The swimming deer in Lascaux. Official press photo supplied from the opening of Lascaux IV.
This
summer has been a busy one on the caving front, with some members
joining the Cambridge Austria Expo, one caving in France and another in
Vietnam! And our museum mascot even wangled a trip to the world-famous
painted cave of Lascaux!
As you'll see, Hidden Earth is back and once again, it's near Bristol, so no excuse not to go. One of the sessions is a workshop on the future of club newsletters, as some clubs are struggling (as we did) with producing paper newsletters. One problem being that the news loses any sense of immediacy and gets harder to gather. But news items generally don't come up to present themselves, tails wagging, at your beloved editors' feet. We mostly have to coax, cajole, bribe and nag. To everyone else's credit, we haven't yet been hit on the head with a brick and told to stop. So please keep feeding us tidbits, and do let us have some more memories of times past, as these always seem popular.
We're delighted to have finally embarked on our journey towards the accreditation of the museum and library with by the Arts Council and very much hope we'll be able to meet the required standards, but even if, for reasons outside our control we aren't able to succeed, we will still have done a huge amount of work and future-proofing of the management of the collection, and at the moment, we're travelling very hopefully!
You can find all the back issues of the monthly newsletter online. So if you're relaxing in the sun somewhere, take a look at what the club has been up in past months and years. With very worm wishes for the remainder of the summer, despite the recent heavy rain!
As you'll see, Hidden Earth is back and once again, it's near Bristol, so no excuse not to go. One of the sessions is a workshop on the future of club newsletters, as some clubs are struggling (as we did) with producing paper newsletters. One problem being that the news loses any sense of immediacy and gets harder to gather. But news items generally don't come up to present themselves, tails wagging, at your beloved editors' feet. We mostly have to coax, cajole, bribe and nag. To everyone else's credit, we haven't yet been hit on the head with a brick and told to stop. So please keep feeding us tidbits, and do let us have some more memories of times past, as these always seem popular.
We're delighted to have finally embarked on our journey towards the accreditation of the museum and library with by the Arts Council and very much hope we'll be able to meet the required standards, but even if, for reasons outside our control we aren't able to succeed, we will still have done a huge amount of work and future-proofing of the management of the collection, and at the moment, we're travelling very hopefully!
You can find all the back issues of the monthly newsletter online. So if you're relaxing in the sun somewhere, take a look at what the club has been up in past months and years.
Linda and Alex
OFFICIALLY AWESOME!
We've always known Chief Worm Mia Jacobs is awesome, but now it's official!
LET'S GO FISHING!
Fishing for answers image created by Jess Peto.Are you free on the 19th August 2023?
We're intending to go fishing for some more answers in Fishmonger's Swallet, Alveston near Bristol on 19th August. We'll be carrying out another archaeological dig in the cave, so this is an unparalled opportunity to get very muddy indeed helping to haul buckets of mud and rocks to the surface and help to wet sieve each one for bone and pot fragments. Sounds attractive? Of course it is! we're cavers, aren't we? We like playing in mud.
Fishmonger's is a fascinating cave and not just for the wealth of archaeological material it's yielded. The last issue of our Proceedings was dedicated to the site, with the history of exploration and reports on the human and faunal remains, as well as the geology.
Digging in Bone Idle Chamber. Nathan Cubitt (right), Adelle Bricking (middle). Photo by Linda Wilson.
The human remains have been dated to the late Iron Age, just prior to the Roman invasion, and the fracture of a human long bone, characteristic of the splits made for marrow extraction, have led to an inference of cannibalism, which has proved to be of enduring media fascination. There were also large numbers of dog bones, mostly the size of small greyhounds, but some are smaller and might well represent the smallest known Iron Age dog, dating to around 125 BC. Recent DNA work by our colleagues at the Crick Institute has shown the dog, known as Harris, to be female and we're waiting to hear if the genetic material will yield more detailed information such hair colour. Small dogs were originally thought to have been introduced to Great Britain by the Romans, but Harris and others have now shown this view to be incorrect.
Human tooth found by Dr Adelle Bricking on our last dig.
If you'd like to help us fish for more answers in this amazing site, let me know, and join us on the dig! I can probably arrange transport if you need it. The site is only about 15 - 20 minutes north of Bristol. You'll also get an exclusive Harris sticker as a reward. Can't say fairer than that, can we?
Linda Wilson
HIDDEN EARTH IS BACK!
The Plague combined with problems finding a large enough venue to suit hundreds of boozy cavers has kept Hidden Earth, the UK's largest caving extravaganza, off the calendar since 2019, but it's finally back, and it's happening near Bristol!
After much hard work by the organising team, the venue for 2023 has been confirmed as Gordano School in Portishead, only a short drive from Bristol. The dates are the 15th - 17th September. There'll be a wide variety of talks, workshops, competition, club and trade stands, and plenty of time to meet friends and mingle in the bar.
Tickets are not yet available, but some talks have already been confirmed, with loads more to follow.
Keep an eye on the Hidden Earth website for ticket sales and other information.
We'll be having a UBSS stand so we can sell our books and showcase the club, so do come along to help out!
The Plague combined with problems finding a large enough venue to suit hundreds of boozy cavers has kept Hidden Earth, the UK's largest caving extravaganza, off the calendar since 2019, but it's finally back, and it's happening near Bristol!
After much hard work by the organising team, the venue for 2023 has been confirmed as Gordano School in Portishead, only a short drive from Bristol. The dates are the 15th - 17th September. There'll be a wide variety of talks, workshops, competition, club and trade stands, and plenty of time to meet friends and mingle in the bar.
Tickets are not yet available, but some talks have already been confirmed, with loads more to follow.
Keep an eye on the Hidden Earth website for ticket sales and other information.
We'll be having a UBSS stand so we can sell our books and showcase the club, so do come along to help out!
LASCAUX COMES TO BRISTOL
Lascaux III's most famous visitor. Photo by Nathan Cubitt.
