We arrived at the cave with spirits high and after stowing possessions just inside the entrance and signing into the logbook, made our way deeper into the cave. The entrance series has a very narrow winding character which requires squeezing and crawling at points, particularly through the small stream that runs through the entrance series. This was easy enough to follow until we reached the boulder choke where the navigational issues began to arise.
I was trying to combine my previous experience with the survey and route description to find the way on. This meant periodically leaving the group in one place while I scouted ahead. The first trouble was at the boulder chamber where Oliver had to lift me through a small, polished gap just to get in. Once in the chamber I realized that if the group back tracked, they could come over the top of some boulders to get into the chamber. I then had to find the right hole amongst the boulders. The one that looked most obvious took us down into the streamway and we followed it to a junction where everyone waited while I checked out both directions. One went to a dig and the other followed the stream through very tight crawly passage. I remembered neither route from years before and so back tracked and found another way back into the boulder chamber. Following that down I then found a very polished tube which dropped into a different stream.
Following this led to some narrow but passable passage. This I did remember. Calling everyone over we progressed through to the main chamber. The shear scale of the main chamber is hard to articulate, I’ve seen smaller road tunnels. This I certainly remembered from before. After stopping for a quick snack break, we strode on into the darkness, on and on and on.
The tunnel (for want of a better word as to scale) goes on and on. I’ve never seen passage quite like it anywhere else. We found the selenite crystals and spent several minutes in awe of them. The general consensus was that they looked like some eerie underground city in miniature.
However, just past the crystals, another large passage intersected on the right at the bottom of a large boulder mound. I decided we should investigate this but after a few hundred metres it closed down to a small sparkling chamber with the only way on a very narrow rift passage. On reflection, and having consulted the survey, I believe this is the way to the Southern Streamway, but I am happy to be corrected.
At this point, we decided to turn back to avoid all risk of missing our call out. We were on our way along the main chamber when we began to hear voices… and music. We stood to the side as a large group came the other way. They were from Plymouth and there must’ve been about twelve of them in total. After a quick chat we went on our way while they continued on to the music chamber. The rest of the journey out was much smoother and within an hour we were outside and on our way back to the car. Everyone involved really enjoyed the trip with Oliver commenting he preferred my route through the boulder choke over the more mundane well-trodden path. [Other Editor's Note: Oliver hasn't yet been approached for his version of events!]
Agen Allwedd. Image take with permission from the film A Journey to Sand Cavern by Andy and Antonia Freem. You can watch this on their channel on YouTube.
Agen Allwedd is a cave that's long held a fascination for UBSS members, but it's rather fallen out of fashion with the club in recent years. Zac Woodford decided to refresh his memory of the cave recently, and wasn't disappointed.
On the Sunday of the Wales weekend, Megan, Oliver, Hugo and I managed to escape the clean-up chaos at the hut to actually go caving! Henry had insisted on organising the trips the night before, so all faff the next morning was in sorting people and kit (and finding Theo, who was supposed to be on our trip until they rudely decided to un-exist). With the car loaded with kit and hungover cavers we made our way to the Llangattock escarpment for a visit to Agen Allwedd.
I’d only been to Aggy once before and that was almost two years ago at CHECC so any recollections had to be treated with double caution. I’d tried to re-familiarize myself by studying the survey and briefly glancing over the route description. Finding the cave was the easy part as it’s right next to the path (albeit after a long but scenic walk) which I remembered from two years previously (but it wasn’t nearly as scenic then).
We arrived at the cave with spirits high and after stowing possessions just inside the entrance and signing into the logbook, made our way deeper into the cave. The entrance series has a very narrow winding character which requires squeezing and crawling at points, particularly through the small stream that runs through the entrance series. This was easy enough to follow until we reached the boulder choke where the navigational issues began to arise.
I was trying to combine my previous experience with the survey and route description to find the way on. This meant periodically leaving the group in one place while I scouted ahead. The first trouble was at the boulder chamber where Oliver had to lift me through a small, polished gap just to get in. Once in the chamber I realized that if the group back tracked, they could come over the top of some boulders to get into the chamber. I then had to find the right hole amongst the boulders. The one that looked most obvious took us down into the streamway and we followed it to a junction where everyone waited while I checked out both directions. One went to a dig and the other followed the stream through very tight crawly passage. I remembered neither route from years before and so back tracked and found another way back into the boulder chamber. Following that down I then found a very polished tube which dropped into a different stream.
Following this led to some narrow but passable passage. This I did remember. Calling everyone over we progressed through to the main chamber. The shear scale of the main chamber is hard to articulate, I’ve seen smaller road tunnels. This I certainly remembered from before. After stopping for a quick snack break, we strode on into the darkness, on and on and on.
The tunnel (for want of a better word as to scale) goes on and on. I’ve never seen passage quite like it anywhere else. We found the selenite crystals and spent several minutes in awe of them. The general consensus was that they looked like some eerie underground city in miniature.
However, just past the crystals, another large passage intersected on the right at the bottom of a large boulder mound. I decided we should investigate this but after a few hundred metres it closed down to a small sparkling chamber with the only way on a very narrow rift passage. On reflection, and having consulted the survey, I believe this is the way to the Southern Streamway, but I am happy to be corrected.
At this point, we decided to turn back to avoid all risk of missing our call out. We were on our way along the main chamber when we began to hear voices… and music. We stood to the side as a large group came the other way. They were from Plymouth and there must’ve been about twelve of them in total. After a quick chat we went on our way while they continued on to the music chamber. The rest of the journey out was much smoother and within an hour we were outside and on our way back to the car. Everyone involved really enjoyed the trip with Oliver commenting he preferred my route through the boulder choke over the more mundane well-trodden path. [Other Editor's Note: Oliver hasn't yet been approached for his version of events!]
Zac Woodford
SLIPPING AND SLIDING IN PRID
Jakob Annerdal in Pridhamsleigh. Photo by Kat Osie-Mensah.
Kat and Jakob recently had a nostalgia trip to Devon, visiting both Baker's Pit and Pridhamsleigh Cavern. They felt moved to record the latter in a short song. To the tune of the Wild Rover, but louder, because Henry is singing...
With promise of glorious lake down below,
To Pridhamsleigh Cavern in Devon We’ll go,
We slipped and we slithered, got covered in clay,
Despite all the polish, couldn’t find the way
And it’s no nay never, No nay never no more
Will we play the hard caver, no never, no more
Jakob Annerdal in Pridhamsleigh. Photo by Kat Osie-Mensah.
Kat and Jakob recently had a nostalgia trip to Devon, visiting both Baker's Pit and Pridhamsleigh Cavern. They felt moved to record the latter in a short song. To the tune of the Wild Rover, but louder, because Henry is singing...
With promise of glorious lake down below,
To Pridhamsleigh Cavern in Devon We’ll go,
We slipped and we slithered, got covered in clay,
Despite all the polish, couldn’t find the way
And it’s no nay never, No nay never no more
Will we play the hard caver, no never, no more
Kat and Jakob
MONKTON FARLEIGH QUARRY
Monkton Farleigh Quarry. Photo by Gabriel Littler
The Bath stone quarries provide an excellent opportunity to practice route-finding skills and there's plenty to see down there, with many miles of passage, both large and small and a fascinating array of old miners' graffiti, as mining enthusiast Zac Woodford explains.
