There's a cave down here somewhere, we know there is...
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The
UBSS monthly online newsletter is now five years old! We started this
project in 2019, our centenary year, as we felt that our loyal members
needed more from us than the welcome thud of their copy of Proceedings
arriving on the doormat once a year, and that one of the big strengths
of the UBSS has always been its wide network of members, but what we
lacked was a more informal means of keeping members up to date with the
club's activities. It had become increasingly difficult to produce paper
newsletters and by the time they did arrive, any news was inevitably
out of date. So, encouraged by a friend who assured Linda that Mailchimp
was both free and easy to use, she took the plunge and spent half an
hour with learning what she needed to know.
To her surprise, it really was easy. It was also a lot easier than
expected to dig up enough copy to fill an issue every month. The only
time we've had to skip an issue was last February when Linda was in
hospital for a month, but then there was a double issue in March. Many
members have been generous with their time providing articles and trip
write ups and photographers (some of whom aren't even club members) have
been equally generous with their photos. At a time when other clubs are
lamenting the difficulty of getting enough information to put out, we
usually end up having to hold a couple of articles over to the next
issue, which is every editor's dream situation. Written reports have now
been supplemented by video caving logs, Clogs, pioneered by Jess Brock.
Embedding via YouTube seems to work well, and gives us a definite
advantage over paper newsletters.
Linda has been incredibly grateful to all our student newsletter editors and helpers in particular Mia Jacobs and Zac Woodford!
If you want check out previous issues, you can find them all here. You can also find a scanned archive of all our paper issues from 1919 to 2017 here.
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AGM & ANNUAL DINNER - 9 MARCH 2024
Yes, it's that time of year again, when we have elections for
our next committee then in the evening we posh up and go to the
highlight of the social calendar, the UBSS Annual Dinner! More below.
AGM
After being kindly hosted by the Geography
Department since the centenary as building works kept us out of the
Stables, we can now at last return to our own rooms! So the AGM will be
held as usual at 10.30am in the UBSS Museum and Library, known as the Stables, behind 21 Woodland Road.
Student president Mia Jacobs will be presenting the discussion points
from February's panel discussion on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in
Outdoor sports. If we can get a stable connection from a phone, it'll
be possible to join by zoom as well, but please turn up in person if you
can. We'll circulate a link and further details nearer the time. For
now, stick the date and time in your calendar.
ANNUAL DINNER
Hiya, it's finally here, UBSS most
exclusive event of the year and the best excuse to spend a whole evening
talking about dirt and holes without being lambasted by your friends
because 'they could never do that'. This year it will be held at the Gloucester Old Spot.
We have booked out the whole bar, with a sit down buffet meal and
shenanigans to occur into the evening. I have taken consideration that
budget is an issue for some people, and have ensured that this evening
is done as affordably as possible. I do not have an exact price as of
yet, but looking at a ticket cost of around £30-35 for dinner and 1-2
drinks per person, with the option for you to buy more as you please.
Please fill in this google form so that our hard-working Stanley Lewis can make the necessary arrangements.
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TALKS
Join us in the UBSS Museum and
Library, the Stables, behind 21 Woodland Road for a series of 'sober
social' talks, all starting at 7pm, on the following subjects:
- 6th February - What it's like to be a Cave Baby
- Jess Brock, Dan Rose, James Hallihan and Alysia Ellis talk about what
it's like growing up in a family where one or more parents cave.
- 20th February - Panel discussion on equality, diversity & inclusion in outdoor sport - with guests from UBES & UBMC.
- 5th March - Forgotten Voices Speak - Linda Wilson talks about a five-year project to record historic Graffiti in Kent's Cavern, Torquay.
The British Cave Research Association (BCRA) also holds a series
of online talks monthly. You don't have to be a member to join these
free seminars.
There is a list of upcoming talks on the BCRA's website, with the next one being on 5th February at 7.3pm on Tracking alpine cave glaciations: cryogenic cave carbonates from the Eastern and Southern Alps. The Zoom link is on the webpage.
