Formations in Grotte de Poirrier, Dordogne, France. Photo, Linda Wilson.
The 2022 AGM and Annual Dinner is
almost upon us! This'll be our first since 2020 when we just managed to
sneak under the wire a few days before lockdown struck. Last year's AGM
was held by Zoom with a fantastic talk from Rick Stanton about the Thai
cave rescue. This year we'll be hearing from Hon Prezz Elaine Oliver
about the Berger trip. Sign ups for the dinner have now closed, but if
you would like to go on a reserve list in case there are any drop-outs, please let Sam Bowers know asap.
It's been another busy month on the caving front. Please keep the trip
write ups coming in. In 40 years time, you'll be able to look back on
your exploits and go: "Did I really do that?" or "Was I ever that thin?"
or "Did I actually have that much hair?" The advantage of caving with a
phone or camera is that you can snap piccies of your friends in awkward
places underground (and above ground). As yet no one has been captured
in an act of embarrassing intimacy with a pig's head at a bonfire party,
but there's still time to ruin your budding political career if you
really want to ...
For anyone who's new to the club, you can have a nose through back issues of the newsletter which can all be found here. After all, we might have been lying about the pig's head photos ...
Zac and Linda
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AGM AND ANNUAL DINNER
Traversing at the bottom of the Berger.
The AGM is when we vote in the
officers and committee for the coming year, as well as the non-student
members who (under our new constitution) will have the vote for the
coming year. If you are interested in standing for the committee, please contact Hon. Sec. Merryn Matthews. And if you would like to know more about what the roles entail, check out this draft for the role descriptions. This is still a work in progress..
There's been an unavoidable change in the arrangements for the AGM as
the rooms we had booked in the Geography Department have now been taken
over by a University Open Day, so David Richards has kindly booked a
room for us very close to Geography, and we'll signpost it from there.
It would help if people could bring their UCards as we will need these
for letting people in. We're not sure yet whether we'll be able to
supply tea and coffee, but there'll be time to chat before the meeting
while we get everyone assembled. Please aim to arrive in good time
before 10.30am as we'll start the meeting promptly so there's time for a
caving trip afterwards. The room will be open from 10am.
The dinner is taking place at the Square Club on Berkeley Square,
gathering at 7pm for the the meal at 7.30pm. We will be meeting for
drinks beforehand at 6pm in the Eldon, the club's usual Tuesday haunt.
There will also be an UBSS awards segment where we look back and
commemorate some of the most memorable moments from the last year of
caving so, please contact Sam Bowers, our master of ceremonies, if there are any specific awards you would like to be presented.
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ACCESS TO LONGWOOD VALLEY FOR CAVERS
The
problem of ash dieback has severely affected many areas of Mendip.
Longwood Valley is badly affected and as a result, the landowner,
Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT) have taken the decision to close the
permissive path that runs along the bottom of the valley from the north
to Velvet Bottom in the south. Linda Wilson, Conservation Officer for
Charterhouse Caving Company Ltd (CCC Ltd), explains the new
arrangements.
As Longwood Valley is home to two important cave systems, Longwood
Swallet and Rhino Rift, as well as two digs, CCC Ltd has been working
closely with the landowner, Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT), to preserve
access to the caves for cavers as SWT recognises the important role
cavers play in managing and conserving the caves, all of which are Sites
of Special Scientific Interest.
Further information about the revised access conditions for cavers can be found on the CCC Ltd website.
Please follow the link and read the information carefully if you intend
to visit either Longwood Swallet or Rhino Rift. The following
information is a brief summary only.
- Helmets must be worn at all times whilst in the reserve.
- Cavers
must not enter the reserve when winds are expected to be gusting at
approximately 35mph and over. Cavers should check a reliable weather
source for the area when planning a visit if high winds seem likely. The
Met Office forecast for Cheddar can be found here. This should be consulted when planning trips to the area. The site gives estimated rainfall and wind speed (gusting).
- Access to the reserve will ONLY be from the north end and NOT from Black Rock/Velvet Bottom.
- To
enable SWT to assess any risks from continued caver access, clubs will
be asked to keep a note of the number of visiting cavers to the reserve
eg number in party and date visited. This information will be collated
by CCC Ltd and passed to SWT.
- Visiting
cavers are expected to play an active role in conserving and managing
the sites, as they do now, by immediately reporting any of the following
safety and conservation concerns to the CCC Ltd secretary.