While most have stuck to the traditional mid week caving I’ve been branching out by leading trips to mines, particularly the ones in and around Bath. It was at one of these (Monkton Farleigh Quarry) that I found myself with Stuart, Oliver and Gabriel on Wednesday 20th October. Apparently, these mines used to be a regular club haunt but have fallen out of favour in recent years.
We entered by the Muddy Hole entrance and immediately followed Long Passage down to Clapham Junction. From there we pursued Back Passage to the Well and the Ferret Hole (or the large mound of rubble that now sits in front of it). From Back Passage we returned through Clapham Junction (at this point I began navigating by survey) and continued on south before joining another large passage and returning north, taking a look at the wonderful miners' graffiti on the way.
Miners' graffiti in Monkton Farleigh. The Peacocks of Bathford appear frequently in censuses with the profession of quarryman noted. The bird might well represent a peacock.
By using the survey I found us a route due west to Front Passage stopping by Calcite Chamber, a spectacular river of flowstone and cave pearls, on the way. Taking Front Passage south we visited the Stables then turned around and followed it all the way back north to the ruined train cart.
After inspecting the cart we made our way out back east to Long Passage then out of Muddy Hole. I always love a visit to the mines. Their large walking passages never cease to have some feature of interest and there is always more to explore among the ruins, if anyone would like a visit I am more than happy to continue running mid-week mine trips.
Monkton Farleigh Quarry. Photo by Gabriel Littler
The Bath stone quarries provide an excellent opportunity to practice route-finding skills and there's plenty to see down there, with many miles of passage, both large and small and a fascinating array of old miners' graffiti, as mining enthusiast Zac Woodford explains.
While most have stuck to the traditional mid week caving I’ve been branching out by leading trips to mines, particularly the ones in and around Bath. It was at one of these (Monkton Farleigh Quarry) that I found myself with Stuart, Oliver and Gabriel on Wednesday 20th October. Apparently, these mines used to be a regular club haunt but have fallen out of favour in recent years.
We entered by the Muddy Hole entrance and immediately followed Long Passage down to Clapham Junction. From there we pursued Back Passage to the Well and the Ferret Hole (or the large mound of rubble that now sits in front of it). From Back Passage we returned through Clapham Junction (at this point I began navigating by survey) and continued on south before joining another large passage and returning north, taking a look at the wonderful miners' graffiti on the way.
Miners' graffiti in Monkton Farleigh. The Peacocks of Bathford appear frequently in censuses with the profession of quarryman noted. The bird might well represent a peacock.
By using the survey I found us a route due west to Front Passage stopping by Calcite Chamber, a spectacular river of flowstone and cave pearls, on the way. Taking Front Passage south we visited the Stables then turned around and followed it all the way back north to the ruined train cart.
After inspecting the cart we made our way out back east to Long Passage then out of Muddy Hole. I always love a visit to the mines. Their large walking passages never cease to have some feature of interest and there is always more to explore among the ruins, if anyone would like a visit I am more than happy to continue running mid-week mine trips.
Zac Woodford
A VERCORS CLASSIC - LA GROTTE DE GOURNIER
Entrance lake. Photo by Merryn Matthews.
The UBSS summer expedition to the Vercors plateau did some classic local caves as a warm up to the Berger trip. We've got two accounts here of the Grotte de Gournier, in prose from Merryn Matthews and a poetic extravaganza from Sioned Haughton, starting with Merryn's account ...
La Grotte de Gournier was the most hyped up cave for me on this trip (aside from the Berger), with promises of massive stomping stal passage, and a huge entrance lake you get to cross IN A BOAT!
Although feeling exhausted after days of caving and canyoning, this sounded like a trip you couldn't miss so I set off with Haydon and Jakob, with a group of Elaine, Brian and Jon to follow later.
We were told it was polite not to wear oversuits through the Choranche show cave reception area (the cave next door) and so decided to get changed at the entrance instead, which is a stunning, huge lake.
Quickly we realised we'd made two mistakes, one was that we had forgotten the boat pump and secondly, that this was a very popular tourist spot. I can't imagine what they thought as they watched Haydon, half-naked in a furious make-out session with a boat, which although he impressively inflated, was nothing compared to the huge multi-person boats that the 'guided adventure experience' tourists were using.
Tourist boat (top), UBSS fleet (bottom), or was it the other way round? Photo by Brian Goodman.
We then put on an entertaining spectacle for our audience, taking turns paddling across in the Condor 2000, somewhat out of control and spinning in circles, as the tagline we'd brought was too short and the boat's steering left a lot to be desired.
A quick traverse leads to hugeeee stomping passage with white stal like giant aliens, and beautiful gower pools. It also is the busiest cave I'd ever been in, with multiple French tourist caver groups having baguette picnics, filling up kettle water from the pools, and peeing (I think, because it smelt).
At this point, I was still feeling very tired, but Jakob and I were persuaded by Haydon to descend and enter the streamway. It starts at below knee height water depth, then gets progressively deeper, with traverses using Via Ferrata staples until you get to the famed 'grand barrier' calcite wall. I was far too tired to get that far and Jakob had worn out his arm, so we decided to turn back early, bumping into Jon and Brian who came out with us. The way back took my slow limbs a very long time, so I was glad of the promise of a nice swim in the lake.
Elaine and Haydon meanwhile continued up the streamway to the grand barrier, which became a long and cold trip due to the very faffy tourists (ask them if you're into gossip about irritating French people).
The trip would not be complete without some swimming antics in the tempting entrance lake. I was pretty cold even in my 4mm wetsuit (hands stinging red with the cold), and impressed with Jakob and Brian's skinny dips.
Merryn and Jakob swimming in the entrance lake, with Jon in the boat. Photo by Brian Goodman. (See later from our illustrious Hon Prezz on the benefits of cold water swimming.)
This somehow rejuvenated my energy, and after getting changed, Brian persuaded me to cycle from our campsite up the gorge to the cave, to meet Elaine and Haydon.
This is an epic trip, and I recommend it to anyone who happens to be in France.
Notes: The traverse is not pre- rigged, although it was when we were there. I think we phoned or emailed in advance to ask for permission. They were happy with Elaine's group walking through in cave gear from the car park.
We took a 30m rope and 30m tagline to cross the entrance lake but found it too short, a 40m of each would be better.
For the streamway we took 40m or so of 8mm. It is useful if people are less confident on some of the stemples. The top of the cascade 12 is also rigged for a pull-through on the way back down, which is better than using the stemples.
I recommend a wetsuit if aiming to get far up the stream way because it eventually becomes too tricky to traverse (although Sioned and Ash went in just furrys on a later trip).
And from Sioned ...
Fossil passage with formations. Gilbert Bohec, used under Wikipedia Commons Licence (CC by SA)
We went to France to do the Berger
A pothole that makes everyone her slave
So having vanquished that particular scourger
Me, Ash and Dour thought we'd try a different cave
We crossed the lake and reached the traverse
Only to realise we'd forgotten the rope
But Ash is a master of rigging most diverse;
For Haydon's bouncy green string there was no hope
In fossil passage the formations fairly exude
And the streamway is surely to be admired
But eventually we were forced to conclude
That a westsuit is most definitely required!
We turned around nowhere near the end
Although I gather that's a place few people wend.