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TRAINING!
Tried of knee-bruising crawls in Mendip and Wales? Then try dangling from ropes in Derbyshire and Yorkshire instead.
But before that, join our Single Rope Techniques training sessions in
the Richmond Building instead. And yes, they really do let us hang from
ropes in the stairwell, which makes an excellent training facility. If
you're interested, contact our Training Officer and Tackle Warden
extraordinaire, Jess Brock, who says: "Yet another amazing srt session!
Only the fourth session and everyone's making great progress. It's only
been possible thanks all these fabulous helpers Jake, James, Mia,
Merryn and Claire!"
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CCC LTD ONLINE PERMITS FOR 2024
Everyone who is likely to be caving
in the CCC Ltd controlled caves should now head over to the CCC Ltd
website to get their online permit for 2024. For more details, read
on...
The main caves involved here are GB, Charterhouse, Longwood and Rhino
Rift. The first two are in Gruffy Field and the latter two are in
Longwood Valley.
All you need to do is 1) check you have your BCA number. This (for now)
will be on the green, credit card sized bit of plastic that you've
probably only ever used for scraping the ice off your cars, if you have
one. If you can't find the card, then email Graham and ask him,
as he's got a spreadsheet of them all, or if you're in a hurry, message
via WhatasApp and he'll do his best to get it back to you asap then 2) go to the relevant page on the CCC Ltd website and start following the instructions. It really is easy.
For anyone responsible for issuing keys to our members or others, you
MUST check that ALL people in the party have a valid permit. If they
aren't BCA members (yet) or don't have their membership number to hand,
they can still access any of these caves if either they are caving with a
BCA member or have two or more years' caving experience.
Once you've got your permit, then you can save it to your phone, or
print out a copy yourself, if you have access to a printer. You MUST
have a permit in your possession before visiting any of these caves and
you MUST show it to the person who issues you a key. Not everyone will
want to take their phones with them when they go caving, so if you're
ever asked on the ground by a representative of the landowner (Somerset
Wildlife Trust) or CCC Ltd, then the person who checked the key out will
be able to confirm that everyone in the party did show valid permits.
If you're then asked for a name and what club you got the key from so
this can be verified, please respond politely with the information.
Remember, the person asking you is only doing their job and making sure
that we can keep access to the caves.
Permits run for each calendar year, as that's in step with the BCA
insurance year, which is the reason you need to get a new permit now,
even if you had one last year.
Remember that novices must not be introduced to caving in these areas,
which means everyone must have done at least four trips before a visit.
Please go online now and get your permits. If you have any queries, please contact the Company Secretary, UBSS Member Gabriel Littler.
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FAREWELL TO ROSEMARY BALISTER
The society recently received the
sad news that Rosemary Balister, a UBSS member for many years, had died
on 29 December 2024 in the USA, her home since the 1960s.
Rosemary was born on 18 July 1934 in London. She was evacuated from her
childhood home during the "The Blitz" of World War II, and began writing
poetry as a child, publishing her first poem in 1945. Rosemary
continued her studies at the University of Bristol, earning a Bachelor
of Arts in German in 1956 and a Certificate of Education in 1957.
After arriving in Bristol, Rosemary joined UBSS and took as
enthusiastically to caving as she did to everything else that sparked
her interest, such as her other great hobbies of painting and knitting.
The logbook entries for her time at Bristol contain many mentions of her
name both on the Mendips and on the society’s trips to Co Clare,
Ireland. The above photo might well have been taken on one of those
trips, with Rosemary quenching her thirst from a beer bottle!