Most cavers will have heard of Lascaux, the amazing Upper Palaeolithic decorated cave located just outside Montignac in the Dordogne region of France. In April this year, a new version of the cave came to Bristol in an exhibition that runs until 10 September. Several UBSS members, including our own museum mascot Whatley Mammoth have ventured into the virtual reality world of this famous decorated cave. Here, Graham Mullan gives the background to the site, Whatley (with his faithful companion, Nathan Cubitt) susses out the competition and Linda Wilson goes crawling to some French dignitaries …
Lascaux was discovered in September 1940 by 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat when his dog, Robot, investigated a hole left by an uprooted tree. On exploring the cave, Ravidat and his friends discovered a wealth of paintings and engravings covering the walls and ceiling. These are considered to be early Magdalénien in age, that is they are around 21,000 years old.
The cave was opened to the public in July 1948 but by the mid-50s CO2, humidity and other contaminants produced by around 1,200 daily visitors were visibly amaging the art and eventually, in 1963 the cave was closed to the public.
In 1983, Lascaux II was opened. This is an excellent replica of the cave’s Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery, located on the hillside just 200m from the original cave. This attracted many thousands of visitors annually and used to be France’s largest visitor attraction after the palace of Versailles.
In time, concerns grew that the proximity of Lascaux II to the original and the traffic that it generated to the hillside was becoming part of the environmental threat, not just to the original cave but even to the replica and a decision was taken by the French government to build a new, larger replica of the cave at the foot of the hill and to turn the hillside into a reserve with only a few visitors and no traffic. This new replica, Lascaux IV, was opened on December 10th 2016 by President Hollande. An account of how Linda and I consumed our body-weight in foie gras at opening of the new site can be found here.
Painted horse. Photo taken at the opening of Lascaux IV by Linda Wilson.
So, that’s Lascaux I, II and IV. So what’s Lascaux III? This is an exhibition that has been travelling around the world since 2012. It includes replicas of the Shaft and the Nave as well as a wealth of associated archaeological, anthropological and ethnological material. However, there is now another travelling exhibition which might be called Lascaux IIIB.
Lascaux IIIB is a virtual reality tour of the cave, based on the scans that were carried out in the making of Lascaux IV. Due to an availability in its schedule, the exhibition was snapped up by Bristol City Museum.
Whatley Mammoth in front of one of the models in Bristol City Museum. Photo by Nathan Cubitt.
Hmm, goodness, gracious, great bulls of fire! What are they doing on my turf? Don’t they know that Bristol is Mammoth Territory? Naturally this flagrant breach of the gentlemammoth's agreement about not stepping on each other's toes warranted a look see before I decided whether a shake down was in order. So I went down there to take a look.
First off there's an accompanying exhibition, with large displays covering the discovery and exploration of the Lascaux cave system, along with various finds recovered from the site. This makes for a good introduction for those who know little about the incredible story of Lascaux. Also on display are amazing 3D scale models of Lascaux, which are a truly wonderful way to display a cave system, allowing you to peer into cross-sections. The interiors of the models included the cave paintings on the inside.
The main event, though, is the virtual reality experience. You enter a darkened room, with areas marked off on the floor for each person who has signed up for the experience. They are designed to allow you to move around, but are tied to the VR headset to stop you going too far or walking into a wall or another person.
After a safety and fitting briefing, in our instance given by a member of staff who goes caving (we chatted about the Mendips and Browne's Folly) we were handed our headsets. These are designed to fit any size head, from mammoth to children and once you’re properly equipped, you step into your designated area and get ready to go caving.
Wot, no mammoths? Whatley inspects the curious scene in the Pit. A duck on a stick looks the other way after a man with an erection unwisely picks a fight with a bison.
There's a few introductory things on navigating the experience, narrated by the voice of God, I mean a Morgan Freeman sound-a-like, who was our guide throughout the journey.
The VR itself is very smooth. It can be a bit disorientating to distantly hear God speak to others on the journey, but no more so than hearing people's voices from other chambers. The narrator guides you where to look, but you do have free reign within each chamber, although you can't go too far before hitting the virtual boundaries. The exploration and narration is very well handled, and VR opens up new experiences. Those 3D physical models we saw outside? They are in the VR too, but now you can put your head through the rock and see what's inside. A lovely touch.
On the whole it is like walking through a museum, until you get to the final chamber of the display. Now you are placed properly within the cave, and the floor is exactly as you'd expect, making you wonder how you are standing up when it slopes! It's hard to explain, but it was genuinely a close experience to that of actual caving. You could work out how you'd progress through the chamber and everything, whilst being fully safe. At any time you could stop and get help from the staff.
See, told you they had headsets fit for a mammoth!
The VR itself isn't necessarily a long experience, probably between 15-30 minutes depending on how you pace yourself, or spotted the experiences you had to complete to progress.
This mammoth was so impressed he won't be taking issue with Bristol Museum! Our only real gripe would be a lack of mammoth art in the VR world, which is at odds with what's in the museum shop! (Hint to the makers of soft toys – more aurochs and reindeer, please!)
VR has come a long way in recent years, and this was brilliant. The whole experience is highly recommended – and remember there are concession prices available at a cost of £10 for anyone aged 16–24.
I approached the idea of virtual reality with some trepidation, but having seen the original cave as well as the two physical replicas, I was determined to have a go at completing my Lascaux bingo card. However, my previous experience of VR wasn’t too great. In Lascaux 4 there’s a virtual fly through of the Passages of the Felines, a narrow section at the end of the cave with a vast number of lion engravings, and I was keen to see this as it’s beyond even the area you get to see on a rare visit to the original cave.
On that occasion, I donned the headset and was getting on really well, right up until the moment that I was almost overcome by the urge to projectile vomit all over the screen in front of me. I ripped the headset off just in time, but it was a very close run thing, and it was several minutes before I could safely stagger away. I had a splitting headache and felt nauseous for the rest of the afternoon. Other VR experiences followed much the same pattern, so I was pleased when we were able to visit the exhibition as part of the Museum’s Summer Open Evening. At least that way, if I threw up, it wouldn’t have cost me 15 quid for the privilege.