Entrance lake. Photo by Merryn Matthews.
The UBSS summer expedition to the Vercors plateau did some classic local caves as a warm up to the Berger trip. We've got two accounts here of the Grotte de Gournier, in prose from Merryn Matthews and a poetic extravaganza from Sioned Haughton, starting with Merryn's account ...
La Grotte de Gournier was the most hyped up cave for me on this trip (aside from the Berger), with promises of massive stomping stal passage, and a huge entrance lake you get to cross IN A BOAT!
Although feeling exhausted after days of caving and canyoning, this sounded like a trip you couldn't miss so I set off with Haydon and Jakob, with a group of Elaine, Brian and Jon to follow later.
We were told it was polite not to wear oversuits through the Choranche show cave reception area (the cave next door) and so decided to get changed at the entrance instead, which is a stunning, huge lake.
Quickly we realised we'd made two mistakes, one was that we had forgotten the boat pump and secondly, that this was a very popular tourist spot. I can't imagine what they thought as they watched Haydon, half-naked in a furious make-out session with a boat, which although he impressively inflated, was nothing compared to the huge multi-person boats that the 'guided adventure experience' tourists were using.
Tourist boat (top), UBSS fleet (bottom), or was it the other way round? Photo by Brian Goodman.
We then put on an entertaining spectacle for our audience, taking turns paddling across in the Condor 2000, somewhat out of control and spinning in circles, as the tagline we'd brought was too short and the boat's steering left a lot to be desired.
A quick traverse leads to hugeeee stomping passage with white stal like giant aliens, and beautiful gower pools. It also is the busiest cave I'd ever been in, with multiple French tourist caver groups having baguette picnics, filling up kettle water from the pools, and peeing (I think, because it smelt).
At this point, I was still feeling very tired, but Jakob and I were persuaded by Haydon to descend and enter the streamway. It starts at below knee height water depth, then gets progressively deeper, with traverses using Via Ferrata staples until you get to the famed 'grand barrier' calcite wall. I was far too tired to get that far and Jakob had worn out his arm, so we decided to turn back early, bumping into Jon and Brian who came out with us. The way back took my slow limbs a very long time, so I was glad of the promise of a nice swim in the lake.
Elaine and Haydon meanwhile continued up the streamway to the grand barrier, which became a long and cold trip due to the very faffy tourists (ask them if you're into gossip about irritating French people).
The trip would not be complete without some swimming antics in the tempting entrance lake. I was pretty cold even in my 4mm wetsuit (hands stinging red with the cold), and impressed with Jakob and Brian's skinny dips.
Merryn and Jakob swimming in the entrance lake, with Jon in the boat. Photo by Brian Goodman. (See later from our illustrious Hon Prezz on the benefits of cold water swimming.)
This somehow rejuvenated my energy, and after getting changed, Brian persuaded me to cycle from our campsite up the gorge to the cave, to meet Elaine and Haydon.
This is an epic trip, and I recommend it to anyone who happens to be in France.
Notes: The traverse is not pre- rigged, although it was when we were there. I think we phoned or emailed in advance to ask for permission. They were happy with Elaine's group walking through in cave gear from the car park.
We took a 30m rope and 30m tagline to cross the entrance lake but found it too short, a 40m of each would be better.
For the streamway we took 40m or so of 8mm. It is useful if people are less confident on some of the stemples. The top of the cascade 12 is also rigged for a pull-through on the way back down, which is better than using the stemples.
I recommend a wetsuit if aiming to get far up the stream way because it eventually becomes too tricky to traverse (although Sioned and Ash went in just furrys on a later trip).
Merryn Matthews
And from Sioned ...
Fossil passage with formations. Gilbert Bohec, used under Wikipedia Commons Licence (CC by SA)
We went to France to do the Berger
A pothole that makes everyone her slave
So having vanquished that particular scourger
Me, Ash and Dour thought we'd try a different cave
We crossed the lake and reached the traverse
Only to realise we'd forgotten the rope
But Ash is a master of rigging most diverse;
For Haydon's bouncy green string there was no hope
In fossil passage the formations fairly exude
And the streamway is surely to be admired
But eventually we were forced to conclude
That a westsuit is most definitely required!
We turned around nowhere near the end
Although I gather that's a place few people wend.
Sioned Haughton
BOULDERS AND BIG STUFF!
Boulder choke at the end of the Grande Salle in Douyme 1. Jan Walker for scale. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Although not on the same scale as the Vercors, the Dordogne region of France is also well supplied with caves. On a pleasant, sunny day in October, naturally Linda and Jan decided to go underground instead of lounging around in the sun and so set out to photograph the largest chamber in the area ...
Les Grottes de Douyme provides a very pleasant afternoon's bimble around with some nice streamway and a visit to a fairly ginormous chamber. Douyme 1 is the cave I use in this area if friends over here and visitors want to see what attraction caving holds.
Jan Walker in the streamway, Douyme 1. Photo by Linda Wilson.
The Grotte de Douyme 1 can be found by following the stream to its source behind the ruins of an old mill. Douyme 2 is opposite the mill, up a smaller branch of the stream.
La Grande Salle, Douyme 1. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Douyme 1 is approximately 320m long, with a pleasant amble up a streamway to an ascending, muddy climb that leads to one of the largest chambers in the Dordogne that ends (for all but the suicidally inclined) in an absolutely massive boulder choke. A way on at the left of the mega-choke is a very tight flat out crawl through boulders with millions of tons of loose rock just waiting to collapse on top of you. Attempt this at your peril if you want to see the wet, muddy extensions on the other side.
Douyme 2 is approximately 500 metres of tall, sinuous passage reminiscent of caving in Co Clare, again leading to a large choke which is absolutely crying out to be dug regularly. If it was on Mendip, it would no doubt already have turned into a very long cave.
Both caves are home to large numbers of greater horseshoe bats and if you want to go to the end of Douyme 2, I'd advise taking a facemask so you're not inhaling bat pee en route.
To find the caves, park in the obvious small quarry at the spot marked on the map then walk to the very obvious sharp bend in the road and follow the obvious track to the right. When it forks, take the right hand branch downhill into the valley and walk up the stream to its source.
Boulder choke at the end of the Grande Salle in Douyme 1. Jan Walker for scale. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Although not on the same scale as the Vercors, the Dordogne region of France is also well supplied with caves. On a pleasant, sunny day in October, naturally Linda and Jan decided to go underground instead of lounging around in the sun and so set out to photograph the largest chamber in the area ...
Les Grottes de Douyme provides a very pleasant afternoon's bimble around with some nice streamway and a visit to a fairly ginormous chamber. Douyme 1 is the cave I use in this area if friends over here and visitors want to see what attraction caving holds.
Jan Walker in the streamway, Douyme 1. Photo by Linda Wilson.
The Grotte de Douyme 1 can be found by following the stream to its source behind the ruins of an old mill. Douyme 2 is opposite the mill, up a smaller branch of the stream.
La Grande Salle, Douyme 1. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Douyme 1 is approximately 320m long, with a pleasant amble up a streamway to an ascending, muddy climb that leads to one of the largest chambers in the Dordogne that ends (for all but the suicidally inclined) in an absolutely massive boulder choke. A way on at the left of the mega-choke is a very tight flat out crawl through boulders with millions of tons of loose rock just waiting to collapse on top of you. Attempt this at your peril if you want to see the wet, muddy extensions on the other side.
