Hon. Sec: A.R. Thomas. Allens House,
Hon. Editor: – S.J. Collins, Lavender Cottage, Bishop Sutton,
Contents
Editorial
A.G.M.
Once more, the Annual General Meeting has come round and
gone by. This year produced no real
surprises or fireworks, but it was nevertheless most encouraging to see the
number of club members who took and active part in the proceedings.
As usual, prospective innovators had a hard time of it. Pete Franklins resolution to separate the
dates of the A.G.M. and dinner was defeated by the narrowest possible margin of
one vote, but we are reminded that the late Don Coase took two years before he
got his proposal to change the date of the A.G.M from the last Saturday in
January to the first Saturday in October accepted so Pete may well win out
next year.
Plans for the B.B. to run quarterly were also voted
against. Although the Chairman pointed
out that this was not a resolution and thus did not bind the Editor to comply
with it, we feel that it would be wrong to introduce a change which runs
contrary to club feeling, and thus the B.B. will continue next year and in the
future to come out once a month on the same lines as it does now.
Bearing this in mind, it is still proposed to celebrate the
quarter century of the B.B. by improving it in a number of directions. More detailed plans for this will be
announced later.
Alfie
It was carried at vthe A.G.M. that the minutes published in
the B.B. should be amended, and the words Phil Coles voting against be
deleted. Will all members please note.
Is your address known buy the club? Address lists will soon be published. If in any doubt LET ALAN HAVE YOUR CORRECT
ADDRESS NOW.
Club Officers
|
Chairman of the Ho.n Secretary Hon. Treasurer Caving Secretary Climbing |
Alfie Collins Alan Thomas Bob Bagshaw Tim Large Nigel Jago |
Hut Warden Tacklemaster Minutes Secretary Belfry Engineer |
Dave Irwin Bill Cooper Dave Turner Pete Stobart |
Other posts are at present as follows: –
Librarian – Dave Searle; Caving
Publications Editor Dave Irwin; B.B. Editor Alfie Collins; B.B. Printer
Barry Wilton; Postal Dept. Kay Mansfield.
From the Caving Log
.an occasional digest of the clubs caving activities
by Wig
The last three months have been typical for the clubs
activities for some time except perhaps for the starting of an outside dig.
On the 10th July, Martin Webster visited North Hill and on
the next day went diving in Swildons to have a look at the Sump VI bypass. Martin says A little bit of work done in
Sump VI bypass, but in needs to be dug out a lot deeper. Bill Cooper, our Tacklemaster, has been photographing
and Jok has been taking novices down Swildons. On 16th of July, reported that someone unknown was blocking the hole at
the lower end of the Water Rift. On the
following day the blockage was completed and on the Sunday (18th July) Tim
Large, armed with sledges demolished it completely and, with a small party,
removed all the debris left by the builders.
Cwm Dwr in
Shatter Hole on Mendip were visited by members. Plantation Swallet was attacked by Bill Cooper and Jok. During the course of the next three months
the entrance was excavated and an interesting side rift was discovered. Swildons still holds the position of being
the most visited system on Mendip, except perhaps Cuthberts. Trips to North West Stream Passage; Black
Hole; Shatter Series and free diving Sump IX were all undertaken. Of the lesser caves, Reservoir Hole; Cuckoo
Cleeves and the Burrington Area were all noted in then log. On the 24th August, Swildons III was visited
by Martin Webster who, with members of the C.D.G. dug out the Sump VI bypass on
the return trip. Martin states that its
easier to go through the sump!
A reconnaissance trip to the Merthyr area was undertaken by
D. Sanderson on the 20th to 23rd of August and several sites of interest were
noted. On the 22nd of August, a group of
members bottomed Rhino Rift, while other caves visited during this time
included Nine Barrows; Rods; Stole Lane; Eastwater and of course,
Swildons. Dry conditions were
encountered when messrs Bogeat and Abbott went to the Black Hole Series in
Swildons and on the 11th September and Bill Cooper and Co. who visited
Longwood/August on the 11th September.