Linda Wilson
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SPRING SHOWCASE 2022
This year's digital showcase
features UBSS members David Hardwick and Adelle Bricking talking about
the ongoing work in Fishmonger's Swallet in South Gloucestershire, with
an update on the results radiocarbon dates grant aided by the
Olover Lloyd Memorial Fund and an overview of what we know about the
human and animal remains from the site. There's also another University
Challenge competition and it would be great to have more UBSS teams
entering this year. Our team reached the semi-finals last year! Linda
Wilson and David Richards are on the steering group for this event and
they hope as many UBSS members as possible will join them on Zoom.
Adelle Bricking digging in Fishmonger's Swallet.
Recent work on the Iron Age human remains
and the bones of domestic dogs and other animals recovered during a Time
Team dig 20 years ago has used a variety of scientific techniques
including radiocarbon dating to shed new light on this nationally
important cave site, and the relationship between humans and dogs in
later prehistory. As part of last year’s Spring Showcase, a short film
followed by a live Q&A focussed on the evidence of cannibalism and
now David Hardwick, Adelle Bricking and Jess Peto will return to talk
about the latest exciting developments at this fascinating site. They
will be joined for a live Q&A by Professor Mark Horton who directed
the Time Team dig.
You can sign up for this and all the other events, including University Challenge on the webpage devoted to the showcase.
And for any Geology and Earth Science graduates among the society, the
Friday evening event is a celebration of their many achievements in an
online reception which will include the virtual launch of Professor Mike
Benton's ground-breaking new book Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost
World. Many UBSS members will know Mike through his work with the
University's Tratman Fund, that has granted aided many expeditions over
the years, including the recent Berger trip.
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CAKE AND CAVING - THE DRAENEN ROUND TRIP
Elliott and and Henry decided to celebrate their recent
birthdays by trying to tick off a trip that had been on their radars for
a while – the Draenen round trip. Henry tells the story ...
So last Wednesday, we decided to skip uni for the day and head out early
to South Wales. Armed with a great deal of research we entered the cave
and set out to find the way. I had previously done from the entrance to
the Nunnery, and we sped through this dry section of cave with no
issues, marvelling at the huge Lamb and Fox Chamber, and the beautifully
sculpted Indiana Highway. From here it was into the Megatron and along
to the Nunnery, all fairly easy going in large passage with boulder
floors; it’s amazing just how big this cave is!
But for those craving Mendip squeezes, it's not all big! Henry in a small bit just before St David's Hall. Photo by Elliot.
There was a short ‘crawl’ and we ended up
in the impressive St David’s Hall – the start of the notorious ‘squirrel
rifts’. We had been informed that most people tend to get lost here on
their first trip, but some impeccable route recital from Elliott meant
that we found the way first time and soon found the Haggis Basher and
the Agent Blorenge streamway.
Elliot meeting the Agent Blorenge Streamway for the first time. Photo by Henry Morgan.
It was now a relatively simple case of
follow the stream down some awkward rifts, through the Sewers (wet!) and
down the Cascades to meet the main streamway. Despite the rain outside
this was very sedate, and we moved upstream at a good pace, past the
Sentinel Stal and through the boulder chokes with ease. We reached the
end of the streamway and Tea-Junction (the start/end of the round trip)
and decided this would be an opportune moment for some lunch!
Never let it be said that students don't know how to live the good life!
I produced a variety of snacks, including a
cake complete with candles, as we set about our underground feast!
After warming up with coffee, cake and sandwiches we headed back out
into the daylight. An excellent day of varied and very enjoyable caving.
Henry Morgan (left), Elliot McCall (right). They seem to have enjoyed themselves!
We got back to the car just as daylight
faded and headed back to Bristol. Absolutely recommend the trip to
anyone, surely this is the best cave within an hour of Bristol?!
Henry Morgan
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BYE, BYE EUNICE, IT WASN'T NICE KNOWING YOU!
A good place to shelter from the snow near Bar Pot.
A hardy UBSS contingent consisting
of Henry Morgan, Haydon Saunders, Jakob Annerdal, Kat Osei-Mensah,
Stuart Walker, Ash Gregg, Jake Reich, Guy Maalouf, Elliott McCall, Sam
Bowers, Jacob Podesta, Elaine Oliver and Bram Lovelace fled north to
escape the storm hit south west for some vertical caving, as Henry
relates. All photos are by Bram Lovelace.
On Friday 18th February, a much-depleted UBSS contingent made their way
up to Yorkshire, braving Storm Eunice on the way, for a long-awaited
weekend of vertical caving. The three cars arrived almost all at the
same time, and with remarkable efficiency we set about planning the next
day's caving.
Three trips were planned, including a Flood Entrance to Small Mammal
exchange up in Gaping Gill and trips down Aquamole Pot and Pippikin.
Tackle sacks were packed the night before (though my group had sensibly
chosen a pre-rigged cave so we were spared the faff!).