Douyme 2 is approximately 500 metres of tall, sinuous passage reminiscent of caving in Co Clare, again leading to a large choke which is absolutely crying out to be dug regularly. If it was on Mendip, it would no doubt already have turned into a very long cave.
Both caves are home to large numbers of greater horseshoe bats and if you want to go to the end of Douyme 2, I'd advise taking a facemask so you're not inhaling bat pee en route.
To find the caves, park in the obvious small quarry at the spot marked on the map then walk to the very obvious sharp bend in the road and follow the obvious track to the right. When it forks, take the right hand branch downhill into the valley and walk up the stream to its source.
Linda Wilson
COUNTDOWN TO CAVING WITH ... MERRYN MATTHEWS
I am the Secretary of UBSS, currently in my third year studying Environmental Geoscience (not really I actually just spend all my time caving and climbing trees). The first time I tried caving was in sixth form; I vowed I would never go again because it was kinda grim, and I was sooo exhausted after I could barely walk. As I have a terrible memory I forgot that I didn't like it, only remembering that I really liked the cool rocks, and kept signing up for trips. I then joined Sheffield University Speleological Society (SUSS) for a year before coming to Bristol, and now love caving.
Ten words to summarise your caving career ...
Mud love: Noob meets cave, becomes worm, cave becomes life.
Nine cavers (living or dead) you would like to go for a drink with ...
- Mia
- Batman
- Emmott
- Dave Catell for rescuing me from Mistrel
- Botch
- Omri Porat
- Imogen cos I owe her a pint
- Megan
- pretty much any caver, cavers fun, always up for a pub drink
Eight things you never want/wanted to hear underground ...
- We're locked in
- There is snow falling in the cave
- It's flooding
- I'm peeing (someone sat next to you in a puddle)
- Sorry I farted (me)
- After completing Daren entrance crawl 'we don't know the way let's do another hour long crawl'
- *panicked screaming*
- Ash making me survey Coolagh bedding plane 'you need to crawl to the end to make sure you really can't fit' and 'ooo look another oxbow'
Seven public figures you'd least like to go caving with ...
- Roary the racing car
- Thomas the tank engine
- Clifford the big red dog
- Noo-noo the Teletubbies hoover
- Other top lads that would be impractical to cave with
Six of the weirdest things you've done, seen or heard of in connection with caving ...
- Made a snowman with massive tits
- Had a topless/naked rave in my friend's primary school whilst the headteachers were there.
- Set fire to a hat on my head
- Fried custard
- Played curling in a frozen caving hut carpark, with people sat in giant sauce pans as the curling ball, and many many sweepers.
- A bread fight with huge bin bags of bread from the bins.
Five of your favourite caves ...
- Giant's Cavern
- Swildon's Hole
- Titan-JH
- Marble Arch
- Otter Hole
Four pieces of gear you've fallen in love with ...
- Wet socks
- My wellies that fit
- Pantin
- Lights that aren't shit
Three of the best caving books you've read ...
- The Cave Starter Pack by Dominika Wroblewska
- The Gouffre Berger Book
- Mendip Underground
Two of your favourite caving regions ...
- The Peak District
- Yorkshire
One thing you'd tell yourself as a fresher ...
One day you will be able to reach the deviation
I am the Secretary of UBSS, currently in my third year studying Environmental Geoscience (not really I actually just spend all my time caving and climbing trees). The first time I tried caving was in sixth form; I vowed I would never go again because it was kinda grim, and I was sooo exhausted after I could barely walk. As I have a terrible memory I forgot that I didn't like it, only remembering that I really liked the cool rocks, and kept signing up for trips. I then joined Sheffield University Speleological Society (SUSS) for a year before coming to Bristol, and now love caving.
Ten words to summarise your caving career ...
Mud love: Noob meets cave, becomes worm, cave becomes life.
Nine cavers (living or dead) you would like to go for a drink with ...
- Mia
- Batman
- Emmott
- Dave Catell for rescuing me from Mistrel
- Botch
- Omri Porat
- Imogen cos I owe her a pint
- Megan
- pretty much any caver, cavers fun, always up for a pub drink
Eight things you never want/wanted to hear underground ...
- We're locked in
- There is snow falling in the cave
- It's flooding
- I'm peeing (someone sat next to you in a puddle)
- Sorry I farted (me)
- After completing Daren entrance crawl 'we don't know the way let's do another hour long crawl'
- *panicked screaming*
- Ash making me survey Coolagh bedding plane 'you need to crawl to the end to make sure you really can't fit' and 'ooo look another oxbow'
Seven public figures you'd least like to go caving with ...
- Roary the racing car
- Thomas the tank engine
- Clifford the big red dog
- Noo-noo the Teletubbies hoover
- Other top lads that would be impractical to cave with
Six of the weirdest things you've done, seen or heard of in connection with caving ...
- Made a snowman with massive tits
- Had a topless/naked rave in my friend's primary school whilst the headteachers were there.
- Set fire to a hat on my head
- Fried custard
- Played curling in a frozen caving hut carpark, with people sat in giant sauce pans as the curling ball, and many many sweepers.
- A bread fight with huge bin bags of bread from the bins.
Five of your favourite caves ...
- Giant's Cavern
- Swildon's Hole
- Titan-JH
- Marble Arch
- Otter Hole
Four pieces of gear you've fallen in love with ...
- Wet socks
- My wellies that fit
- Pantin
- Lights that aren't shit
Three of the best caving books you've read ...
- The Cave Starter Pack by Dominika Wroblewska
- The Gouffre Berger Book
- Mendip Underground
Two of your favourite caving regions ...
- The Peak District
- Yorkshire
One thing you'd tell yourself as a fresher ...
One day you will be able to reach the deviation
COUNTDOWN TO CAVING WITH ... DICK WILLIS
I somehow graduated with a Zoology Degree in 1974, despite devoting very little time to studies. I fell in love with caving after being taken down Swildons by a motley crew of UBSS members in my first year. Somehow, I blagged my way onto the New Guinea '75 expedition as a biological assistant (joke) and subsequently took part in multiple expeditions from Europe to Central Asia and from China down through Thailand and Borneo to New Guinea (again). Expeditions became the focus of my life to the detriment of most other things; the combination of adventure, exploration, camaraderie, exposure to new peoples and environments was addictive. I’ve never had a career, my work was always a matter of providing enough time and cash to go on the next trip. I never planned any of it, but I have been staggeringly lucky with what I have done and the friends I have made in the process.
Ten words to summarise your caving career …
A prime example of good luck overcoming the imposter syndrome
Nine cavers (living or dead) you would like to go for a drink with ...
- Dave Checkley – one of the brightest and most humane people I have been privileged to know, whose mind, persona and life were stolen by dementia.
- Dave Yeandle and Chas Yonge – two members of the New Guinea 75 team who are no longer with us.
- Chris Smart, who started me caving, and his brother (Emeritus Prof) Pete Smart who has been an inspiration, teacher and slave driver on lots of trips.
- Tony Waltham and Andy Eavis, who provided me with so many expedition opportunities and tolerated my incompetence.
- Paul Seddon, whose irrepressible good humour has made me laugh more than anyone else.