Along with her family, she emigrated to Canada in 1963 and then moved to
Charlottesville, Virginia. She also lived in Australia for two years
before settling back in Charlottesville. Rosemary maintained her contact
with UBSS for many years. She is survived by her three children, their
spouses, and many grandchildren. Rosemary's son Philip, also a caver,
was on the 2023 Austria expo with UBSS members Merryn Matthews and Zac
Woodford. Philip and his sisters, Michelle and Nicolette, still live in the USA, as does
Rosemary’s former husband, Mike Balister, also a UBSS member who she met
through caving.
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GREAT CHIEFTAIN O' THE PUDDIN-RACE!
A puddin-race in Goatchurch on a Saturday morning in January.
Daniel Rose confirms that
traditions were suitably upheld when UBSS congregated for the annual
celebration of Burn’s Night last weekend, taking time to show their love
towards the lyricist behind Auld Lang Syne.
Haggis was cooked, songs were sung and caves were explored. As part of
the SU’s refresher’s week ‘give it a go’ programme, many newcomers
experienced the underground for the first time, dazzled by the thrill of
crawl-climbing in Goatschurch, the first trip of the weekend undertaken
by the firstcomers to the hut. Perhaps the most crowded I’ve ever seen a
cave, we ran into multiple large parties, taking time to chat with
Reading Cave Club and others, allowing the freshers to appreciate the
social side of caving and the interconnectedness of clubs across the
country.
The puddin-race judges wondering what's taking everyone so long.
With the generator still broken, the
rawness of the increasingly deforested surrounding trees was embraced to
the fullest capacity, with Simon braving the elements to spend the
night in a hammock, flirting with hypothermia to connect to his inner
hunter gatherer spirit. He (somewhat?) impressively made it to around
4am before calling it quits and succumbing to the warm temptation of hut
shelter.
SR-Tree sessions were had, with training continuing on from the
Monday/Wednesday sessions in the SU; some of those capable of SRT and
feeling not-too-hungover on the Sunday (me, Jess, James and Dan Hill)
did a small SRT trip down Hunter’s Hole, with Jess using it as an
opportunity to expertly rig a cave for the first time, with Dan
de-rigging on the way up in an equally exemplary fashion.
Vlogs (or Clogs, standing for Caving Logs) were filmed and cave photo
shoots were had, with Jess, upon failing to find any way past the
opening chamber in Read’s Cavern, decided to repurpose the trip as a
photography crash course, setting up a combination of blue and red
lights around the chamber to add an ethereal, wonderous quality to cave
photography, producing images that would be welcomed in a Gucci
catalogue, let alone a caving newsletter.
Daniel Rose
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Click on the image above for another of Jess Brock's Clogs,
this time a trip into the subterranean depths of Hunter's Hole in search
of the elusive Mendip Haggis.
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CAVE PHOTOGRAPHY
This is the story of a ‘cave baby’
trip down Read’s Cavern for James Hallihan, Daniel Rose and Jess Brock,
in which coloured lights were deployed and photos were taken as Jess
relates.
After a short attempt at trying to navigate the worm holes somewhere
near the Water Chamber in Read’s Cavern, we returned into the Main
Chamber for a bit of a sit on a comfortable rocky seat and cave chat.
After this interlude, I focused my attention on snapping some photos. Pictures or it didn’t happen!
I studied photography at A-Level and whilst home over Christmas I looked
through some old projects and the worm of an idea infiltrated my brain.
What is more cool than funky lighting? So, I brought some coloured
light filters with me underground and an extra-powerful photography
light.
How soulful are these two? James, left and Daniel, right.
James and Dan had no idea what I was doing
when I started scurrying around setting out lights. Once happy, I placed
the filters and got an affirming ‘ooooo’ to show that I was onto
something. I used a blue filter in front of my Fenix as it is a stronger
light and for this dual colour technique the red filter in front of the
other light usually dominates so the blue needed to be under a brighter
light for equal colour distribution. James and Dan jumped right into
their model personas, and the photos turned out better than I imagined!
Jess Brock
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INTERVIEW WITH THREE CAVE BABIES
And by cave babies, we don't mean
three people new to caving, we mean three people who have been caving
since they were babies, which is what happens when you have a caving
parent, or even more than one.