During September, Pete Stobart, Jok and Co. erected a
gigantic structure to ease working in
while at the same time Martin Huaun was in
W.C.C/S.M.C.C./B.E.C. party to bottom their discovery which is some 800ft
deep. Meanwhile, Martin Webster was in
Crete and visited
and Steve Wynn-Roberts. Work continues
at the bottom of Hunters Hole by Pete Stobart, and on the 24th September,
Plantation Dig became known as Plantation Chasm Dig!!
On the 29th, Graham Phippen free dived his way to Swildons
IX and returned via the notorious Shatter Link. Dan yr Ogof was visited on the 5th September for photographing, as was
Pant Mawr pothole.
St. Cuthberts has been plodding along quite well, and on
the 5th July, Roy Bennett, Bill Cooper, Wig, Peter Rose and Bob Craig commenced
work on the Sump II dam. During the
course of the next four weeks, Roy continued to build the dam, helped by Colin
Clarke, Wig, Phil Kingston, Pete Eckford, Dave Yeandle, Tim Large and in the
last stages Bob Craig came back to finish the dam with usual expertise. (Replies to this are not printable).
Surveying dominated the scene as well, the Cuthberts Survey
reaching its final stages although it took its toll when a boulder fell on
Martin Mills in the far reaches of Disappointment Passage. On the 27th August, Wig, Dave Turner and
Grham Phippen visited September Series and noted several unentered passages
there.
A large B.E.C. team went to Sump II to drain and bang the blockage
on several occasions helped by S.M.C.C. while arrangements were being made to
commence digging at the end of Gour Rift. Whether the attempts being made at these sites will prove successful or
not remains to be seen. More next time.
Climbing Secs Report
.by the present Climbing
Secretary
Nigel Jago
This year has seen much change in the Climbing Section as a
whole with more meets and a general trend towards better attendance at them.
At the start of winter, and throughout the year, Avon Gorge
received its fair share of visits with individual members coming back to their
old climbing grades thereby performing very well on some of the high grade
routes (H.V.S. and X.S.) Cheddar, on the
other hand received few visits, with normal trade routes being done.
As the year wore on,
accounted for several weekends when the snow was there. These did not go without incident as members
from our own club were spent on mountain rescues after coming down from
gullies.
The highlight of the winter without doubt was the ten day
meet at Glen Coe in
which was very well attended both on snow and rock. It yielded two fine routes at Glen Etive
(Hammer and Spartan Slab both Scottish V.S.s.) Some gullies grade II were ascended as the
weather poured down sun for eight days. In this bright spell, Aonach Eagach fell to the onslaught of the group
which included office staff who, before that day, were believed to have lost
the use of their legs!
As in the case of a party large in number, the needs of the
tourist element was well catered for by Gerry Otan and Bob White, who did all
the chauffeuring. Evenings were spent
traditionally in some bar or other that sold beer none were giving it away,
of if they were, nobody told us about it!
At Whitsun, we travelled to
the air and fly with considerable aid from the navy helicopter and a member of
the coastguards. Garry was then rendered
armless for the rest of the weekend, after visiting a few old friends in
Penzance Casualty Unit. Sunday was spent
at Bosigran. Derek and I did Little
Brown Jug (H.V.S.). On the easy way down,
we heard Fred I-traversed-to-the-right Attwell shouting for a top rope which
was given to him a after great debate. After reaching the toip, Fred and Pete gave help on yet another rescue
this time not involving a member of the B.E.C.
By reading this far, it is quite easy to understand why we
are at times referred to affectionately as part of the Avon Gorge Circus.
The main event of the year was the
on the ferry boat. One mountain was
topped the Eiger by its west flank route in the second week by Bob Sell and
partner. Our first camp site was reached
at Chamonix after a total of eighteen hours in a not so fast
five hundredweight overloaded. The same
day that we arrived, Fred and myself started for the Mulets Hut. After a gruelling afternoon, a superb bivvi
was constructed in the best room of the old Telepherique Hotel at Pierre
Pointue on the edge of the Bosson Glacier. After a cold bivvi, we started across the Bosson at eight oclock, climbing
in and out of crevasses when we could not jump them, reaching the Mulets Hut in
five hours. We returned the following
morning after rotten guts and lack of sleep and Fred being very disappointed
that we did not reach the top. During
our day at the hut, Derek Barrie and Rory tried to reach us by was of the other
side of the glacier but failed because of a very deep and wide crevassed
area. The party reluctantly packed
themselves into the van the next day for
which again turned into an irritating drive into
toured by the party breaking into smaller groups.