- Colin Boothroyd because I worry that without me to provide a note of caution, he’s going to hurt himself (again)
Eight things you never want/wanted to hear underground …
- “Er, I think I’ve got the shits” (especially in a crabwalk.)
- “Sorry, I forgot the rope protectors” (heard in the days before bolts became common.)
- “It doesn’t matter that it’s loose, the angle of load means it won’t pull out” (in the early days of bolting, at the head of the bottom pitch in the PSM.)
- The sound of a flood pulse coming towards me.
- “Didn’t you bring the lighter?” (on an underground camp ready to make a brew, when you thought the other person had it.)
- “The rope’s a bit short but I think I can get off it, OK”. Followed by “Bugger, it’s sprung back and I can’t reach it.” (C.Boothroyd, G.Sewu, Java. From the bottom of a 50m pitch, an hour into a system.)
- “It doesn’t go”.
- “You know that passage that you said didn’t go, well it does”
Seven public figures you'd least like to go caving with ...
- Bear Grylls. A money-grubbing, unscrupulous charlatan. I sued him once, but he settled before going to Court.
- Perm any 6 characters from any post 2010 Cabinet.
Six of the weirdest things you've done, seen or heard of in connection with caving ...
I can’t think of anything weird, but these were all pretty stupid:
- Volunteering to the back-up diver to Steve Jones in a cave on the Red River catchment in China. Fortunately, the viz was so appalling and the passage so tight that he gave up.
- Hiding my stash of grass in a molehill behind a caving hut in Yorkshire, in anticipation of a drug squad raid (which happened). In the morning I found the field full of molehills…
- Finding the route through Buxton’s Horror (Swildon’s Sump 5) in flood by having someone hold my feet while I felt around for the next airbell.
- Rigging the Y-Frontier in Armistice Series, Clearwater with Colin. 50m deep and 12m across, rimmed by loose boulders and rubble. It took 5 hours to set up the rope. It’s got to go but we couldn’t find the way on.
- Following Paul Seddon through a duck that he had created by kicking at the rotting carcass of a pig in the streamway of a cave in Irian. The cave is still going, we ran out of gear…
- Doing a trip down Monte Cucco with an Italian who spoke no English (I spoke no Italian) on brand new rope using a borrowed Italian SRT rig that only had one cows-tail.
Five of your favourite caves ...
- The Clearwater Cave System, Mulu, Sarawak. 220km plus of staggeringly wonderful cave, almost certainly the world’s biggest cave by volume and still going.
- Swildon’s Hole, Priddy. It’s got everything other than a decent pitch and it’s close to the Hunter’s.
- Cueva del Agua, Tresviso, Picos de Europa Eastern Massif. Like Swildon’s but bigger and with a longer walk to the bar.
- Cobweb Cave, Mulu, Sarawak. A phreatic complex that’s quite different to Clearwater. It requires a stay at Camp 5 in the Melinau Gorge, one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
- Ceblok, G.Sewu, Central Java. This is a two-pitch descent down a hole in the middle of a village. It has no great redeeming features other than what it represents. At the bottom is small stream and following our visit and survey in 1983, engineers drove a well from the surface to provide bucket access to the stream. This saved the villagers a 2 hour walk to get water in the dry season. One of the very, very best things I have ever done.
Four pieces of gear you've fallen in love with ...
- Sealskin socks.
- Petzl Stop – so much easier than a rack.
- My large Karrimor rucksack. Part of a sponsorship deal in 1980 (or was it ’84?), on which they embroidered my name. It’s been with me on every expedition ever since and is still fully serviceable, although Karrimor have twice had it back for free repairs. What should I do with it, now that I’ve stopped?
- Petzl Expedition carbide light. Not as convenient or bright as an LED but a good carbide provides all round light and warmth if you are stuck in a cold spot.
Three of the best caving books you've read ...
- Aquanaut by Rick Stanton
- Beneath the Cloud Forests by Howard Beck (about Papua New Guinea)
- The Darkness Beckons by Martyn Farr.
Two of your favourite caving regions ...
- Mulu, big caves hidden in rainforest, wonderful.
- Gunung Sewu, small, interesting caves located among villages of dirt-poor local people whose hospitality was humbling.
One thing you'd tell yourself as a fresher ...
Do some work.
I somehow graduated with a Zoology Degree in 1974, despite devoting very little time to studies. I fell in love with caving after being taken down Swildons by a motley crew of UBSS members in my first year. Somehow, I blagged my way onto the New Guinea '75 expedition as a biological assistant (joke) and subsequently took part in multiple expeditions from Europe to Central Asia and from China down through Thailand and Borneo to New Guinea (again). Expeditions became the focus of my life to the detriment of most other things; the combination of adventure, exploration, camaraderie, exposure to new peoples and environments was addictive. I’ve never had a career, my work was always a matter of providing enough time and cash to go on the next trip. I never planned any of it, but I have been staggeringly lucky with what I have done and the friends I have made in the process.
Ten words to summarise your caving career …
A prime example of good luck overcoming the imposter syndrome
Nine cavers (living or dead) you would like to go for a drink with ...
- Dave Checkley – one of the brightest and most humane people I have been privileged to know, whose mind, persona and life were stolen by dementia.
- Dave Yeandle and Chas Yonge – two members of the New Guinea 75 team who are no longer with us.
- Chris Smart, who started me caving, and his brother (Emeritus Prof) Pete Smart who has been an inspiration, teacher and slave driver on lots of trips.
- Tony Waltham and Andy Eavis, who provided me with so many expedition opportunities and tolerated my incompetence.
- Paul Seddon, whose irrepressible good humour has made me laugh more than anyone else.
- Colin Boothroyd because I worry that without me to provide a note of caution, he’s going to hurt himself (again)
Eight things you never want/wanted to hear underground …
- “Er, I think I’ve got the shits” (especially in a crabwalk.)
- “Sorry, I forgot the rope protectors” (heard in the days before bolts became common.)
- “It doesn’t matter that it’s loose, the angle of load means it won’t pull out” (in the early days of bolting, at the head of the bottom pitch in the PSM.)
- The sound of a flood pulse coming towards me.
- “Didn’t you bring the lighter?” (on an underground camp ready to make a brew, when you thought the other person had it.)
- “The rope’s a bit short but I think I can get off it, OK”. Followed by “Bugger, it’s sprung back and I can’t reach it.” (C.Boothroyd, G.Sewu, Java. From the bottom of a 50m pitch, an hour into a system.)
- “It doesn’t go”.
- “You know that passage that you said didn’t go, well it does”
Seven public figures you'd least like to go caving with ...
- Bear Grylls. A money-grubbing, unscrupulous charlatan. I sued him once, but he settled before going to Court.
- Perm any 6 characters from any post 2010 Cabinet.
Six of the weirdest things you've done, seen or heard of in connection with caving ...
I can’t think of anything weird, but these were all pretty stupid:
- Volunteering to the back-up diver to Steve Jones in a cave on the Red River catchment in China. Fortunately, the viz was so appalling and the passage so tight that he gave up.
- Hiding my stash of grass in a molehill behind a caving hut in Yorkshire, in anticipation of a drug squad raid (which happened). In the morning I found the field full of molehills…
- Finding the route through Buxton’s Horror (Swildon’s Sump 5) in flood by having someone hold my feet while I felt around for the next airbell.