Bar Pot. Kat Osei-Mensah on the rope (or at least Bram thinks it was Kat!).
With impressive speed everyone got out of
the hut caving on Saturday morning. The Aquamole group were first to
return, followed by one of the GG groups. When my group returned from
wandering on Leck Fell (we did eventually find the cave!) It transpired
that the GG group had managed to miss Small Mammal altogether and had
found a ropeless way to get to the top of Bar Pot, we wondered if this
was why the last group was taking their time. Any worries about missed
call outs soon faded though as we were called by the last group who
decided to head to the New Inn in Clapham for a post cave pint.
Main Chamber, Gaping Gill.
We set about preparing a large chickpea
curry (big up to Haydon for organising the food!) And settled down for
the evening. There was much debate as to what caves we could possibly do
on Sunday which was proving even wetter than Saturday! However, it
turned out only six of those who made the journey up wanted to cave
again on Sunday, meaning fewer caves had to be found.
Rowten Pot.
Haydon decided to take a group to Rowten to
see how well the dry SRT route avoids the water, and I suggested to my
team that we take a look at F.O.U.L Pot on Fountains Fell. Haydon’s team
raced through their cave and were well on the way back home by the time
my team emerged late in the day to the typical wet and windy Yorkshire
weather, though we were treated to a lovely view of Penhygent on the
cold walk back to the car.
Yep, definitely looks cold!
It took a while but we did eventually warm
up and hopped into Stu's car for the long drive back to Bristol (thanks,
Stu for staying in the hut for us while we had our jolly!). Overall, it
was a great weekend with a top group of people and I have a new love
for the NPC hut. (As I write this I am spending my 'reading week' in
Greenclose, revising cave descriptions ready for evening trips!).
Henry Morgan
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COUNTDOWN TO CAVING WITH ... GUY MAALOUF
Hey there! I’m Guy Maalouf, I am Lebanese, and I came to Bristol to pursue an MSc in Aerial Robotics. Yes, I am a nerd and love anything that can fly. I have a YouTube channel where I occasionally post nerdy/engineering related videos. You can check it out here.
I am into all kinds of outdoor sports, watersports,
winter-sports, hiking and camping, etc… One of my close friends back in
Lebanon was into caving, and he once convinced me to go caving with him.
After going up and down a 20m outdoor SRT rope twice, he sent me down a
70m straight pitch for my first ever caving experience!
I am the one who always wakes up early to light the fire up at
our Mendips Hut. I was also given the prestigious title of … “Fire
Master’. Also, if you ever lose me, you can probably find me at the gym.
Ten words to summarise your caving career ...
Cold, Wet, Dark, Type: 2 fun, sometimes type: no fun
Nine cavers (living or dead) you would like to go for a drink with ...
Elliott, Henry, Gabriel, Kat, Jakob, Bram, Haydon, Sam, Imogen.
Eight things you never want/wanted to hear underground …
- Where is Theo?
- I think someone moved the rope (While you’re on the rope)
- Bones Cracking
- Complete Silence
- I think it’s the wrong way
- Rope noises while doing SRT
- A powerful stream/waterfall
- I think my welly is falling, could you grab it for me? (credits to Ben Alterman)
Seven public figures you'd least like to go caving with ...
- Vladimir Putin
- The Queen
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Dwane the Rock Johnson
- Warren Buffet
- Bill Gates
- Jeff Bezos
Six of the weirdest things you've done, seen or heard of in connection with caving ...
- Caving
- Cave diving (Are regular caves not cold or wet enough for you?)
- Watching a person breathe out to fit in a hole
- Turning all the lights off in a cave and waving your hand in front of your face
- Yorkshire Pudding Shot
- Seeing Imogen dance under the Trident
Five of your favourite caves ..
- Gaping Gill
- Attin Azar, Lebanon
- Aquamole
- Eastwater
- OFD
Four pieces of gear you've fallen in love with ...
- SRT Kit
- Good wellies that actually grip
- Fenix Lights. There was darkness, then there was Fenix!
- Are cave snacks considered gear? Please?
- Yorkshire
- Mtein, Lebanon
Three of the best caving books you've read ...
I don’t read, I prefer movies as they are more time efficient. The Rescue was great!
Two of your favourite caving regions ...
They must have loads of SRT so:
One thing you'd tell yourself as a fresher ...
The walk up to Gaping Gill entrance is FUCKING COLD!
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MAKING GOATCHURCH FUN(NER)!
Main entrance to Goatchurch. Photo from Wikipedia used under a creative commons licence.
Most people aren't in the club for
long before being introduced to the delights of one of Mendip's classic
novice caves. Merryn 'the Worm' Matthews has produced a handy guide for
making Goatchurch fun (or rather funNER than it already is). Her
suggestions include:
- Sing a lot
- Sit in the dark.