Jess Brock and her co-hosts James Hallihan and Dan Rose talk about
why they carried on caving, what they like about it, what scares them
underground and more. Click on the photo/link below, which will take you
to another of Jess's Clogs on YouTube.
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"This cave is carving a colossal smile across my face." Daniel Rose
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JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE HANGING GARDENS
As you can see, ther's more to
Mendip caving than such classic tourist trips as GB, Swildon's and St
Cuthberts. Right on our doorstep there's the delights of Burrington
Combe including Pierre's Pot, with its infamous squeeze, a tight,
descending slot that often requires combined tactics to reverse. And if
that's not enough to fire your imagination, let Simon Payne lead you on a
trip deep into the bowels of the earth...
It’s two degrees outside in mid-January, the sun is down and you know
what I feel like doing? That’s right, wiggling about underground in the
mud and rock. Standard. Thus the virgin cave hazing of fresher James
Howitt was underway, having driven to the wrong place initially the trip
was off to a flying zero-faff start. Now when I remembered doing
Pierre’s Pot, I remembered a pleasant, fun, leisurely stroll of a cave
and not the abyssal squeeze death our route turned out to be. You see,
dear reader, most sane people upon entering decide to go straight ahead
and embark untoward the not-so-nasty boulder rift then longingly gaze
upwards when standing by the first sump to imagine just how pretty the
hanging gardens must surely be… Because trust me when I say it might be
better for your claustrophobia for it to be well left to the
imagination.
So
just as we entered the cave and met our first junction we turned right
and everything went downhill (literally) from there on. Squeeze after
squeeze after squeeze;
before long I felt like I was some bizarre human string cheese being
getting stuck about the teeth of the earth like we were playing host to
the rock cirque du soleil and roleplaying trafficked eastern European
human contortionists fleeing arranged marriages. Because I’ll tell you
something, we were all fleeing something down there in that abhorrent
honey comb, I’m not sure what exactly but it felt like comfortable joint
function in retirement.
After some gruelling squeezes, we made it
to a section of the main stream inlet where we promptly got lost trying
to sus the way forward and at one point, when split testing the route,
we got ourselves into a wide variety of uncomfortable slots and holes
choking out to nowhere, one of which felt like the earth itself was
eating us and our souls.
Simon invites you to feel his pain.
Finally, Eva found the way and I proceeded
to attempt the most inconvenient means to follow by getting on my front
in a stream having no clue that a much more amenable (and dryer) means
of following were hiding just behind another boulder. At this point the
rocks were definitely closing in and I felt myself somewhat slowing
down; many questions were rushing past our minds: Were we ever going to
get out? Are the Hanging Gardens real? Did James and Eva leave any
rubbish in the backseat?
Left to right: James, Eva, Jake, Simon (smiling, despite his claims to the contrary).
It turns out all our questions and more
were soon to be answered within the guise of a rocky revelation.
Disaster, we had not found the Hanging Gardens at all, but instead had
somehow got lost in the Western Inlet, and not only that but we were
cutting our call out time to within a hair’s width. And then the
bombshell dropped. Jake at the front called it. It was a dead end. After
all the crawling, all the holes and all the wet awful bone pinching
jars, we had failed to find the promised land.
There is a deep seated almost primal part of human nature that demands
that if you watch a man try a door knob that he finds locked, some
overwhelming instinct tells you that this man is an idiot, surely,
surely he just twiddled the knob the wrong way? Perhaps he didn’t wiggle
it with the correct intensity of northern gumption? And so Eva climbed
up the sheer face near the inlet terminus and after a couple of tense
seconds where we considered turning back, disaster struck again… The way
had been found…
Once again I had to suffer more rock and holes. Why did I agree to this?