- Rigging the Y-Frontier in Armistice Series, Clearwater with Colin. 50m deep and 12m across, rimmed by loose boulders and rubble. It took 5 hours to set up the rope. It’s got to go but we couldn’t find the way on.
- Following Paul Seddon through a duck that he had created by kicking at the rotting carcass of a pig in the streamway of a cave in Irian. The cave is still going, we ran out of gear…
- Doing a trip down Monte Cucco with an Italian who spoke no English (I spoke no Italian) on brand new rope using a borrowed Italian SRT rig that only had one cows-tail.
Five of your favourite caves ...
- The Clearwater Cave System, Mulu, Sarawak. 220km plus of staggeringly wonderful cave, almost certainly the world’s biggest cave by volume and still going.
- Swildon’s Hole, Priddy. It’s got everything other than a decent pitch and it’s close to the Hunter’s.
- Cueva del Agua, Tresviso, Picos de Europa Eastern Massif. Like Swildon’s but bigger and with a longer walk to the bar.
- Cobweb Cave, Mulu, Sarawak. A phreatic complex that’s quite different to Clearwater. It requires a stay at Camp 5 in the Melinau Gorge, one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
- Ceblok, G.Sewu, Central Java. This is a two-pitch descent down a hole in the middle of a village. It has no great redeeming features other than what it represents. At the bottom is small stream and following our visit and survey in 1983, engineers drove a well from the surface to provide bucket access to the stream. This saved the villagers a 2 hour walk to get water in the dry season. One of the very, very best things I have ever done.
Four pieces of gear you've fallen in love with ...
- Sealskin socks.
- Petzl Stop – so much easier than a rack.
- My large Karrimor rucksack. Part of a sponsorship deal in 1980 (or was it ’84?), on which they embroidered my name. It’s been with me on every expedition ever since and is still fully serviceable, although Karrimor have twice had it back for free repairs. What should I do with it, now that I’ve stopped?
- Petzl Expedition carbide light. Not as convenient or bright as an LED but a good carbide provides all round light and warmth if you are stuck in a cold spot.
Three of the best caving books you've read ...
- Aquanaut by Rick Stanton
- Beneath the Cloud Forests by Howard Beck (about Papua New Guinea)
- The Darkness Beckons by Martyn Farr.
Two of your favourite caving regions ...
- Mulu, big caves hidden in rainforest, wonderful.
- Gunung Sewu, small, interesting caves located among villages of dirt-poor local people whose hospitality was humbling.
One thing you'd tell yourself as a fresher ...
Do some work.
100 MEMORIES - MANOR FARM SWALLET
Mike Norton in the entrance shaft. Ten out of ten for good ladder climbing technique but minus five for lack of a lifeline and minus another five for the lack of a helmet. Remember, do as we say, not as we did!
After his mention of Manor Farm in last month's Read to the End reply, Mike Norton had his arm delicately twisted into putting pen to paper about the part he and other UBSS members played in its discovery.
Has anyone been to Manor Farm Swallet recently? Or have you been put off by the cesspit which drains into the cave below and used to make any scratches underground rather slow to heal?? It has an interesting history and is unusual in that several clubs contributed to opening it up. Of course UBSS was the most important but we didn’t finish the job and left it to others to discover much of the cave! That was because I decamped to Canada at a critical time in 1968 after going at it for years! Here is my experience of the saga and the ups and downs of this long dig!
You can see the history in my proceedings paper of 1969 and also some old cinefootage that Trat took showing the all-important installation of the concrete pipes in 1961. Up to then all the progress made during the summer was reversed as the winter rains filled the shaft back up again. However with the stability of the pipes, we made year on year progress and digging became more comfortable after we had built a diversion channel for the stream and an air compressor for ventilation. So in Union Week 1966, we had the excitement of finding rocks dropping below us and a hole opened.
Mike and Sue Norton outside Manor Farm.
That’s a really exciting moment when you realise that you have broken through to something. We rushed into a wide low passage that just led to another blockage but with a stream running and a couple of narrow rifts, so it looked promising. We returned the next day to start the next dig but soon noticed there seemed to be a lot of rocks running down the slope (one whizzed just past my ear) and we only just got out in time before the foundations of the concrete pipes collapsed completely and sealed our short-lived entrance!
Of course if you have been in the UBSS for long enough you’ll know we don‘t give up easily and I, Dave Savage and (as I remember it, Keith Hanna) decided to identify any promising location for a vertical shaft to intercept our short glimpse into the underworld. We guessed the direction of the passage, adjusted that to allow the farmer access to his cesspit and started digging the topsoil the next day. We soon hit rock and that was when the fun started!
Our first attempt at blasting used some plaster explosive which Dave Drew happened to have but our first shot rained debris all over the barn and cracked a window or two. Even though Farmer Jefferies was a very understanding and sympathetic observer with dreams of a show cave similar to Cheddar, we thought that was a bit much, so decided to go to the more sophisticated approach of placing corrugated iron over the hole when we blew.
We got some lovely photographs of corrugated iron flying in various directions which unfortunately I cannot find, but it also turned out pretty tedious to make shotholes with a lump hammer and drill so we asked for some donations from members (this was before the days of the Tratman and Lloyd memorial funds) to allow us to hire a Kango rotary hammer rock drill starting in December 1966. That led to an often weekly routine in our Triumph Herald of a) pick up the drill b) go to Oliver’s to pick up tbe Bang (unless there was enough left over from the previous weekend’s expedition safely stored under our bed), drive up to Manor Farm (with the bang in the boot and the detonators in the front for Health and Safety), drill 6-8 shot-holes, load with gelignite, connect with cordtex and detonators, retire to above and BANG. Then the wait until the fumes had cleared enough to return - sometimes later the same day, sometimes the next week - when the rocks could be loaded into buckets and winched up before restarting the drilling.
The hammer drill did allow you to get rid of a few inches of rock each time-if lucky, but you had to be careful! On one occasion I remember a very soft part of rock which turned out to be an intact stick of gelignite left over from the previous bang. On another occasion I went back too soon with fumes still there and got very sleepy and was quite happy to use the bucket as a pillow as I tried to lie down. Fortunately the surface party which included my wife Sue insisted I get back up to the surface! Also it is possible that those two years of hammering may be why I have had to have surgery on both wrists to keep them going! And Dave Savage split a finger in half under an unfriendly rock and had to be rushed in our own ambulance to Bristol Royal Infirmary. So some of us have lifetime scars from our experience!!
Newspaper cutting from the original discovery.
Anyway, as we went down deeper and deeper we had clearly overshot the cave and we were starting to widen a small side rift when the 1968 floods opened up a huge sinkhole nearby. On the one hand it showed that we had been digging in the wrong place but on the other hand we still had an intact shaft incapable of being washed away! Just as in the original breakthrough, the new entrance led to another blockage but there was a rift coming from the direction of our shaft so we started widening that, encouraged by the discovery of detonator wire. Unfortunately at that tantalising time, and with the farmer filling in the new hole with abandoned cars, I had to leave for Canada to take up a postdoc. With my main collaborator Martin Joyce also leaving, momentum was lost and it was left to other clubs to finish off the connection with the rock shaft and dig through to the main cave. In total we had got through almost half a kilometre of Cordtex fuse, and goodness knows how much of Oliver Lloyd’s gelignite!