- And sing...
- Sing more
- Try to find sections of cave that resonate to your humming
- Find slides
- Slide them multiple times
- Find the water in the Water Chamber
- Climb the Coal Shoot
- Crawl the Crawl Extension (not actually fun unless you like being worm)
- Race out of the Drainpipe (including the bend at the end). Leaderboard: Kiren 0.28s, Merryn 0.34s
- Drainpipe Wrestle Race: two people race past each other opposite directions
- Play Hide and Seek
- Find every human sized passage
- Have a dance
Your suggestions welcome!
Merryn Matthews
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GROTTE DU POIRIER, DORDOGNE, FRANCE
Final chamber, Louis Lawrence for scale. All photos by Linda Wilson.
An ancient fossil resurgence in the
commune of Azerat in the Dordogne contains a wealth of historic
graffiti, a large chamber and a link to an entirely different cave.
Linda Wilson describes the cave and talks about her latest research
project.
I first visited the Grotte du Poirier (also known as Grotte du Parrier
and Grotte de Plazannet) about 20 years ago. The cave consists of a
short section of large, old fossil resurgence that leads, after about
130m, to a large chamber with an enormous boulder slope.
Main passage. Jan Walker for scale.
Just before the final chamber, a short
section of dug passage leads to a second, originally separate cave, La
Plansonnie. The two were connected by digging in the 1980s, I believe,
and Poirier now provides the usual entrance, as the landowner at
Plansonnie is naturally not overly keen on cavers descending the well
from which he takes his water just to go caving. To reach La Plansonnie,
you need to trust two now very dodgy spits at the beginning of the
crawl and you'll need a very long tether or short rope and a 8m ladder.
The pitch is free climbable, but it's awkward and muddy. It's also
awkward on ladder as well as for the bottom half the ladder hangs in a
gully and it's easier to climb using the ladder as a handline.
Straws at the head of the pitch down to La Plansonnie.
From the bottom of the pitch, you meet the
streamway and can follow this down to the well, but take extreme care
not to walk in the stream as otherwise you'll muddy the owner's water
supply and he won't be pleased, and don't talk too loudly at the bottom
of the well. There is some 1800s graffiti at the bottom of the well, but
sadly when I did that trip I wasn't particularly interested in anything
that recent and wasn't carrying a camera underground. The total length
of La Plansonnie is in the region of 800m. There are some well-decorated
high level passages about halfway down the streamway.
Louis Lawrence in the main passage. Note the amount of stuff on the walls.
Since gaining an interest in historic
graffiti, Poirier has been on my list to re-visit for ages, as I vaguely
remembered the caving containing some graffiti, but apart from one
abortive attempt a few years ago to find the entrance (both Graham and I
totally misremembered the route!), I hadn't got around to having
another go, so Jan Walker's visit in October 2021 gave me a good excuse,
and it became our third trip of the day, after les Grottes de Douyme
(described in the October newsletter.
It's going to be a total recoding nightmare!
My vague memory of some graffiti didn't
quite do it justice. The whole place is full of it, along both sides of
the main passage and then again in the final chamber. Many of the people
whose names we noticed here had also left their mark in Grotte de
Douyme 1 at the bottom of the slope up to the big chamber. My second
visit was last week, when I introduced a young friend to caving for the
first time. Louis took to it like a duck to water, and had spent time
the night before knocking up a very decent light for our intended
photography from a motorcyle battery, various bits of wiring and
switches cannibalised from old table lamps, some LEDs he had knocking
around and a mount he'd just 3D printed. It proved a very effective
lighting unit and he's working on refining it further for future trips.
Peyrusset 1870 is the earliest graffito found so far.
The graffiti in Poirier starts in the late
1800s which, I suspect, is when the main cave was dug into. The earliest
graffito I've identified so far is Peyrusset 1870, shown above.
The entrance is on the valley side, under a small cliff, and is wide and
low, leading into a large, sloping chamber. I haven't researched this
in any detail as yet, but I'm interested in the fact that the earliest
graffiti, dating to the early 1800s pre-dates the discovery of the cave
art in La Mouthe in 1894, which kicked off the search for similar sites
in the area, leading to numerous discoveries, so in the case of Poirier,
this seems to have been exploration for exploration's sake.
Marie-Louise Lacoste-[indecipherable]. Lacoste is a local hamlet. The handwriting style makes a late 1800s date likely.