Other members staying in
doing plenty of routes in the main coastal climbing areas. August Bank Holiday was spent at
climbing anew route at Chair Ladder area.
We hope to have as good if not better year this year, with
all our meets having better attendances even on those cold wet weekends in
The club has amongst hoarded relics of some person or
persons unknown ice axes and guide books, which are getting increasingly hard
to trace. Would these people return the
clubs property, so that an accurate record can be made of what we possess?
Caving on Gower
By Graham
On the Friday evening preceding the Spring Bank Holiday,
Buckett Tilbury and Graham Wilton-Jones set off up the A40 from High Wycombe
for
jams, we arrived on the Gower just in time to collect the keys for Tooth and
start on the Saturday. Kipping in the
van just beside
situation very convenient.
Above
shallow catchment for a reasonable sized stream. Recently, the Gower had been dry and there
were several stagnant pools lying on the pebble bed. Only a small stream flowed, very slowly. Some two hundred yards below the bridge, the
stream sinks into Llethrid Swallet. The
main valley continues down to Parkmill, where the river resurges, over a mile
from the sink.
From the gated entrance, a few yards above the swallet, a
steep drop down through boulders gives access to the stream. The water was so low that we found it
difficult to follow as it trickled its way under the jumbled mass of
boulders. Some of these were supposed to
be dangerously unstable, but we found none that were loose. There must be several routes through these
boulders we came through by two separate routes. Soon the stream was lost altogether and we
had to follow our noses. On two
occasions we climbed up into the roof only to find ourselves in a large inlet
passage with leaves and wet mud everywhere. Finally we came to a dead end and had to backtrack. The way on into the big chambers proved to be
where I had climbed earlier. I had only
checked one of three possible ways on. Bucket found that a second route that led directly to the Annexe.
The Annexe, and the adjoining Great Hall together form one
enormous chamber which must be almost four hundred feet long and well over a
hundred feet wide in places. It is
generally not over fifty feet high. Theses chambers are reputedly among the best decorated in
but there is little comparison between the formations here and those in O.F.D.
or D.Y.O. All the formations in the
lower part of both chambers are covered with a thin layer of wet blackish mud. Only the stal in the upper part of Great Hall
is free from this mud. The end of Great
Hall is reached by climbing a long boulder slope, and is some hundred and fifty
feet above the floor. Here there are
some good pale yellow and white stal and also some good helictites. The black mud, which covers all formations
less that about fifty feet from the floor, indicates that the chambers become
submerged to this depth. Since the
streamway continues some hundred feet below the floor of the Great Hall, the
water must rise some hundred and fifty feet in extreme flood and this does not
seem to be a rare occurrence.
Much of the stal even columns ten feet long and a foot in
diameter have been broken near the floor and show a shift of between ten and
fifteen inches between floor and roof. A
likely cause is that the floor of boulders rests on thick mud, which gradually
shifts and steles in a downward direction, thus fracturing any roof to floor
stal. This is perhaps the most
spectacular feature of the formations.
After a good look around these chambers, we climbed down a
steep hundred foot mud slope and thence into a small chamber. The floor of this is a very thick spongy mass
of wet leaves, no doubt deposited when the system sumps. A hole in the end drops through the leaves
and into a continuation of the streamway. There was no stream only static pools and very few of these. Like others through the cave, they were full
of fresh water creatures including the usual shrimps and a white planarian.
In some places, banks of up to two feet thick of twigs had
been deposited and subsequently cut through by the stream showing twig
stratification. How much matter reached
this spot; over a thousand feet from the entrance and through or over many
obstructions, we cannot guess.
After several hundred feet of low or narrow stream passage,
we reached the sump pool. There was a
duck in a deep pool, beyond which we could see a larger airspace, but we didnt
bother to go through. This is being
banged in the hope of gaining further passage beyond.