With thanks to all those who helped, I would like to show some interesting photographs but all I can find are one of me relaxing at the top waiting for the fumes to clear, Sue proudly displaying her dapper husband-to-be, me looking at the current entrance and a press clipping. Try going down sometime and judge whether it was all worth it!
Mike Norton
Mike Norton in the entrance shaft. Ten out of ten for good ladder climbing technique but minus five for lack of a lifeline and minus another five for the lack of a helmet. Remember, do as we say, not as we did!
After his mention of Manor Farm in last month's Read to the End reply, Mike Norton had his arm delicately twisted into putting pen to paper about the part he and other UBSS members played in its discovery.
Has anyone been to Manor Farm Swallet recently? Or have you been put off by the cesspit which drains into the cave below and used to make any scratches underground rather slow to heal?? It has an interesting history and is unusual in that several clubs contributed to opening it up. Of course UBSS was the most important but we didn’t finish the job and left it to others to discover much of the cave! That was because I decamped to Canada at a critical time in 1968 after going at it for years! Here is my experience of the saga and the ups and downs of this long dig!
You can see the history in my proceedings paper of 1969 and also some old cinefootage that Trat took showing the all-important installation of the concrete pipes in 1961. Up to then all the progress made during the summer was reversed as the winter rains filled the shaft back up again. However with the stability of the pipes, we made year on year progress and digging became more comfortable after we had built a diversion channel for the stream and an air compressor for ventilation. So in Union Week 1966, we had the excitement of finding rocks dropping below us and a hole opened.
Mike and Sue Norton outside Manor Farm.
That’s a really exciting moment when you realise that you have broken through to something. We rushed into a wide low passage that just led to another blockage but with a stream running and a couple of narrow rifts, so it looked promising. We returned the next day to start the next dig but soon noticed there seemed to be a lot of rocks running down the slope (one whizzed just past my ear) and we only just got out in time before the foundations of the concrete pipes collapsed completely and sealed our short-lived entrance!
Of course if you have been in the UBSS for long enough you’ll know we don‘t give up easily and I, Dave Savage and (as I remember it, Keith Hanna) decided to identify any promising location for a vertical shaft to intercept our short glimpse into the underworld. We guessed the direction of the passage, adjusted that to allow the farmer access to his cesspit and started digging the topsoil the next day. We soon hit rock and that was when the fun started!
Our first attempt at blasting used some plaster explosive which Dave Drew happened to have but our first shot rained debris all over the barn and cracked a window or two. Even though Farmer Jefferies was a very understanding and sympathetic observer with dreams of a show cave similar to Cheddar, we thought that was a bit much, so decided to go to the more sophisticated approach of placing corrugated iron over the hole when we blew.
We got some lovely photographs of corrugated iron flying in various directions which unfortunately I cannot find, but it also turned out pretty tedious to make shotholes with a lump hammer and drill so we asked for some donations from members (this was before the days of the Tratman and Lloyd memorial funds) to allow us to hire a Kango rotary hammer rock drill starting in December 1966. That led to an often weekly routine in our Triumph Herald of a) pick up the drill b) go to Oliver’s to pick up tbe Bang (unless there was enough left over from the previous weekend’s expedition safely stored under our bed), drive up to Manor Farm (with the bang in the boot and the detonators in the front for Health and Safety), drill 6-8 shot-holes, load with gelignite, connect with cordtex and detonators, retire to above and BANG. Then the wait until the fumes had cleared enough to return - sometimes later the same day, sometimes the next week - when the rocks could be loaded into buckets and winched up before restarting the drilling.
The hammer drill did allow you to get rid of a few inches of rock each time-if lucky, but you had to be careful! On one occasion I remember a very soft part of rock which turned out to be an intact stick of gelignite left over from the previous bang. On another occasion I went back too soon with fumes still there and got very sleepy and was quite happy to use the bucket as a pillow as I tried to lie down. Fortunately the surface party which included my wife Sue insisted I get back up to the surface! Also it is possible that those two years of hammering may be why I have had to have surgery on both wrists to keep them going! And Dave Savage split a finger in half under an unfriendly rock and had to be rushed in our own ambulance to Bristol Royal Infirmary. So some of us have lifetime scars from our experience!!
Newspaper cutting from the original discovery.
Anyway, as we went down deeper and deeper we had clearly overshot the cave and we were starting to widen a small side rift when the 1968 floods opened up a huge sinkhole nearby. On the one hand it showed that we had been digging in the wrong place but on the other hand we still had an intact shaft incapable of being washed away! Just as in the original breakthrough, the new entrance led to another blockage but there was a rift coming from the direction of our shaft so we started widening that, encouraged by the discovery of detonator wire. Unfortunately at that tantalising time, and with the farmer filling in the new hole with abandoned cars, I had to leave for Canada to take up a postdoc. With my main collaborator Martin Joyce also leaving, momentum was lost and it was left to other clubs to finish off the connection with the rock shaft and dig through to the main cave. In total we had got through almost half a kilometre of Cordtex fuse, and goodness knows how much of Oliver Lloyd’s gelignite!
With thanks to all those who helped, I would like to show some interesting photographs but all I can find are one of me relaxing at the top waiting for the fumes to clear, Sue proudly displaying her dapper husband-to-be, me looking at the current entrance and a press clipping. Try going down sometime and judge whether it was all worth it!
Mike Norton
BRITISH CAVING ASSOCIATION BALLOT RESULTS
The results are in! Thank you to all UBSS members who took the time to vote in the election. As the BCA's Returning Officer said in the announcement, you have all helped shape the future of British caving.
The following is taken from the summary sent out by the Returning Officer. A full breakdown of the results can be found on the BCA website. There is also a link to a full breakdown of the votes.
The results are in! Thank you to all UBSS members who took the time to vote in the election. As the BCA's Returning Officer said in the announcement, you have all helped shape the future of British caving.
The following is taken from the summary sent out by the Returning Officer. A full breakdown of the results can be found on the BCA website. There is also a link to a full breakdown of the votes.
Chair: the winning candidate is Russell Myers
Secretary: the winning candidate is Allan Richardson
Training Officer the winning candidate is Steve Gray
Individual Member representatives: the winning candidates are Nigel Atkins and Josh White
Proposals:
I. Remove requirement for regional anchor installer trainers/assessors to be subject to approval from the Equipment & Techniques Committee Passes
2. Changes to Section 10.1 of the Constitution:
A) Be entirely removed
B) Have the first line removed
C) Be entirely re-written All Options Fail
3. Replacement of Standing Committees with Working Groups, merging of responsibilities of Training and Equipment & Techniques, and removal of Publications & Information Officer Passes
4. Adjustments to the Constitution to facilitate Online AGMs and the following Online ballots Passes
5. Replacement of gendered role titles with gender-neutral alternatives throughout the Constitution Passes
6. Updates to the Equality & Diversity Policy Passes.
LETTER TO THE EDITORS
A remark from our Hon Prezz in the last issue have sparked several comments about the enduring nature of UBSS relationships, as Eve Gilmore says below. For those that didn't know him, OCL was Oliver Cromwell Lloyd, a former UBSS Hon Moneybags and secretary of the Cave Diving Group.