Much to my surprise and delight, once I’d got the headset adjusted, I had no problem, although I remained cautious the whole time. The images stood out in startling clarity, and the depth of the vision really helped transport me back into one of the best caving experiences I’ve ever had, with the aurochs, horses and bison all as clear and colourful as I remember them. We saw the original cave after a week of heavy rain in late November, and our guide told us we were lucky as the moisture in the walls intensifies the colours, and the 3D scan brings out the same effect.
Our facilitator in the City Museum warned us that at the end, we’re be invited by our virtual guide to get down on the floor and crawl around, but that it wasn’t compulsory. I was fully expecting not even to get that far, but to my surprise, I felt fine, although it was extremely disorientating to get down on my hands and knees in the real and virtual walls at the same time. I entered into the spirit of the thing and crawled around, peering at as much as I could, until I finally finished all there was to see and took the headset off …
… to find myself staring up at three people from the Museum and their two guests of honour, the Deputy Conseil Generale for the Dordogne region and the Director of the travelling exhibition. As Graham and I were the only visitors at that stage of the evening, it seemed only polite to express my appreciation in French, which promptly thrust me into a conversation with the two dignitaries, neither of whom spoke much English, who were accompanied by a member of the museum staff who spoke less French than me. On discovering that we have a house in the area and had visited the original cave, they happily chatted away for a while, until the official part of the evening started and we even got an impromptu name check in one of the speeches. It was a lovely evening, made all the better for the lack of projectile vomiting on my part!
Lascaux III's most famous visitor. Photo by Nathan Cubitt.
Most cavers will have heard of Lascaux, the amazing Upper Palaeolithic decorated cave located just outside Montignac in the Dordogne region of France. In April this year, a new version of the cave came to Bristol in an exhibition that runs until 10 September. Several UBSS members, including our own museum mascot Whatley Mammoth have ventured into the virtual reality world of this famous decorated cave. Here, Graham Mullan gives the background to the site, Whatley (with his faithful companion, Nathan Cubitt) susses out the competition and Linda Wilson goes crawling to some French dignitaries …
Lascaux was discovered in September 1940 by 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat when his dog, Robot, investigated a hole left by an uprooted tree. On exploring the cave, Ravidat and his friends discovered a wealth of paintings and engravings covering the walls and ceiling. These are considered to be early Magdalénien in age, that is they are around 21,000 years old.
The cave was opened to the public in July 1948 but by the mid-50s CO2, humidity and other contaminants produced by around 1,200 daily visitors were visibly amaging the art and eventually, in 1963 the cave was closed to the public.
In 1983, Lascaux II was opened. This is an excellent replica of the cave’s Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery, located on the hillside just 200m from the original cave. This attracted many thousands of visitors annually and used to be France’s largest visitor attraction after the palace of Versailles.
In time, concerns grew that the proximity of Lascaux II to the original and the traffic that it generated to the hillside was becoming part of the environmental threat, not just to the original cave but even to the replica and a decision was taken by the French government to build a new, larger replica of the cave at the foot of the hill and to turn the hillside into a reserve with only a few visitors and no traffic. This new replica, Lascaux IV, was opened on December 10th 2016 by President Hollande. An account of how Linda and I consumed our body-weight in foie gras at opening of the new site can be found here.
Painted horse. Photo taken at the opening of Lascaux IV by Linda Wilson.
So, that’s Lascaux I, II and IV. So what’s Lascaux III? This is an exhibition that has been travelling around the world since 2012. It includes replicas of the Shaft and the Nave as well as a wealth of associated archaeological, anthropological and ethnological material. However, there is now another travelling exhibition which might be called Lascaux IIIB.
Lascaux IIIB is a virtual reality tour of the cave, based on the scans that were carried out in the making of Lascaux IV. Due to an availability in its schedule, the exhibition was snapped up by Bristol City Museum.
Graham Mullan
Whatley Mammoth in front of one of the models in Bristol City Museum. Photo by Nathan Cubitt.
Hmm, goodness, gracious, great bulls of fire! What are they doing on my turf? Don’t they know that Bristol is Mammoth Territory? Naturally this flagrant breach of the gentlemammoth's agreement about not stepping on each other's toes warranted a look see before I decided whether a shake down was in order. So I went down there to take a look.
First off there's an accompanying exhibition, with large displays covering the discovery and exploration of the Lascaux cave system, along with various finds recovered from the site. This makes for a good introduction for those who know little about the incredible story of Lascaux. Also on display are amazing 3D scale models of Lascaux, which are a truly wonderful way to display a cave system, allowing you to peer into cross-sections. The interiors of the models included the cave paintings on the inside.
The main event, though, is the virtual reality experience. You enter a darkened room, with areas marked off on the floor for each person who has signed up for the experience. They are designed to allow you to move around, but are tied to the VR headset to stop you going too far or walking into a wall or another person.
After a safety and fitting briefing, in our instance given by a member of staff who goes caving (we chatted about the Mendips and Browne's Folly) we were handed our headsets. These are designed to fit any size head, from mammoth to children and once you’re properly equipped, you step into your designated area and get ready to go caving.
Wot, no mammoths? Whatley inspects the curious scene in the Pit. A duck on a stick looks the other way after a man with an erection unwisely picks a fight with a bison.
There's a few introductory things on navigating the experience, narrated by the voice of God, I mean a Morgan Freeman sound-a-like, who was our guide throughout the journey.
The VR itself is very smooth. It can be a bit disorientating to distantly hear God speak to others on the journey, but no more so than hearing people's voices from other chambers. The narrator guides you where to look, but you do have free reign within each chamber, although you can't go too far before hitting the virtual boundaries. The exploration and narration is very well handled, and VR opens up new experiences. Those 3D physical models we saw outside? They are in the VR too, but now you can put your head through the rock and see what's inside. A lovely touch.
On the whole it is like walking through a museum, until you get to the final chamber of the display. Now you are placed properly within the cave, and the floor is exactly as you'd expect, making you wonder how you are standing up when it slopes! It's hard to explain, but it was genuinely a close experience to that of actual caving. You could work out how you'd progress through the chamber and everything, whilst being fully safe. At any time you could stop and get help from the staff.
See, told you they had headsets fit for a mammoth!