Why did I think caving was a good idea? Not only this but why were
there so many bats everywhere? Not only do I have to worry about being
trapped underground but now I might get rabies or bat ebola? This
evening was shaping up indeed. We plunged up and forward dangled over a
5(ish) metre free climb and dived head first through the final hole and
found the not so forbidden Hanging Gardens! Little white crystal worms
sprouted out of the rock like growing fingers of pearl to a backdrop of
stalactite and stalagmite formations, it was picture time.
After attaining spiritual enlightenment by
looking upon the Hanging Gardens we belted out of the cave in record
time to make call out. After a few helping hands climbing down the rock
faces and a particularly nasty squeeze that Jake enjoyed, we were
birthed again under open sky and, according to Eva, this was the first
time I smiled.
Simon Payne
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DAREN DREAMS
Does this looks like your ideal cave? If so, therapy is available on request.
A detraction or an attraction? The
Daren Cilau entrance crawl is the marmite feature of this classic Welsh
cave. Some people love it, others hate it. Read on to see what Daniel
Rose thinks.
After insomnia dashed December’s Daren dreams, Dan, Claire, Billy and I resolved to return on January 20th,
setting off from the tackle store at 10:15, determined to brave the
infamous 517m entrance crawl and witness the idyllic calcite crusted
passages that lie beyond.
Once in Wales, we parked at the cave, changed into our kit, and bumped
into a party containing UBSS extraordinaire James. After a friendly nod,
wave and greet combo, we trekked the 15 minute walk to the entrance,
discussing the task ahead in anticipation and wondering whether the
crawl was the ordeal some made it out to be.
As it turns out, the entrance, so long as you know what you’re getting
yourself into, isn’t bad at all. Aside from a few tight squeezes here
and there, (the Vice being particularly rib pressing), it’s smooth
sailing. I only had one kneepad, so suffered from knee pain inequality
throughout, but nonetheless we unanimously agreed that the entrance was a
highlight – not a detractor – of the overall cave experience. We
managed it in 55 minutes, a time Billy and I agree can be significantly
improved upon.
Following that, we walked through the relatively uneventful Jigsaw
Passage, pushing through The Wriggle without much fuss, getting lost
only at small, short lived intervals thanks to Dan’s exceptionally
soothing, musical readings of the route description he had appropriately
laminated and rehearsed.
Nope, this pair are not coming to the annual dinner!
After some further scrambling over boulders
we reached Epocalypse Way where we found two blow up dolls waiting next
to the logbook. Eying us intently, we felt their ominous presence
radiate against the cavern walls surrounding us. The dazzling White
Company formations following this kept our motivations high as we paused
for pictures, taking special note of the sea urchin calcite spikey
balls dotting various walls, Billy taking care to pose and point out
what was formation, and what was wall. An important distinction.
Shortly after, we reached Antler Passage to see the famous formations,
helictites growing horizontally that spindle off in different
directions, like antlers growing from a deer’s head, or tapeworms
bursting from an unwilling host.
If UBSS had discovered this, Daniel is right, it would no doubt have been named Worm Passage!
Taking time to marvel at the magnificence
surrounding us, we climbed up – then down – a duo of ladders, dropping
into Busman’s Holiday which then led us to Price’s Prophecy to commence
the last section of the trip, a shortish exit crawl, which, due to our
already battered knees, constituted solid type two fun. We then exited
out of Ogof Cnwc, completing our through trip, and bidding farewell to
this excellent cave, surely to be back again at a later date.
Daniel Rose
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And if you'd like to watch a short film of the trip, you can head over to Daniel's YouTube channel!
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MINES, MINERALS AND SPELEOGENESIS
A patch of big fluorite crystals showing their characteristic cubic habit. Photo by Mark Tringham.
Mark Tringham recently attended the
British Cave Research Association Science (BCRA) Symposium held in
Leeds and has written up the weekend of talks and the field trip.
This year’s event comprised a day of talks at the University of Leeds,
hosted by BCRA in conjunction with the Leeds Geological Society. This
was followed by a full day’s field excursion to mines and caves in the
Nidderdale area, about one hour’s drive from Leeds. The talks were
available online for those unable to attend in person.