Dear Editors,
Oh I forgot!
The other reason I wasn’t the first to read the newsletter this time was that Chris and I have been celebrating our Golden Wedding anniversary!
We were both UBSS members and met down GB cave where Chris remarked on the size of my hips as I struggled out of the entrance.
He scorned my caving ability as he was a cave diver as well as a “hard caver”. He discovered Little Neath River Cave by diving through the sump. He also extended Wookey (with me and OCL often being supports). Chris can’t sing in tune but tolerated OCL and I singing various ditties. I also spent happy times with Trat doing “digs” and gentle caving ! OCL came to our wedding and was very supportive in an ”Oliver sort of way”. We kept in touch with Trat for many years until his death.
Chris and I have UBSS to thank for a long and successful marriage.
Eve Gilmore
A remark from our Hon Prezz in the last issue have sparked several comments about the enduring nature of UBSS relationships, as Eve Gilmore says below. For those that didn't know him, OCL was Oliver Cromwell Lloyd, a former UBSS Hon Moneybags and secretary of the Cave Diving Group.
Dear Editors,
Oh I forgot!
The other reason I wasn’t the first to read the newsletter this time was that Chris and I have been celebrating our Golden Wedding anniversary!
We were both UBSS members and met down GB cave where Chris remarked on the size of my hips as I struggled out of the entrance.
He scorned my caving ability as he was a cave diver as well as a “hard caver”. He discovered Little Neath River Cave by diving through the sump. He also extended Wookey (with me and OCL often being supports). Chris can’t sing in tune but tolerated OCL and I singing various ditties. I also spent happy times with Trat doing “digs” and gentle caving ! OCL came to our wedding and was very supportive in an ”Oliver sort of way”. We kept in touch with Trat for many years until his death.
Chris and I have UBSS to thank for a long and successful marriage.
Eve Gilmore
CAVING DOG READ TO THE END, DID YOU?
With apologies from your lazy editors to whoever made the original image!
Many congratulations to new member Ewan Aitchison-Hough who galloped through the last newsletter at speed to meet caving mascot Damien and win a UBSS Buff as his prize! He was a worthy winner and claimed his prize at a pub meet. Welcome to the club, Ewan!
The (non) prize for the first out of office reply on this occasion went to Adelle Bricking and the non-student winner was Jacob Podesta! (Jacob, if you're down at Bonfire weekend, claim a keyring torch off Henry.) And last, but certainly not least was UBSS Vice-Prezz Cat Henry, who also came last with the previous issue! Cat gets the coveted 'Must Try Harder' badge.
As ever, we'll find a prize of some sort for the next worthy winner!
- Made it! I'm excited to start caving with everyone (Ewan Aitchison-Hough]
- I don't really get the thing with the orang-utan, maybe I need to re-read some back issues... [Jacob Podesta] [Editors' Note: nope, Damien made his first appearance in the newsletter last month,]
- This is Mike Norton ('60s Hon Sec and Manor Farm and GB Ladder Dig notoriety). Just a congrats on the recent activities that indicate UBSS is very much alive and well, and on the excellence of the newsletter. A big contrast with the amateurishly-typed Roneo skins that we produced in the 60's!! Great to see you still so active and best wishes to all of you. [Mike Norton]
- Harry Potter caving edition? That ought to be more widely available. [Chris Howes]
- Good fun on Friday morning! [Hans Friederich]
- Another way to procrastinate. Hope all is well [Stu Walker]
- Hi Damien, I did it, I read to the end! [Galina Self]
- So agree with Elaine Oliver that the friends you make will last longer - as our 50 year UBSS reunion in Co Clare in 2018 showed - with the people we went caving at Bristol with in the 1960s. Gosh yes, Friends For Life - I'm 74 and I still have UBSS friends in close touch from when I was 18! [Steve Trudgill]
- I did, late. I cannot believe that Elaine would really have liked to go caving with Lloyd, much better to go mushroom collecting and drink wine. [Dick Willis] [Editors' note; in her defence, she actually said she'd like to go for a drink with him.]
- I did read to the end, though it took some time as I seem to be spending a lot of time in queues for basic necessities. This is what happens when the bloody tories get in. And who are all these Wheelers in the newsletter these days? There was only ever one in my day. [Ian Wheeler]
- Took my time ….(been to Shetland!) Thank you for my prize last time! [Eve Gilmore]
- And much quicker than last time too!!! what's by being last prize for last tie? is that really a thing? [Cat Henry] [Yep, it's a thing! We'll buy you a drink next time we see you!]
So, as you can see, there's everything to play for! Let us know when you read to the end and you might win a prize!.
THE END
With apologies from your lazy editors to whoever made the original image!
Many congratulations to new member Ewan Aitchison-Hough who galloped through the last newsletter at speed to meet caving mascot Damien and win a UBSS Buff as his prize! He was a worthy winner and claimed his prize at a pub meet. Welcome to the club, Ewan!
The (non) prize for the first out of office reply on this occasion went to Adelle Bricking and the non-student winner was Jacob Podesta! (Jacob, if you're down at Bonfire weekend, claim a keyring torch off Henry.) And last, but certainly not least was UBSS Vice-Prezz Cat Henry, who also came last with the previous issue! Cat gets the coveted 'Must Try Harder' badge.
As ever, we'll find a prize of some sort for the next worthy winner!
- Made it! I'm excited to start caving with everyone (Ewan Aitchison-Hough]
- I don't really get the thing with the orang-utan, maybe I need to re-read some back issues... [Jacob Podesta] [Editors' Note: nope, Damien made his first appearance in the newsletter last month,]
- This is Mike Norton ('60s Hon Sec and Manor Farm and GB Ladder Dig notoriety). Just a congrats on the recent activities that indicate UBSS is very much alive and well, and on the excellence of the newsletter. A big contrast with the amateurishly-typed Roneo skins that we produced in the 60's!! Great to see you still so active and best wishes to all of you. [Mike Norton]
- Harry Potter caving edition? That ought to be more widely available. [Chris Howes]
- Good fun on Friday morning! [Hans Friederich]
- Another way to procrastinate. Hope all is well [Stu Walker]
- Hi Damien, I did it, I read to the end! [Galina Self]
- So agree with Elaine Oliver that the friends you make will last longer - as our 50 year UBSS reunion in Co Clare in 2018 showed - with the people we went caving at Bristol with in the 1960s. Gosh yes, Friends For Life - I'm 74 and I still have UBSS friends in close touch from when I was 18! [Steve Trudgill]
- I did, late. I cannot believe that Elaine would really have liked to go caving with Lloyd, much better to go mushroom collecting and drink wine. [Dick Willis] [Editors' note; in her defence, she actually said she'd like to go for a drink with him.]
- I did read to the end, though it took some time as I seem to be spending a lot of time in queues for basic necessities. This is what happens when the bloody tories get in. And who are all these Wheelers in the newsletter these days? There was only ever one in my day. [Ian Wheeler]
- Took my time ….(been to Shetland!) Thank you for my prize last time! [Eve Gilmore]
- And much quicker than last time too!!! what's by being last prize for last tie? is that really a thing? [Cat Henry] [Yep, it's a thing! We'll buy you a drink next time we see you!]
So, as you can see, there's everything to play for! Let us know when you read to the end and you might win a prize!.
THE END