The VR itself isn't necessarily a long experience, probably between 15-30 minutes depending on how you pace yourself, or spotted the experiences you had to complete to progress.
This mammoth was so impressed he won't be taking issue with Bristol Museum! Our only real gripe would be a lack of mammoth art in the VR world, which is at odds with what's in the museum shop! (Hint to the makers of soft toys – more aurochs and reindeer, please!)
VR has come a long way in recent years, and this was brilliant. The whole experience is highly recommended – and remember there are concession prices available at a cost of £10 for anyone aged 16–24.
Whatley Mammoth and Nathan Cubitt
I approached the idea of virtual reality with some trepidation, but having seen the original cave as well as the two physical replicas, I was determined to have a go at completing my Lascaux bingo card. However, my previous experience of VR wasn’t too great. In Lascaux 4 there’s a virtual fly through of the Passages of the Felines, a narrow section at the end of the cave with a vast number of lion engravings, and I was keen to see this as it’s beyond even the area you get to see on a rare visit to the original cave.
On that occasion, I donned the headset and was getting on really well, right up until the moment that I was almost overcome by the urge to projectile vomit all over the screen in front of me. I ripped the headset off just in time, but it was a very close run thing, and it was several minutes before I could safely stagger away. I had a splitting headache and felt nauseous for the rest of the afternoon. Other VR experiences followed much the same pattern, so I was pleased when we were able to visit the exhibition as part of the Museum’s Summer Open Evening. At least that way, if I threw up, it wouldn’t have cost me 15 quid for the privilege.
Much to my surprise and delight, once I’d got the headset adjusted, I had no problem, although I remained cautious the whole time. The images stood out in startling clarity, and the depth of the vision really helped transport me back into one of the best caving experiences I’ve ever had, with the aurochs, horses and bison all as clear and colourful as I remember them. We saw the original cave after a week of heavy rain in late November, and our guide told us we were lucky as the moisture in the walls intensifies the colours, and the 3D scan brings out the same effect.
Our facilitator in the City Museum warned us that at the end, we’re be invited by our virtual guide to get down on the floor and crawl around, but that it wasn’t compulsory. I was fully expecting not even to get that far, but to my surprise, I felt fine, although it was extremely disorientating to get down on my hands and knees in the real and virtual walls at the same time. I entered into the spirit of the thing and crawled around, peering at as much as I could, until I finally finished all there was to see and took the headset off …
… to find myself staring up at three people from the Museum and their two guests of honour, the Deputy Conseil Generale for the Dordogne region and the Director of the travelling exhibition. As Graham and I were the only visitors at that stage of the evening, it seemed only polite to express my appreciation in French, which promptly thrust me into a conversation with the two dignitaries, neither of whom spoke much English, who were accompanied by a member of the museum staff who spoke less French than me. On discovering that we have a house in the area and had visited the original cave, they happily chatted away for a while, until the official part of the evening started and we even got an impromptu name check in one of the speeches. It was a lovely evening, made all the better for the lack of projectile vomiting on my part!
Linda Wilson
Tickets for the VR tour can be booked online.CCC LTD PERMITS GO PAPERLESS
White Passage, GB Cave. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Since the Dawn of Time (the early 1950s), access to caves in the Charterhouse area of Mendip, including GB Cave and Longwood Swallet, has been managed by cavers for cavers on behalf of successive landowners.
This long and occasionally tedious work is carried out by the Charterhouse Caving Company Ltd (CCC Ltd) for Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT). As a condition of access ,each visitor to the land/caves must hold a permit acknowledging that they've read and agree to comply with the regulations. These permits are currently issued as slips of paper, familiar to most cavers who visit Mendip.
However, to save trees, bureaucratic hassle, and cavers' pocket money, CCC Ltd is introducing a paperless system! Once the new system is up and running – the target date is 1st September – cavers will be able to obtain their permits online ✨for free✨ directly from the CCC Ltd website.
Permits will be downloadable to be saved to your phone (or printed out, if you prefer). These must be shown by all members of the party when the key is collected. Paper permits will no longer be available from caving clubs once the new system goes live.
So don’t forget yours when you want to visit the caves!
White Passage, GB Cave. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Since the Dawn of Time (the early 1950s), access to caves in the Charterhouse area of Mendip, including GB Cave and Longwood Swallet, has been managed by cavers for cavers on behalf of successive landowners.
This long and occasionally tedious work is carried out by the Charterhouse Caving Company Ltd (CCC Ltd) for Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT). As a condition of access ,each visitor to the land/caves must hold a permit acknowledging that they've read and agree to comply with the regulations. These permits are currently issued as slips of paper, familiar to most cavers who visit Mendip.
However, to save trees, bureaucratic hassle, and cavers' pocket money, CCC Ltd is introducing a paperless system! Once the new system is up and running – the target date is 1st September – cavers will be able to obtain their permits online ✨for free✨ directly from the CCC Ltd website.
Permits will be downloadable to be saved to your phone (or printed out, if you prefer). These must be shown by all members of the party when the key is collected. Paper permits will no longer be available from caving clubs once the new system goes live.
So don’t forget yours when you want to visit the caves!
Charterhouse Caving Company Ltd
2023 EXPO!
The UBSS has a long history of involvement with the CUCC Austria trips. This summer was no exception. Zac Woodford gives a quick overview of what went on.
Stories are the threads in the fabric of our society. Wrapped in their blanket, whether we be alumni or students, old or young, party animals or exploration fanatics, they are what make us cavers. Many an ear at the pub has been graced by tales of the fantastical and extreme. But throughout my entire time at university one source of stories has been elevated above others: the Cambridge University Caving Club Austria Expedition.
Tales of huge passageways and volumes chambres, wild parties, and friendships forged with members of other clubs the country over. Lest to say it had been a long term aspiration of mine to attend. And while I can't speak for Merryn I do know that she has wanted to attend for a long time too.
So after months of planning, meetings and, of course, faffing, me, Merryn and Ash found ourselves in Bad Ausse, Austria. Far too much happened in the three weeks for me to describe in a single entry but I'll give you an overview…
Find cave, bolt/rig cave, get Ash in to survey cave, Ash kills cave. Jokes aside, the UBSS contingent managed to survey a considerable amount of passage as well as several small surface caves.