As usual, the talks included a diverse mix of speleological topics
ranging from cave archaeology to biology, hydrology and speleogenesis.
Ones of particular interest to me included a talk on UK-wide speleothem
radiometric dating to determine glacial and non-glacial periods here
over the last 300,000 years and another talk on karst development in the
Burren, Co. Clare Ireland. The latter was presented by Rob Watson who
was one of the Bangor club who came down Otter Hole with me a few months
ago. Other interesting topics included two talks on hypogenic cave
formation in the UK, one concentrating on Derbyshire, the other by UBSS
member Andy Farrant reviewing recent work which shows that hypogenic
caves are likely much more common in the UK than previously thought.
Andy’s list included several Mendip cave sites as well as Miss Grace’s
Lane Swallet in the Forest of Dean.
The talk session was followed by an optional group Indian curry meal
just a short walk away. The Leeds University venue in the School of
Earth and Environment was excellent and attendance was free, so you
can’t complain! Around 25 people attended in person and approximately a
further ten joined online.
The mine entrance (centre) and remaining building. Photo by Mark Tringham.
The field excursion started at Greenhow
located an hour’s drive NW from Leeds. The group went into Gillfield
Level which is a disused lead and fluorite mine that was a big lead
producer through the 1800’s but which produced fluorite until quite
recently. Following the recent very wet weather the drainage adit
entrance was up to knee deep in water, but after a short time, Phil
Murphy, our guide for the day, showed us up into two stopes where some
of the vein mineralisation is still visible as well as some mining
artefacts.
The mineral deposition here and in neighbouring mines was concentrated
in the core of an anticline within the Craven Fault Zone. This major
fault boundary separated a shale-rich Carboniferous basin to the south
from shelf carbonate deposited to the north and this boundary formed the
focus for deep hydrothermal fluid movements carrying mineral rich
fluids upwards and outwards from the basin. The group was shown some
large fluorite crystals and well as traces of galena, the main lead
sulphide ore present.
The first stope visited with the floor at
drainage level (left). A haulage wagon and part of a rail track
(middle). The second stope visited at a higher level (right). Mike
McHale in photos by Mark Tringham.
The stopes were an impressive size, with
some timberwork remaining in places showing the ascending ‘overhand’
method of working at successively higher levels.
After lunch, the group drove for about 20 minutes through Pateley Bridge
and Lofthouse to the area of the Goyden Pot system in Nidderdale. We
met up with local expert and enthusiast Chris Fox, who had given a
presentation on the speleogenesis and exploration history at the
symposium the previous day. Water levels were high making some of the
swallets very impressive and Goyden Pot main entrance inaccessible.
 The raging torrent going into Goyden Pot. Photo by Mark Tringham.
However Manchester Hole, the furthest
upstream part of the system, was accessible and the group went a hundred
metres or so inside to see various points of interest. Afterwards the
group was shown around on the surface, examining many sinks and cave
entrances and Chris highlighted in particular the dynamic nature of the
hydrology with a lot of changes to the cave system caused during annual
floods even to this day. The cave has an interesting geology and
speleogenesis, being formed in the ~25m thick Middle Limestone of the
Carboniferous Yoredale sequence, which overall comprises alternating
limestone, shale and sandstones. Most parts of the ~8km cave system are
concealed beneath a roof of these other lithologies. The entrances of
Manchester Hole and Goyden Pot are located in a small fault and dip
bounded limestone inlier, while New Goyden Pot entrance is in a separate
even smaller inlier.
Andrew Mcleod inside Manchester Hole streamway with eroded and fallen stalactites. Photo by Mark Tringham.