Also unusual, is the fact that several
women were amongst the earlier explorers. Helmets off to them! The
entrance is a wriggle now, and was probably tighter when first opened
up. Some of the names are clearly local, but the explorers didn't record
their ages. I would like to spend time systematically recording the
names and dates to establish when the cave was first entered and
cross-check these details against the signatures in La Douyme 1. It
would also be interesting to see if I can discover how local these
explorers were to the commune of Azerat.
Many thanks to both Jan and Louis for their help with photography on these trips.
To find the cave, park at the spot shown on the map in the October
newsletter, then walk downhill for about 200m, looking for a well worn
scramble up a steep bank at a point where a wire fence meets the bank at
right angles. There is a wooden post on the corner. Follow the fence up
the slope and you'll find the entrance very easily. There are no access
restrictions that I'm aware of and the cave is not gated.
The cave has not sufferent too much from graffiti left during the last
50 years, but clearly some recent visitors should have known better.
Please don't ever leave graffiti in caves you visit. We now have other
ways of recording our presence.
Linda Wilson
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A MENDIP EXCURSION
Becka in Unlucky Strike, Eastwater.
On the weekend of 11th/12th
February, Sioned Haughton escaped some serious nerding on Mendip in
favour of a couple of caving trips.
The
Advanced Surveying Group met at the Wessex for their annual weekend of
nerding. I have no idea what went on as it was all completely
indecipherable. I was just there to go caving and to try to tire Becka
Lawson out (of course I didn’t manage it).
On
Friday night, Andrew and I went with Becka and Julian Todd (on a rare
non-virtual caving trip for Julian) to see the new stuff in Wookey 20.
The last time I was there when Elliott Smith was trying to drum up
support for an UBSS dig, which must have been 5 years ago, not long
before someone else got in there instead and it went for many many
metres.
The
new stuff is quite different in character, with intersecting high rift
passages, a weird conglomerate section and lots of very red, very sticky
mud. There’s even a little round trip to be had. The breakthrough point
is very close to what was the dig face and didn't look like it required
too much engineering, so I’m guessing it would have been one of those
deeply satisfying digging endeavours that you hear about all the time
but which are actually like hen’s teeth. All of which could have been
UBSS’s… Incidentally if any of the newer folk are keen to get involved
in discovering exciting new cave passage, I’m sure some of the older
members could point them towards any number of highly promising
opportunities.
The
next day Becka and I did our best to escape the nerding again with a
trip to Eastwater. We were accompanied by Andrey, a Russian caver Becka
had met while on expo in Abkhazia who was over for the weekend from
London. I chose a trip to the lesser visited parts of the cave because
at the time I didn’t realise that Becka, who mainly caves everywhere but
Mendip, hadn’t done Eastwater since she was an undergrad, if at all. So
instead of trundling off on a nice touristy 13 pots trip, we ended up
doing Unlucky Strike and the Technical Masterpiece. Oh well, Becka
enjoyed it anyway. Andrey, I’m not quite so sure about. Although he was
very stoic and didn’t complain once, he did turn around before the end
of the TM. In retrospect maybe it wasn’t the best choice for a first
trip on Mendip. Hopefully he will be back…
The
Upper Series trip was fun for everyone though. Unlucky Strike (we found
out afterwards from MadPhil that it got its name from the perched
boulder at the top of the pitch that was there when they broke through
but no longer there when they returned, and one of the curtains lower
down that seemed to be missing a large chunk) is a worthwhile excursion,
with some sporting climbs and modest pretties.
We also had a look at the climb up into Dark Cars and Sunglasses. Here I
feel that the suggestion of ‘handline useful’ in Mendip Underground is
something of an understatement. It’s a 15m climb the start of which is
probably okay if you have long legs. Andrey offered to go and check it
out for us, reporting that it got easier and then harder again at the
very top where there is a tight slot you have to post yourself through.
If Becka and I had been dithering about doing the climb, thinking about
having to reverse that move was essentially what settled it for us. So,
the ‘large, decorated canyon passage’ that apparently lies beyond will
just have to wait.
Sioned Haughton
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OFF THE BEATEN TRACK IN SWILDON’S
Sioned
and Si Hadfield on their second go round Vicarage, before they had
experienced the delights of North West Stream Passage.
There are times when only something
unusual is enough to scratch a caving itch, as Sioned describes in the
next of her Mendip rambles …
For
a change, Si and I decided to go somewhere we’d never been in Swildon’s
- Vicarage Pot and North West Stream Passage. Vicarage is quite good
fun. After a ladder climb down, you immediately ascend the opposite wall
using some very old and solid stemples and avoiding the very new and
shiny stemples which you can literally pull out of the rock with your
fingers.
We
then embarked on the Hairy Passage round trip - an entertaining option
for the small and flexible. Mendip Underground instructed us to remove
all extraneous items, but as we have become used to descriptions written
for the more classically shaped Mendip caver, we didn’t heed the
advice. It wasn’t until Si was in a most inconvenient location for
removing his belt that he decided this was necessary. I even had to
remove my helmet (eek).