There was also plenty of prospecting (finding new cave) as well as other leisure activities such as swimming, river walking, hiking, canyoning and more (all that between operating the 24/7 chip factory)!.
Overall, I was slightly disappointed with the amount of caving I got done (three times in as many weeks), but that’s not to say I didn’t have a good time! If anything it has made me more excited for next year's expo. There is still plenty of cave left to discover!
We’re very grateful to the University of Bristol’s Tratman Fund for supporting the three of us on the Expo.
The UBSS has a long history of involvement with the CUCC Austria trips. This summer was no exception. Zac Woodford gives a quick overview of what went on.
Stories are the threads in the fabric of our society. Wrapped in their blanket, whether we be alumni or students, old or young, party animals or exploration fanatics, they are what make us cavers. Many an ear at the pub has been graced by tales of the fantastical and extreme. But throughout my entire time at university one source of stories has been elevated above others: the Cambridge University Caving Club Austria Expedition.
Tales of huge passageways and volumes chambres, wild parties, and friendships forged with members of other clubs the country over. Lest to say it had been a long term aspiration of mine to attend. And while I can't speak for Merryn I do know that she has wanted to attend for a long time too.
So after months of planning, meetings and, of course, faffing, me, Merryn and Ash found ourselves in Bad Ausse, Austria. Far too much happened in the three weeks for me to describe in a single entry but I'll give you an overview…
Find cave, bolt/rig cave, get Ash in to survey cave, Ash kills cave. Jokes aside, the UBSS contingent managed to survey a considerable amount of passage as well as several small surface caves.
There was also plenty of prospecting (finding new cave) as well as other leisure activities such as swimming, river walking, hiking, canyoning and more (all that between operating the 24/7 chip factory)!.
Overall, I was slightly disappointed with the amount of caving I got done (three times in as many weeks), but that’s not to say I didn’t have a good time! If anything it has made me more excited for next year's expo. There is still plenty of cave left to discover!
We’re very grateful to the University of Bristol’s Tratman Fund for supporting the three of us on the Expo.
Zac Woodford
GREAT GRUMBLING BULLS
The area around the Tarn Gorge in France contains a variety of excelling caves. Jess Brock kept a log of her trips in the Lozère this summer, one of which was to the impressive cave of Bramabiau.
On 16th July the Northern Pennine Club family meet led us to the Tarn Gorge in the Lozère region of France. There we tackled many wild and show caves. One of the best caves we did was the Abime du Bramabiau, discovered by Édouard-Alfred Martel in 1884. In the local dialect, Bramabiau means ‘roaring bull’. During times of flooding the noise of the water coming from the resurgence sounds like a roaring bull. Luckily we went in the scorching summer so we only heard a grumbling bull.
The cave itself lies 20m below the show cave walkways and 70m from the ceiling. It was free to cave after 5pm. Apparently the cave was occupied by prehistoric man 5,000 years ago. To go even further back many prints and counter prints were left by dinosaurs.
After a short walk we were met with an enormous tunnel of rock, we were like brightly coloured (and sweating) ants scurrying between the boulders. The entrance itself was easy to find. Shortly after entering the cave we could see tree trunks lodged in the ceiling from the winter flooding. Luckily, it wasn’t long before we dropped down into the first big pool. People had a laugh jumping in and enjoying the cool water.
We followed the river, swimming most of the way. Often I couldn’t touch the bottom so I propelled myself along the rocky sides of the passage which was often in arms reach. There were occasional dry passages which led back to the river. With little formations Bramabiau relies on its impressive streamway and size. It was easy to feel small when our cheerful voices echoed into the great height of the ceiling. Along our aquatic route we found a frog in a hole. He seemed happy enough above the waterline.
The trip took around a couple of hours and the hardest part was surviving the walk in the heat to and from the cave. I wore a 5mm thick wetsuit and I never got cold, even when messing about bridging up the walls to wait for our parents behind us.
The entrance of the cave was our exit. The 70m rift allowed natural light to flood over the escaping water. A short climb down the waterfall led us back onto the concrete paths and back to the carpark.
The area around the Tarn Gorge in France contains a variety of excelling caves. Jess Brock kept a log of her trips in the Lozère this summer, one of which was to the impressive cave of Bramabiau.
On 16th July the Northern Pennine Club family meet led us to the Tarn Gorge in the Lozère region of France. There we tackled many wild and show caves. One of the best caves we did was the Abime du Bramabiau, discovered by Édouard-Alfred Martel in 1884. In the local dialect, Bramabiau means ‘roaring bull’. During times of flooding the noise of the water coming from the resurgence sounds like a roaring bull. Luckily we went in the scorching summer so we only heard a grumbling bull.
The cave itself lies 20m below the show cave walkways and 70m from the ceiling. It was free to cave after 5pm. Apparently the cave was occupied by prehistoric man 5,000 years ago. To go even further back many prints and counter prints were left by dinosaurs.
After a short walk we were met with an enormous tunnel of rock, we were like brightly coloured (and sweating) ants scurrying between the boulders. The entrance itself was easy to find. Shortly after entering the cave we could see tree trunks lodged in the ceiling from the winter flooding. Luckily, it wasn’t long before we dropped down into the first big pool. People had a laugh jumping in and enjoying the cool water.
We followed the river, swimming most of the way. Often I couldn’t touch the bottom so I propelled myself along the rocky sides of the passage which was often in arms reach. There were occasional dry passages which led back to the river. With little formations Bramabiau relies on its impressive streamway and size. It was easy to feel small when our cheerful voices echoed into the great height of the ceiling. Along our aquatic route we found a frog in a hole. He seemed happy enough above the waterline.
The trip took around a couple of hours and the hardest part was surviving the walk in the heat to and from the cave. I wore a 5mm thick wetsuit and I never got cold, even when messing about bridging up the walls to wait for our parents behind us.
The entrance of the cave was our exit. The 70m rift allowed natural light to flood over the escaping water. A short climb down the waterfall led us back onto the concrete paths and back to the carpark.