The spelogenesis appears to be linked to
the erosional unroofing of the limestone and subsequent water ingress
during post-glacial times. Exploration of the system is still ongoing
and many parts of the system have been joined up underground bit by bit
and many new entrances located from the inside out. Many large passages
are present but some are largely choked with sediment infill. The
downstream part of the system is largely underwater and divers are still
exploring to try to forge a link between the known resurgence cave down
the valley and New Goyden Pot.
The dry river bed above New Goyden Pot exposing the Middle Limestone. Photo by Mark Tringham.
The afternoon session finished about 4.30pm
completing a fascinating day in the field both above and below ground
and a very interesting and fun weekend overall. Thanks to the BCRA for
laying on this symposium so capably and to the local experts for their
organisational skills and knowledge sharing, both at Leeds University
and in the beautiful Nidderdale area. Having attended the last
three annual BCRA events I can recommend them for their general caving
scientific interest and friendly atmosphere.
Mark Tringham
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A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
Mike Bertenshaw, left, and Adrian Wilkins, right, at Little Neath River cave.
Our 100 Memories Project returns,
with a tale of 'what can go wrong will go wrong' on a long ago diving
trip in South Wales told by Mike Bertenshaw.
Nothing to do with the Lemony Snicket books, TV series and film but,
instead, the saga that unfolded during a cave diving trip in Little
Neath River Cave in 1973. Julian Walford has asked me on a number of
occasions to write this up for his amusement, so here we go…
When I moved from Manchester to Bristol in the early ‘70’s to study
Geology and Chemistry, I’d already been caving for a number of years
with Derbyshire Caving Club, including two expeditions to Italy. One of
the reasons I chose Bristol was that I was eager to visit caves in
unfamiliar areas outside of the Pennines, i.e. Mendips, Devon and South
Wales. On realising that many of the caves in these areas have extensive
horizontal development full of water, it didn’t take long before I was
introduced to Oliver Lloyd and the Somerset section of the Cave Diving
Group.
I underwent some basic instruction in the Students’ Union swimming pool
with a subsequent night dive through oil drums submerged in Fishponds
Lido which, looking back on it, was somewhat surreal with night-club
lighting all around the pond. After practice dives in Whiteladies and
Wookey, I was asked by my mentor, the late Aldwyn Cooper, to accompany
him on a self-carry trip into Ireby Fell II where he wanted to push the
second sump which was heading for (and subsequently connected to) Notts
Pot. Although it has subsequently been bypassed, sump 1 was a good
introduction to how squalid things can get with me groping my way along a
flat-out passage with zero visibility. After a pleasant romp down the
impressive Duke Street, Aldwyn set off into the equally impressively
large tunnel that is sump 2 whilst I awaited his return. He did manage
to extend what I recall was Mike Wooding’s line, but without breaking
the surface.
Just to prove that students posed for awful
pictures of themselves in the '70s, too, this is the late Charlie Self
outside Little Neath.
The possibility of exploring totally new
cave passage was the main reason I took up cave diving, so I had no
hesitation in joining Adrian Wilkins when he asked me to accompany him
on a trip in Little Neath River Cave to follow up an open lead left by
Bob Churcher’s solo trip into sump 6a/7. The plan was for Adrian and I
to enter and exit via Bridge Cave and meet up with Charlie Self and one
other on the far side of the sump for assistance with the carry down to
sump 2. I was initially puzzled to find no weights in Bridge Cave until
Adrian instructed me to crawl to the sump pool then plunge in head first
and walk along the roof as soon as the floor dropped away. This seemed
to work.
Little Neath River Cave. Photo copyright Mark Burkey, and used with his kind permission.
After more than 20 trips into LNRC, Adrian
was able to move swiftly ahead and when I caught him up at sump 2 he was
just pulling up his wetsuit after an urgent bowel evacuation. I wasn’t
convinced when he suggested that I’d get better visibility if I dived
first, but in I went anyway, keeping an eye out to dodge any floaters.