Once
through the squeezy bit we had much fun trying to extract ourselves
from the bell-shaped pot with no hand or foot holds and I am pleased to
report that I didn’t need to stand on Si. Once completed, we of course
had to go back in to collect all the kit we had discarded. This turned
out to be a lot more difficult second time round and an upwards squeeze
we hadn’t really noticed the first time turned into a complete epic once
we were wet and covered in mud, causing some hilarity.
After
Vicarage we headed to North West Stream Passage, which is only just
around the corner. Andrew had said we should do it while we there,
although as both places are really close to the Short Round I couldn’t
really see why they don’t get done more often. Well, now I know. And I
can safely say that NWSP is somewhere I do not want to go again. It
started with a duck through murky green foul-smelling water that you
follow down a pitch to where it joins the eponymous streamway.
Fortunately, most of the passage is upstream of this, but although the
water in the upstream duck was clear you could see sinuous patterns on
the mud at the bottom. We tried not to think too much about these as we
went through.
What
followed was a very awkward section of slanting stooping passage that
made you feel like you’d forgotten how to walk. This ended at not one
but two separate sumps (just to make you feel like you got your money’s
worth) although both were at the bottom of long slippery climbs that
even in the spirit of completeness neither me nor Si wished to do.
However, it was in this same spirit that we ended up in the
not-entirely-appropriately-named Heaven and Hell passage which included a
seemingly never-ending slog through body-sized triangular passage half
full of gritty liquid mud. When we finally got back to the Swildon’s 2
streamway, I was so happy to see it I literally wallowed in it.
Sioned Haughton
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PROPOSAL FOR HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
Mark Horton at Fishmonger's Swallet, demonstrating how to split deer bones to extract the marrow.
Under our constitution, a proposal
for honorary membership must be agreed to two consecutive committee
meetings and then must be put to a vote at the AGM. Currently, UBSS Has
three honorary members: David Drew, Alison Moody and Tony Boycott, all
recognised for their long association with the Society. This year, we
have a proposal for a fourth honorary member, Professor Mark Horton.
Mark is being proposed for Honorary Membership by Linda Wilson, seconded
by Tony Boycott He is an emeritus professor in the department of
Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Bristol and is
currently the research director at the Royal Agricultural University and
a director of its off-shoot, the Cultural Heritage Institute in
Swindon.
Mark is one of the people (along with David Hardwick) who was
instrumental in the material from Fishmonger’s Hole coming to the UBSS
Museum collection. This is a nationally important collection and will be
featuring heavily in the next edition of our Proceedings to commemorate
the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the cave by David
and others. Mark directed the Time Team dig at the site shortly after
the discovery and will be familiar to many people from his TV shows
including Time Team, Time Fliers and others.
Mark has also been very helpful on the editorial side of Proceedings in
discussion with Graham about the upcoming changes to open access
journals coming in this year. It seems appropriate to honour Mark’s
association with the society in this way and this year in particular.
Linda and Tony hope the proposal is acceptable to the membership.
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NEW KIT - A BIG THANK YOU!
A huge thank you to both the University's Student Experience
Committee's Alumni Grants Committee and to the Oliver Lloyd Memorial
Fund who have helped the club purchase some much-needed new kit!
The post-COVID boom in new student members meant that the club needed to
source nine Fenix lights, seven helmets, one SRT kit and three
oversuits to help meet the need for kit. Not all of this has been
commissioned immediately, but we now have sufficient to meet our needs.
The Student Experience Committee's Alumni Grants Committee awarded the
club a grant of £817 and the Oliver Lloyd Memorial Fund put in £400
which, along with the same amount from the club's tackle fund, made up
the matched funding element that helped secure the grant.
Thanks are due to Henry Morgan and Zac Woodford who put together the funding application with help from Linda Wilson.
The
University fund that the £817 grant came from was set up in 1982, and
since then graduates of the University of Bristol have donated £1.5
million via the Alumni Fund to students groups like ours. This
fund, which has in the past helped with the purchase of oversuits and
surveying equipment, has been a big help in the purchase of capital
items, as has the Oliver Lloyd Memorial Fund, set up in memory of
Oliver, our former Hon. Treasurer, which has provided matched funding on
all the applications to the Alumni Fund.
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CAVE DIVER
Cave Diver by Jake Avila is the latest novel featuring caving to find its way onto Linda Wilson's already crowded bookshelves.