Returning to the big chamber, we spent about an hour taking
photographs and then set off out, which only took about fifteen minutes, after
a little route finding. The whole trip
lasted just over five hours.
hundred yards down the valley. The
entrance has clearly been open for a long time, and the sides have been walled
in and a gate put in the middle. The
more narrow passage inside is full of large flies, large spiders and a couple
of bats. A short squeeze brought us to
the top of a small (twenty feet in diameter) chamber, whose walls were pure
white with dead stal, rather reminiscent of Brownes Hole. We descended a fixed ladder and climbed into
a rift at the side. A short way along,
we dropped into a mass of boulders and thence to a crawl. From the guidebook description we had
expected an obvious thousand foot crawl to a streamway. Instead we discovered a complete labyrinth of
crawls, with one stand-upable passage all gravel floored; low; thrutchy and
horrible. After about three quarters of
an hours and two and a thousand feet of getting nowhere, we called it a day
after a one and a quarter hour trip and vowed never to go there again.
Caving Secs Report
by Tim Large
Hon. Caving Sec.
The last year has seen quite a few changes in the club and
in caving generally. This has been the
first full year of the new Belfry, which has had some bearing on the caving
activity. Our fine new building provides
us with all the amenities we need and I am sure that the Belfry showers
encourage everyone somewhat, as everyone knows that they can clean up
afterwards.
Caving activity has been fairly constant with approximately
a hundred trips into Cuthberts the majority of these being working trips
ranging through digging, surveying and water tracing. The remainder were general interest trips and
included about twenty five tourist trips by visiting clubs. On looking through the caving log, I see that
there were about two hundred trips during the year October 1970 to September
1971. Nearly every
popular cave on Mendip was visited by members, with Swildons being the most
popular as usual. All the other major
caving areas in
were visited, all by members arranging their own trips. During the summer, some members enjoyed the
water washed atmosphere of the Irish caves, and from all accounts, it was a
great holiday.
Exploration has taken up a good slice of the activity, with
members digging at Hunters Hole; Cuthberts; Masebury; Second Tier; Emborough
and various other sites that might yield results in the future. Our C.D.G. members have also been involved in
exploration work in Wookey Hole and various Welsh caves.
With everyone being mechanised these days, there seems to be
a lack of interest in club trips to other caving districts, although club trips
on Mendip have been well attended. One
major topic has been the removal; of some unnecessary items of fixed tackle
from Cuthberts, and the consequent literary onslaught.
A rescue practice was held in Cuthberts during November
1070. The route used was Stal Pitch up
the streamway to the top of Pulpit. All
went very well and gave several newer members a chance to take part in rescue
procedures for the first time.
All in all, the club has had a year of reasonable activity,
and I am sure that once we settle down in the new Belfry and the atmosphere
develops into one suitable for a caving hut and not a country cottage, we shall
see more caving activity in future years.
Caving Meets
OCTOBER 17TH. LAMB LEER. 2 pm at the belfry
NOVEMBER 7TH CUTHBERTS PHOTOGRAPHIC TRIP. 11am at
the Belfry
NOVEMBER 21ST. CUTHBERTS LEADERS MEETING. 2 pm at the Belfry
DECEMBER 4TH RESCUE PRACTICE. 11 am at the Belfry.
For all details of caving meets etc., contact TIM LARGE at
Bishopston,
7.
Lacave and Padirac
Alfie
Doing show caves while abroad is perhaps the easy way of
combining a little caving activity within a normal holiday. It has the great advantage of getting you
underground without having to lug great quantities of gear all over the place. Even with a car, this can be a problem, particularly
when you also want to lug things like collapsible dinghies and outboard motors
all over the place as well.
The plan was top spend a couple of days on the way back from
of
and we decided to make our base at Souillac. The original idea was to combine visits to showcaves with getting there
by by boat on the Dordogne, but after reading the fearsome warnings about what
was likely to happen to small boats on the river when the dams higher up were
allowed to release water, we decided it might be rather embarrassing to be
swept halfway across France on what was supposed to be a two mile journey!
As an aside to the subject of showcaves, it might be worth
while for the B.E.C. to start compiling its own list of recommended hotels
abroad. If anybody wants a start, I have
stayed in three hotels in Soillac at various times, and they go like this. Ambassador (on the main road in middle of the
town) medium price, friendly service, fantastically good food, thoroughly
recommended. Auberge de Puitys In a
small square on the south side of the main road) cheap, rooms reasonable, food
reasonable. Good for a cheap single night stop. La Truffiere (on the left side of the main road about six miles before
getting to Soillac itself) very expensive, not worth it, not recommended.