Jess Brock
MUSEUM NEWS
Charlotte Harman digging in Read's Cavern. Photo by Kostas Trimmis.
In exciting news, our museum intern, Charlotte Harman, has started work on our long-held aspiration to take the museum and library to accreditation by the Arts Council. The project is being financed by the Oliver Lloyd Memorial Fund. Charlotte is also working on the re-display of our collections following the recently completed building works on the Stables. We asked the latest member of our museum team to introduce herself ...
Hello, I am Charlotte the student intern who is working with Linda to enable museum accreditation and then to re-display the society collections in the newly refurbished space.
I am relatively new to caving having previously only done the Wookey Hole experience (loved the abseiling element) and then visiting places like Dan yr Ogof in Wales, Cheddar Gorge, the grottoes on Capri – the usual walk-in tourist destination sort of caves. This changed in June when I was able to take part in the Read's Cavern dig (see last newsletter) and then spend a week excavating in a cave in Croatia (more on that to come in a future issue). I have loved the experiences and am very much looking forward to joining UBSS in Fishmonger's Swallet in August.
I was part of the Bristol Scholars scheme, have just completed my undergraduate degree in Archaeology and Anthropology and will be graduating this month with first class honours.
Exploring the Jurassic Coast with my sons.
The past three years have been a bit of a whirlwind. As a single parent, during lockdown I became a full-time home educator to my two children whilst trying to keep on top of all my academic studies, then my eldest broke his arm, staff strikes at university and school meant I couldn’t attend classes, I was stuck dealing with a messy divorce, had to move house, and finally just to top it all off, there was a marking boycott so that I wasn’t sure I would graduate at all!
Archaeology is a passion I want to share with others through outreach. Whilst completing my BA I undertook a lot of volunteering work which sought to bring archaeology to local communities within the university, local schools and the wider public in and around Bristol, and for which I was awarded the Everyday Hero - Outstanding PLUS Award by the University.
Excavating medieval pottery earlier this year.
During the university archaeological excavations at Lower Hazel (as featured in BBC’s Digging for Britain) as part of the South-West Anarchy Research Project led by Dr Stuart Prior, I volunteered to teach specialist archaeobotanical processing skills to other students to learn about the use of plants in the past. For this work, I was awarded a Faculty Commendation for Academic Citizenship. My dissertation examined the botanical remains from these excavations and this research is being published as part of the 2022 report. I have continued to volunteer on this project and am currently processing soil samples taken during this year’s excavations to further our knowledge of the site. As a child I was taught by my grandmother and mother to appreciate wild plants and to look after our planet. This is a lesson I have carried into adulthood and which I am passing on to my children. I love the idea of combining my passions for the natural world and for archaeology in order to reconstruct past environments. I hope to continue my studies at the University of Bristol with an MPhil researching botanical remains from the fort at Vindolanda, on Hadrian’s Wall.
Outside university life I am an avid lover of Lindy hop dancing, enjoy taking long walks in nature, climbing mountains, or trees, or castle ruins, reading, animal rights activism and baking prize winning vegan cakes.
I am really excited to be part of UBSS and look forward to meeting other members during caving expeditions (and I know my sons will love to get a chance for some real adventures too!).
You can find me on Linked in! I'm always keen to make new connections.
Charlotte Harman digging in Read's Cavern. Photo by Kostas Trimmis.
In exciting news, our museum intern, Charlotte Harman, has started work on our long-held aspiration to take the museum and library to accreditation by the Arts Council. The project is being financed by the Oliver Lloyd Memorial Fund. Charlotte is also working on the re-display of our collections following the recently completed building works on the Stables. We asked the latest member of our museum team to introduce herself ...
Hello, I am Charlotte the student intern who is working with Linda to enable museum accreditation and then to re-display the society collections in the newly refurbished space.
I am relatively new to caving having previously only done the Wookey Hole experience (loved the abseiling element) and then visiting places like Dan yr Ogof in Wales, Cheddar Gorge, the grottoes on Capri – the usual walk-in tourist destination sort of caves. This changed in June when I was able to take part in the Read's Cavern dig (see last newsletter) and then spend a week excavating in a cave in Croatia (more on that to come in a future issue). I have loved the experiences and am very much looking forward to joining UBSS in Fishmonger's Swallet in August.
I was part of the Bristol Scholars scheme, have just completed my undergraduate degree in Archaeology and Anthropology and will be graduating this month with first class honours.
Exploring the Jurassic Coast with my sons.
The past three years have been a bit of a whirlwind. As a single parent, during lockdown I became a full-time home educator to my two children whilst trying to keep on top of all my academic studies, then my eldest broke his arm, staff strikes at university and school meant I couldn’t attend classes, I was stuck dealing with a messy divorce, had to move house, and finally just to top it all off, there was a marking boycott so that I wasn’t sure I would graduate at all!
Archaeology is a passion I want to share with others through outreach. Whilst completing my BA I undertook a lot of volunteering work which sought to bring archaeology to local communities within the university, local schools and the wider public in and around Bristol, and for which I was awarded the Everyday Hero - Outstanding PLUS Award by the University.
Excavating medieval pottery earlier this year.
During the university archaeological excavations at Lower Hazel (as featured in BBC’s Digging for Britain) as part of the South-West Anarchy Research Project led by Dr Stuart Prior, I volunteered to teach specialist archaeobotanical processing skills to other students to learn about the use of plants in the past. For this work, I was awarded a Faculty Commendation for Academic Citizenship. My dissertation examined the botanical remains from these excavations and this research is being published as part of the 2022 report. I have continued to volunteer on this project and am currently processing soil samples taken during this year’s excavations to further our knowledge of the site. As a child I was taught by my grandmother and mother to appreciate wild plants and to look after our planet. This is a lesson I have carried into adulthood and which I am passing on to my children. I love the idea of combining my passions for the natural world and for archaeology in order to reconstruct past environments. I hope to continue my studies at the University of Bristol with an MPhil researching botanical remains from the fort at Vindolanda, on Hadrian’s Wall.
Outside university life I am an avid lover of Lindy hop dancing, enjoy taking long walks in nature, climbing mountains, or trees, or castle ruins, reading, animal rights activism and baking prize winning vegan cakes.