Visibility wasn’t good and became much worse when I paused at the bottom
of the exit slope to move the line across to a larger section of
passage. Silt (plus whatever Adrian had deposited) overtook me and I was
soon scraping my helmet on the roof while the purge button on my
mouthpiece blew bubbles as it ground into the floor. I thought I should
stay calm, back off and move further to the right. This seemed to work.
Adrian took the lead in sump 3 but, instead of a tug on the line to
signal he was through, he reappeared to report the line had been cut and
he needed to swap his “tad” for a 40 cubic foot cylinder (in those days
it was normal and acceptable to use only one regulator even if carrying
two or more bottles). After swapping bottles, I was somewhat alarmed to
hear a loud bang when he turned on the air signifying a blown valve
diaphragm. This presented an interesting situation regarding who should
go for help and who should sit it out and await rescue, but remarkably
Adrian produced a spare regulator from a small kit bag that I was
carrying so the show could go on.
After Adrian had laid a new line through sump 3, we proceeded through
sump 4 without further incident except for noticing I was negatively
buoyant and having to work quite hard to prevent myself sinking into
deep underwater pits. Evidently, I hadn’t properly accounted for the two
NiFe cells hanging from my belt when attaching the lead weights. Blind
white fish appeared out of the gloom to keep me company during my slow
progress.
There’s a good length of streamway between sumps 4 and 5 so it was off
with the fins and back into wellies, a procedure then reversed for sump 5
and repeated again to reach sump 6a. This is reached after a short
climb up the right hand wall before Lake Chamber and the proper entrance
to sump 6. A ledge above the streamway seemed a good place to dump all
of my kit whilst Adrian prepared himself for the dive. Unfortunately he
couldn’t find the way on due to poor visibility (perhaps sump 2 effluent
had overtaken us by then) so he soon reappeared and we readied
ourselves for the journey back.
At this point disaster happened when I accidentally knocked my mask off
the ledge and it plopped into the fast-flowing streamway and down a
waterfall into Lake Chamber. I thought this is it, I’ll never get out
without a mask. My eyesight was bad enough without glasses anyway.
Adrian was still kitted up so he went swimming and to my complete
amazement managed to find my black mask amongst the black boulders on
the floor of Lake Chamber.
After removing a weight from my belt, I plunged back into sump 5 and
somehow caught the quick-release buckle (that cave divers should never
use) of my borrowed CDG belt on a projection and I suddenly found myself
pinned to the roof. Fortunately the passage was low enough for me to be
able to just reach the ejected belt and its contents, recompose myself
and move on out of the cave without further incident.
So, having escaped the clutches of the evil Count Olaf (a fictional
character and absolutely no likeness to Adrian intended), I vowed that
was the end of my brief cave diving career!
Mike Bertenshaw
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I MADE IT TO THE END! I DID, I DID!
Here you are at the end of another
newsletter! So go on, drop us a line! You know how needy we are. And if
you have any suggestions for features or memories for our 100 Memories
project, or even if you just want to send in a photo woth a few words,
go for it. We're open to any and all submissions. The newsletter is your
chance to take the piss out of your friends and have it recorded for
posterity.
- Great photos from the Boothroyd. Shows what a phone can do. We
now need proper cameras that can phone ... Happy new year to all!
[Chris Howes]
- Thank you Linda and Alysia for another fab read! [Mia Jacobs]
- Happy New Year! [Hans Friederich]
- Wow, that's a bumper issue, matron! Reading about other
people's adventures is a vicarious pleasure for those of us stuck at
home. Happy new year! [Sharon and the blessed FT Bear]
- Thoroughly entertaining! The videos embedded better that I ever
imagined and work great. Hopefully there will be lots more videos (and
pictures) to come. [Jess Brock]
- The recent excellent Newsletters
prompted me to send the below and attached article about BCRA field
meeting in Yorkshire in October 2023. By chance both I and Mark Tringham
attended and we had a really good day and chat on matters caving (even
though I never actually met Mark whilst I was at Bristol). [Mike McHale]
I did it, Batty, I read to the end!
THE END
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