Setting off from the Ambassador, we made our way towards the
Grotte de Lacave, a few miles from Soillac. The roadside soon becomes plastered with signs saying what a splendid
cave this is, and you finish up in the
go into the entrance building, buy your tickets and make your way to the cave
mouth where a train awaits. This thing
sets off along an artificial passage which goes fairly steeply upwards into the
hillside. Someone has obviously
calculated just how many people the little engine will pull, because it gets
slower and slower as it goes upwards, until it almost stops, but eventually
arrives at the station. From there,
short passages and flights of steps lead upwards into the cave itself.
The showcave consists of a fairly long upper dry series,
long ago abandoned by the stream. Formations are plentiful, but not individually spectacular, and nearly
all of dead stal. Every trick of
lighting has been used to wring the utmost effect out of the formations,
including the use of ultra-violet lighting (which the French call lumiere noir)
and which does not work very well on dead stal. In places, the series has been extensively filled with mud, and they
have evolved a very clever type of cement which looks exactly like the mud
fill.. This is used to make artificial
pools on the floor, in which most of the better formations are reflected. One is not allowed to take photographs, but
these can be bought commercially on leaving the cave. They are surprisingly good. There is a pre-recorded commentary which gets
switched on at various points in the cave, but my French was not good enough to
follow it all, although I managed to get the gist of most of it. It is just about worth a visit if you happen
to be in the area and have time to spare.
The Gouffre de Padirac is a little further from Souillac,
and much more interesting than Lacave. You down from the entrance building in a lift which takes you about
fifty feet below the surface, then you break into the side of the Gouffre and
go down the rest of the way in a lift which runs through open steel, girder
work to the bottom. Comparisons are not
easy to make, but the Gouffre from the bottom seems not quite as deep as G.G.
but about the same general proportions. From there, you go down to the cave proper. It is an active cave with a decent
stream. The long horizontal passage from
the bottom of the Gouffre has been artificially flooded to a higher level than
nature intended, so you can be punted along by typical French punt-drivers, who
seem quite unruffled as they void obstructions with other punts going in the opposite
way, or steer you straight into an overhanging stal, with a cry of Gardez la
tete! Once at the other end of this
passage, the trip consists mainly of a tour round the Salle de Dome a chamber
of impressive dimensions. The formations
are live and good. It seems a pity that
the trip has to end with you looking down a streamway of vast proportions along
which you may not go. On the way back,
your photograph will be taken, and you may have a print for a large fee. A wastepaper basket is thoughtfully provided
for you to chuck the card entitling you to this service. One thing which is impresses us was that
visitors are expected to get quite wet from some of the places where heavy drip
occurs. The French dont seem to mind at
all! Again, no photographs are allowed,
and the official set is rather disappointing. Even so, it is an interesting
place to see.
We meant to do Les Eyzies, and a few others while we were
there, but somehow we never got around to it, perhaps the next time.
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A reminder. Annual
subscriptions are due on the 31st of January each year. Any member who has not paid by the 30th of
April following can find himself no longer a member of the club. The committee arte inclined to be much
stricter about these rules than they have been in the past. Constant reminders like this one will appear
on odd corners of the B.B. Start
thinking about your 1972 subscriptions NOW.
Notices
Members are requested not to drive at speed along the track
or into the car park. Excessive speed
churns up the surface and gives the Belfry Engineer a lot of work in putting it
back again.
The ash tree by the pool beside the car park was planted
there to take some of the bareness away from the site not as a clothes
prop. Please do not use it to hang old
clothes on.
Has anyone a WHEELBARROW they dont want? The Belfry Engineer has had his swiped and
wants another one. Can Anyone help?
Monthly Crossword Number 15.
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7. Realistic term for line-shooters. (5)
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(9)
2. Cuthberts pitch. (9)
3. Place with more pitches (5,4)
4. Quiet confused deal for footwork? (5)
5. Musical survey data. (5)
Solution To Last Months Crossword
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Where you satisfied with the A.G.M. and dinner? What did you think of the food? Did you miss not having any
entertainment? Have you got any
comments? Suggestions? Grouses? WHY NOT WRITE TO THE B.B.?