When disgraced underwater cave explorer Rob Nash is offered a lucrative
TV contract being on a documentary being made in a cave in a remote area
of Papua New Guinea that he’s always wanted to explore, it sounds too
good to be true, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Underwater cave explorer Rob Nash is a mess, both mental and financial.
His descent from cave diving’s golden boy to community pariah was both
sudden and shattering. His wife Natalie died in the depths of a
submerged cavern in Western Australia. A tragic accident or something
more sinister? Nash has been pilloried in the press, hounded by
reporters demanding answers he can’t – or won’t – give them, and
threatened with a civil action by Natalie’s grieving family.
Nash is grieving too, blaming himself for his failure to save Natalie’s
life. He’s lost sponsorship deals, been forced to pull out of
expeditions and looks likely to lose his home as well as his livelihood.
On top of all that, his sister, one of the few to have stick by him has
just told him she’s been diagnosed with cancer.
When old family friend Frank Douglas offers him a way out of his
problems, Nash is dubious at first, but allows himself to be persuaded
to take a job working with a film crew making a documentary in Papua New
Guinea featuring a cave diving site that for many is the Holy Grail of
underwater exploration, the mysterious Hoosenbeck cavern, a supposedly
bottomless lake inside a huge cave at the end of a deep, remote river
gorge in an area of inaccessible rainforest, turned into a no-go area by
warring guerrilla factions since the cave was first discovered in the
1960s.
With the publicity surrounding the successful Thai cave rescue in 2018, a
thriller with the title Cave Diver is bound to attract attention, and
for anyone brought up on a diet of Clive Cussler and Wilbur Smith, this
is likely to be an appealing romp through inhospitable terrain, with our
hero braving a dangerous river, local tribes who not unnaturally take
exception to the river version of a hit-and-run, and multiple villainous
types all with their own hidden agendas and shifting loyalties. It’s
classic Boys’ Own Adventure stuff, with a handsome, square-jawed hero
who exerts the classic cliché of a ‘primal attraction’ over women (even
of the non-swooning heroine variety), some very bad baddies and,
naturally, a dangerous hunt for lost wartime treasure.
There’s plenty of excitement and intrigue and some decent action, but
the cave diving scenes that I’d hope to see at the heart of the story
play second fiddle to a lengthy build up and never really get the focus
needed to show Rob Nash in his element. He’s schlepping almost as much
mental baggage as he is weighed down out of the water by all his diving
kit and I found it hard to warm to him. He’s about as far from the real
heroes of the cave diving world as it’s possible to be, and the Dirk
Pitt style of thriller hero has never really floated my boat. Playing
somewhat less to stereotypes would have helped, but that aside, there
were some genuinely tense moments in the finale. I’d need to consult my
many friends who’ve caved in Papua New Guinea for the accuracy of the
descriptions and the geopolitical situation in the region, although I
certainly found that side of things interesting, so go ahead, suspend
disbelief and come on in – the water is anything but lovely!
CAVE DIVER
Author: Jake Avila
Publisher: Zaffre
Date: 5 August 2021
ISBN 10: 1838775366
ISBN 13: 978-1838775360
Price: £8.99 Paperback
Linda Wilson
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SHORT CAVE/TRIP DESCRIPTIONS - THE RESULTS!
Systeme de Bretaye, Belgum. Photo courtesy of Paul de Bie.
The results are in for the
cave/trip in 20 words (or fewer) competition! Thank you to everyone who
took part. Your editors have given the entries careful consideration
(totted up the worth of the bribes we've been offered) and reached the
unanimous view that the winner is Guy Maalouf for his evocative
description of Eastwater!
The descriptions, now with cave names added are now being revealed, as
enquiring minds need to know! Most people were pretty puzzled, but
Elaine Oliver did hazard a couple of almost accurate guesses, so
congrats to her!
And our mystery photo was of the Systeme de Bretaye. For the record,
Linda says that when she did this with Helen Rossington and Tony
Boycott, the ducks were a lot wetter than shown here.
1. It’s like being a slice of ham sliding out of two buttered slices of rock. (Guy Maloof) EASTWATER
2. Popular cave, very slick entrance rocks. Not the longest or most
fascinating, lets newbies get their oversuits dirty (or not). (Jan
Walker) GOATCHURCH
3. Pitch, Pitch, mud, climb, crawl, crawl, squeeze, tight rift, flat out
crawling, squeeze, squeeze, crawl, turn around and go back. (Ash Gregg)
POLLPRUGLISH
4. A metal door, a memory of waving grass, opens a long drop and three hours to daylight. We didn’t rush. (Dick Willis) LANCASTER HOLE
5. Rock Cathedral, parishioners tumble under bridge, the choirs covered
beneath flowing white blankets that drape from roof forested in straws.