I am really excited to be part of UBSS and look forward to meeting other members during caving expeditions (and I know my sons will love to get a chance for some real adventures too!).
You can find me on Linked in! I'm always keen to make new connections.
Charlotte Harman
Museum Curator, Linda Wilson, takes up the tale...
We still have a lot of work to be done before the Stables can fully reopen, but hopefully we can at least have the rooms themselves ready for opening when the new terms starts, although it will take a lot longer than that to complete the reorganisation of the library stack room and the redisplay of the museum. So if you're around Bristol over August and September, please join our working days. These will be advertised on social media and by email when we have some dates fixed.
Charlotte and I are meeting regularly and will also be meeting Kate Iles from Bristol City Museum, who has kindly agreed to ake on the role of our museum mentor for the accreditation progress and Alex Gibson of South West Museum Development who will be providing additional guidance. We're also grateful for the help from within the university, particularly from colleagues within the Theatre Collection.
The first thing we have to do is draft a Forward Plan, and within this we need to consider what resources (both people and financial) we have to meet our objectives, and of course, we have to decide what our objectives are! Charlotte and I will be working together on this, which will go to the committee for approval. A primary objective will be to maintain the museum's excellent research record and establish greater outreach both to our own members and the local community. A Forward Plan is the first step on the ladder known as working towards accreditation. We hope to accomplish this within August.
We'll keep everyone informed of how things progress, so watch this space!
We still have a lot of work to be done before the Stables can fully reopen, but hopefully we can at least have the rooms themselves ready for opening when the new terms starts, although it will take a lot longer than that to complete the reorganisation of the library stack room and the redisplay of the museum. So if you're around Bristol over August and September, please join our working days. These will be advertised on social media and by email when we have some dates fixed.
Charlotte and I are meeting regularly and will also be meeting Kate Iles from Bristol City Museum, who has kindly agreed to ake on the role of our museum mentor for the accreditation progress and Alex Gibson of South West Museum Development who will be providing additional guidance. We're also grateful for the help from within the university, particularly from colleagues within the Theatre Collection.
The first thing we have to do is draft a Forward Plan, and within this we need to consider what resources (both people and financial) we have to meet our objectives, and of course, we have to decide what our objectives are! Charlotte and I will be working together on this, which will go to the committee for approval. A primary objective will be to maintain the museum's excellent research record and establish greater outreach both to our own members and the local community. A Forward Plan is the first step on the ladder known as working towards accreditation. We hope to accomplish this within August.
We'll keep everyone informed of how things progress, so watch this space!
Linda Wilson
LIBRARY AMNESTY
Not the UBSS library.
Do you have any UBSS library books? Our naked shelves need covering! Librarian Nathan Cubitt promises no fines for anyone returning books...
As you are probably aware, the last few years have been a testing time for the museum and library, with the stairs condemned and replaced, then the replacement of the gas fires by electric heating followed by urgent repair work needed on the fabric of the building.
Now however we are in the process of putting everything back in place.
This includes moving the library bookshelves back in the stack room upstairs and putting miles of books and journals back on to them, hopefully in time for the new academic year.
This now gives us the ideal opportunity to log and computerize our collection, so this is the perfect time to check if you have borrowed any of our books, maybe even on what now seems like a semi-permanent basis, and let us know! Honestly, we won't judge.
This will allow us to identify missing tomes, and to consider replacing them.
If you still require the books for research, that is absolutely fine. However we'd still like to know what you have so we can organise the shelving accordingly.
Not the UBSS library.
Do you have any UBSS library books? Our naked shelves need covering! Librarian Nathan Cubitt promises no fines for anyone returning books...
As you are probably aware, the last few years have been a testing time for the museum and library, with the stairs condemned and replaced, then the replacement of the gas fires by electric heating followed by urgent repair work needed on the fabric of the building.
Now however we are in the process of putting everything back in place.
This includes moving the library bookshelves back in the stack room upstairs and putting miles of books and journals back on to them, hopefully in time for the new academic year.
This now gives us the ideal opportunity to log and computerize our collection, so this is the perfect time to check if you have borrowed any of our books, maybe even on what now seems like a semi-permanent basis, and let us know! Honestly, we won't judge.
This will allow us to identify missing tomes, and to consider replacing them.
If you still require the books for research, that is absolutely fine. However we'd still like to know what you have so we can organise the shelving accordingly.
Nathan Cubitt
AMAZING CAVE, GROMIT!
On a recent visit to Northeastern Vietnam, Elliott McCall visited Hạ Long Bay showcave, engaging in some strenuous queuing, showing how hard our foreign correspondents have to work just so we can gawk at the world from our armchairs.
A boat ride through the beautiful Hạ Long Bay, takes passengers to a crowded landing area with wooden steps leading up the side of a cliff.
According to legend, the bay was formed as a protection against invaders when a mother dragon and her children spat jewels and jade to form a barrier (the islands) and then decided to stay in the area, giving it its name Hạ Long, descending dragon.
Slowly making your way one very slow step at a time, jostling for position in the crowd, the entrance is reached. Here the most comical example of cave congestion is witnessed as it takes 20 minutes standing in the entrance chamber to clear the traffic jam. At least here shade is provided from the heat .
Even more comical than the queue is the tourists pretending not to notice the giant cock and balls in the room..
The actual name of the cave is sometimes translated as Surprise Cave or Amazing Cave as the French colonists were said to have exclaimed something along those lines upon ‘discovering’ it. After a short climb (up some steps) with lots of protection (a metal handrail) the main chamber is reached. Here, openings on one side allow light in.
There's lots of pretty stal in this really quite huge chamber and mercifully the traffic is left behind from the entrance. A short walk around here leads to the exit. Overall this is a lovely show cave!
On a recent visit to Northeastern Vietnam, Elliott McCall visited Hạ Long Bay showcave, engaging in some strenuous queuing, showing how hard our foreign correspondents have to work just so we can gawk at the world from our armchairs.
A boat ride through the beautiful Hạ Long Bay, takes passengers to a crowded landing area with wooden steps leading up the side of a cliff.