(Zac Woodford) GB CAVERN
6. Wet, getting wetter, nose scraping the roof, eyes and mouth
underwater now, no choice but to keep going straight on. (Linda Wilson) SYSTEME DE BRETAYE
7. Pools, short pitches. Just Linda and I loaded with tackle. Got
further than any UBSS party for next ten years. (Graham Mullan) GROTTE DE LA SAUT DU PUCELLE
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WINTER STORMS
Track to the hut. Photo by Liz Green.
The hut survived the latest spate of winter storms despite a tree down over the track.
Thanks to Liz Green for keeping an eye on the hut and checking it out
after storms ripped through the south west. Unfortunately, not long
after, Liz found that the hut had suffered yet another break in. It
doesn't appear that anything was taken, and Liz was able to re-secure
the main door.
Thanks also to Haydon Saunders who went out the same day to put a new
padlock on the tool shed to replace the one that had been broken off.
If you do ever see anything suspicious in the area, please report it to the police.
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CAVING CAT READ TO THE END (AND LOOKED AT THE PICCIES) - DID YOU?
Image by Graham Mullan.
Thank you to everyone let us know
about your reading prowess in the last issue, and lots of bamboo shoots
for the lovely Kat Osei-Mensah who galloped to the end in record time,
earning her some bamboo shoots from Pirate Red Panda! A UBSS keyring
torch will be winging its way to you at the annual dinner!
Many thanks to Graham for Caving Cat! If anyone else would like to send
in an image for us to use, you can count on a reward! And as ever, keep
those emails coming!
- What an excellent newsletter. Thank you! Hope I’m in time for some bamboo shoots! [Kat Osei-Mensah]
- Super newsletter! And a wonderful range of trips, go UBSS members!
Safe journey to the next cave system to Dr Steve Trudgill. [Jan Walker]
- Excellent newsletter as ever, and clearly lots of great caving
being done. So sorry to hear about Steve Trudgill. I first met him in
1988 when visiting Sheffield University as a prospective undergrad,
where he had a photo of Cheddar Gorge on his office wall. I had the
pleasure of meeting up with him at his home in Hinxton last year whilst
working in the area. A real gent. [Andy Farrant]
- This doesn’t mean I’m the first though, I’m guessing :) [Bram
Lovelace] [Editors' note: Nope, but 4th is very respectable!]
- Caving Newsletter > Lecture critical for tomorrow’s exam. I know where my priorities are. [Mahmoud Ahmed]
- Some very inspiring trip reports! Glad I got a mention in burns night... [Lucy Dufall]
- You could play Twister on that undersuit. [Chris Howes]
- I read it while my year 9s were sweating over a poetry essay
while I glared at them. It will doubtless be more entertaining than
anything they produce. [Ian Wheeler]
- I read this in Andorra where Julian and I are enjoying a ski
holiday. Today’s high wind and resulting vicious spindrift make the
hotel lounge a pleasant afternoon retreat from the elements. A great
read as always and I’ll re-read on the big screen back... [Carol
Walford]
- Read to the end! Shocked and appalled at discovering Zac ate
half of one of the prized haggises >:( [Megan Malpas] [Editor's
note: Busted!]
- I did it. Devastated to learn about the death of Steve Trudgill.
He was the reason that I negotiated my studies in the UK, after having
obtained my first degree in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. One of
my senior lecturers in the University of Amsterdam knew Steve from
joint research, and he introduced me. Steve and I exchanged
messages (I guess letters, as we are talking 1977) and he explained that
he was carrying out surface karst research, and he was not into
research in caves. He suggested that I should talk with Pete
Smart, and - as they say - the rest is history. Mind you, Steve and I
did work on a joint research paper about erosion rates in coastal limestone cliffs in County Clare, due to grazing of sea urchins. Very sad to hear of his passing and may he rest in peace! [Hans Friederich]
- A thoroughly good read and some stunning photos. Thanks a lot to everyone who contributed. [Pat Hill]
- A most impressive online newsletter with such a wide variety of
articles. Amazing, I know how difficult it can be to regularly find
people to write them. Sad news about Steve Trudgill, with whom I was in
Co. Clare in 1968, I believe. Thanks for adding both of us to the
newsletter mailing list! Greetings from two ex-cavers who have remained
good friends ever since our time in Bristol. [Bob Taylor (UBSS
1967-1970, now living near Munich in Bavaria) Dick Marsh (UBSS
1968-1971, now living in Sheffield)]
- Yup, got here. Our kids always referred to Padirac as the
Gouffre de Paddywack. We went once, when on holiday down there, and did
the boat trip. [Barbara Sim]
Miaow, miaow! I did it, Caving Cat, I got there in the end!
THE END
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