According to legend, the bay was formed as a protection against invaders when a mother dragon and her children spat jewels and jade to form a barrier (the islands) and then decided to stay in the area, giving it its name Hạ Long, descending dragon.
Slowly making your way one very slow step at a time, jostling for position in the crowd, the entrance is reached. Here the most comical example of cave congestion is witnessed as it takes 20 minutes standing in the entrance chamber to clear the traffic jam. At least here shade is provided from the heat .
Even more comical than the queue is the tourists pretending not to notice the giant cock and balls in the room..
The actual name of the cave is sometimes translated as Surprise Cave or Amazing Cave as the French colonists were said to have exclaimed something along those lines upon ‘discovering’ it. After a short climb (up some steps) with lots of protection (a metal handrail) the main chamber is reached. Here, openings on one side allow light in.
There's lots of pretty stal in this really quite huge chamber and mercifully the traffic is left behind from the entrance. A short walk around here leads to the exit. Overall this is a lovely show cave!
Elliott McCall
HELP NEEDED!
Linda Wilson emerging from the grovel at the end of Ladder Dig sometime in the '80s, in the days when she still owned a wetsuit. She still has that ever so nice little brown helmet but only wears it on ceremonial occasions. Photographer unknown.
Calling any UBSS members involved in the Ladder Dig extensions in GB ...
I have been talking to a caver who has been filming in GB. His name is Mike Perryman and some of you with long enough memories may recall caving with him in Ireland in the late 1970s.
Mike has completed his underground filming and aims to submit the finished product to the Kendal Film Festival later this year.
He was saying to me, “If there could be one or two (or even more) UBSS people who were involved in the early Ladder Dig/Great Chamber/Disappointment Chamber discoveries (mid-1960s?), and willing to be interviewed, some personal recollections could be a really excellent complement to the film.“
So if there are any of you ought there who not only recall those events but are willing to talk about them on camera, please drop me a line.
Linda Wilson emerging from the grovel at the end of Ladder Dig sometime in the '80s, in the days when she still owned a wetsuit. She still has that ever so nice little brown helmet but only wears it on ceremonial occasions. Photographer unknown.
Calling any UBSS members involved in the Ladder Dig extensions in GB ...
I have been talking to a caver who has been filming in GB. His name is Mike Perryman and some of you with long enough memories may recall caving with him in Ireland in the late 1970s.
Mike has completed his underground filming and aims to submit the finished product to the Kendal Film Festival later this year.
He was saying to me, “If there could be one or two (or even more) UBSS people who were involved in the early Ladder Dig/Great Chamber/Disappointment Chamber discoveries (mid-1960s?), and willing to be interviewed, some personal recollections could be a really excellent complement to the film.“
So if there are any of you ought there who not only recall those events but are willing to talk about them on camera, please drop me a line.
Graham Mullan
SMAUGLET REALLY HOPES YOU'VE MADE IT THIS FAR ...
Image created by Bing AI.
Go on, make a little dragon very happy and drop them a line to let them know you've made it to the end! We'd like to thank all the lovely people who do let us know you're reading! It's a simple as clicking the link below. You don't even have to say nice things to us ... actually, yes you do. We're sensitive souls.
- A splendid newsletter, as always, and wonderfully well delivered. Please tell the Reluctant Caver that in Cornwall things similar to a thermic lance have, indeed, been used to access old mines. I believe the colloquial term is a gas axe. And no I don’t recommend it as a technique in general or accessing this mine in particular. [Graham Mullan]
- Delightful newsletter, as always. I loved the diverse gettings-up-to this month. So many different activities, so much fun, and the photos are really superb. [Jan Walker]
- A great worm newsletter as ever! [Eve Gilmore]
- Splendid work, dear editors and writers and photographers. And a little train for added value! I have added Hidden Realms to my list of books to search out, given I’m a sucker for stunning pix. [Sharon Wheeler and the blessed FT Bear]
- Great newsletter, especially the article from the Reluctant Caver. And taking inspiration from Postojna, the idea of installing a railway in Ogof Draenen to negate those boulders is very appealing... {Andy Farrant]
- Great photos and content as usual, although I can’t believe how naïve some senior cavers are who should know better and still believe it when they are told, come caving “you will enjoy it". [Steve Hobbs]
- Currently reading this from the potato hut at base-camp on the CUCC Austria expedition. Found the Cornwall stuff fascinating! Need to hear more from the Reluctant Caver! [Zac Woodford]
Of course I've read to the end, Smauglet, darling!
THE END
Image created by Bing AI.
Go on, make a little dragon very happy and drop them a line to let them know you've made it to the end! We'd like to thank all the lovely people who do let us know you're reading! It's a simple as clicking the link below. You don't even have to say nice things to us ... actually, yes you do. We're sensitive souls.
- A splendid newsletter, as always, and wonderfully well delivered. Please tell the Reluctant Caver that in Cornwall things similar to a thermic lance have, indeed, been used to access old mines. I believe the colloquial term is a gas axe. And no I don’t recommend it as a technique in general or accessing this mine in particular. [Graham Mullan]
- Delightful newsletter, as always. I loved the diverse gettings-up-to this month. So many different activities, so much fun, and the photos are really superb. [Jan Walker]
- A great worm newsletter as ever! [Eve Gilmore]
- Splendid work, dear editors and writers and photographers. And a little train for added value! I have added Hidden Realms to my list of books to search out, given I’m a sucker for stunning pix. [Sharon Wheeler and the blessed FT Bear]
- Great newsletter, especially the article from the Reluctant Caver. And taking inspiration from Postojna, the idea of installing a railway in Ogof Draenen to negate those boulders is very appealing... {Andy Farrant]
- Great photos and content as usual, although I can’t believe how naïve some senior cavers are who should know better and still believe it when they are told, come caving “you will enjoy it". [Steve Hobbs]
- Currently reading this from the potato hut at base-camp on the CUCC Austria expedition. Found the Cornwall stuff fascinating! Need to hear more from the Reluctant Caver! [Zac Woodford]
Of course I've read to the end, Smauglet, darling!
THE END