Any views expressed by any contributor to the Belfry
Bulletin, including those of officers of the club, do not necessarily coincide
with those of the editor or the committee of the Bristol Exploration Club,
unless stated as being the view of the committee or editor.
Contents
- 1 Mendip Rescue Organisation
- 2 Club Headquarters
- 3 Club Committee
- 4 Officers Of The Club
- 5 Editorial
- 6 Omalas Cave
- 7 At the Belfry
- 8 In the Brecon Beacons
- 9 Caving News
- 10 In Committee
- 11 Wanted
- 12 Anguillas Karstic Conundrum
- 13 Letter
- 14 Dates for your Diary
- 15 Club Tackle
- 16 Alterations and Additions to Members Addresses
- 17 Monthly Crossword Number 19.
Mendip Rescue Organisation
In case of emergency telephone WELLS 73481.
EXPLORATION CLUB
Club Headquarters
The Belfry,
Rd.
Club Committee
Chairman: S.J.
Collins
Minutes Sec: D. Turner
Members: R. Bagshaw; W. Cooper;
D.J. Irwin;
N. Jago; T.E.
Large; A.R. Thomas;
R. Orr; R. Hobbs.
Officers Of The Club
Hon. Secretary: A.R.
Thomas, Allens House,
Barrows Lane
Hon. Treasurer: R.J. Bagshaw,
Knowle,
4. Tel: WHITCHURCH. 5626.
Caving Sec: T.E. Large,
Bishopston,
Climbing Sec: N. Jago, 2 Broughton
House,
Redcliffe,
1.
Hut Warden: R. Orr. The Belfry, as above.
Hut Engineer: R. Hobbs, Rose Cottage,
West End, Nailsea,
Tele
77368
Tacklemaster: W. Cooper,
77368.
B.B. Editor: S.J. Collins, Lavender
Cottage, Bishop Sutton, Nr. Bristol.
Librarian: D.J. Irwin, Townsend
Cottage, Priddy, Wells,
Publications: D.J. Irwin. Address as above
B.B. Post: Mrs. K. Mansfield, Tiny
Kott, Little
*****************************************
The Climbing Secretary would like to appeal to all climb and
past climbers for the return of any of the clubs climbing tackle that might
still be in their possession. Turn out
your lofts and sheds, blokes. You never
know what you might find.
*****************************************
Have you any club LIBRARY BOOKS in your possession? Our Hon. Librarian would like to make the
club library as complete as possible now its in its new home. Please have a good look round! If you have any unwanted caving books,
magazines, journals etc., the librarian would be very pleased to accept any
donations of suitable reading material from club members.
Editorial
Hint Taken
Its not often that we get any reaction from members to what
appears in the B.B., so that this does happen, it tends to be taken seriously
by the editor. At least three separate
are people are known personally by the editor to have taken a dim view of what
they consider to have been a complete waste of the Christmas B. B. by the
article describing the details and reasons for the choice of this size
format. We thought at the time that
readers might wish to know what was coming and the reasons for the choice. However, we assure readers that in future we
shall take up no space in this, or like manner.
The Annual Dinner
Elsewhere in this issue, it is noted that one of the
subjects which this year’s committee are to investigate in detail is the Annual
Dinner. Faced with the usual need to
book long in advance, the committee have had to lay on a conventional meal at
the Cave Man. Steps will be taken, of
course, to ensure that the meal and the rest of the arrangements are as good as
can be achieved.
It has, however, been noted that club dinners are
changing. The
own catering and have dropped the club guests – apart from a single guest of
honour. The Shepton have gone a stage
further and have substituted an informa1 buffet for their dinner. The Cerberus,
it is rumoured, have abandoned dinners altogether. In our own club, a proposal to split the
A.G.M. and dinner was almost passed at last years A.G.M.
If times are changing, we should presumably consider whether
we ought to change, and if so, in what direction. The committee have set themselves the task of
trying to find out what the club wants, so that they can put some sort of
recommendation to the next A.G.M. Already, several such suggestions have percolated as far as the
editor. One of these is to hold the
dinner on the weekend before the A.G M. and to combine it with an exhibition in
which each club officer displays the progress of his department. By this means – so the argument runs – not
only would club members be able to see just how the club was progressing, but
it might well affect the way they subsequently voted at the A.G.M. and thus
keep club officers on their toes!
Another suggestion is to hold a formal dinner with expense
not the main consideration – for those who like formal dinners and are prepared
to fork out for them; and to hold an informal buffet and party at some other
date as well. No doubt other suggestions
will come to light between now and October. If any reader has ideas as to what – if anything – we should do about
the club dinner, a letter to the B.B would be very welcome.
Alfie
Omalas
Cave
At this time of the year in particular, when one begins to
think of the summer holidays, it is pleasant to be reminded of ‘far away
places, as in this article by MARTIN WEBSTER.
The Omalo Plateau lies high up in the Lefka Ori, or White
Mountains of western
towering limestone pinnacles rising in places 3,500 feet to summits exceeding
7,000 feet in height.
In mid September last year when Ray and Kay Mansfield, Dick
and Ann West, Steve Wynn-Roberts and I visited this fine natural fortress. The day started at Chania, and as we drove
into the hills we were immediately struck by the rugged appearance of the
rolling foothills and the stark, rocky mountains above them.
The road which led to the plateau had only recently had a
tarmac surface put on it and was typical of the excellent mountain roads which
are being built all over Crete. For most
of its length, it was extremely meandering, following the hillsides, and in places
impressive dumps could be seen at the roadsides. As we reached a height of some 3,400 ft. the
gradient slackened and we cruised down through rock portals and out into the
lush green plateau. Only a few hundred
yards down the road, we stopped, for just to the right what was what we had
driven two thousand miles to visit
and fierce heat out in the open. The entrance was some 30ft. wide and between
10 and 15 feet high with a boulder strewn floor which led back some 40 feet to
where the cave went on underground.
Being suitably impressed, we returned to the road and drove
on to the end of the plateau to a Tourist Pavilion, which perched on the edge
of a rocky valley. About half a mile
away, the opposite side of the valley could be seen rising abruptly in some
three thousand feet of stark bare limestone. A great place for climbing, except for the heat which was around the
hundred degree mark at mid day. The
tourist pavilion is normally used by people intending to walk down the gorge of
valley and is one of the largest gorges of its type in
We were intending to do the walk later during our stay in
the area, but before that we were going to attempt to get as far as possible in
Once settled in at the pavilion, Ray and I decided to do a
laddering reconnaissance trip into the cave:, so after selecting sufficient
tackle, we were driven down to the cave and after changing we arranged a pick
up time and then set off. The passage
was some fifteen feet in diameter initially but after a short distance it led
into a lofty rift passage which descended in a series of sporting climbs. These we found to be quite tricky when two
people were attempting carry some two hundred feet of ladder, three hundred and
fifty feet of rope, belays and the rest.
It was not long before we arrived at the first pitch, a
thirty foot descent into a large rift chamber, the roof being lost in the
darkness far above. Here, we gratefully
dropped the ladders and fixed some tackle in position; belaying to a somewhat
dubious piece of wall which happened to have an eye bolt in it. After testing this, we decided to risk
it. At the bottom, the passage veered to
the left and once again we found ourselves in a very large rift. Soon, this
entered a fifteen foot diameter passage again, and we were forced to wade
through some waist-deep lakes which we found somewhat chilly! The passage beyond ascended slightly, up a
slip mud slope and then reverted to the large rift type passage once more. After a few more pleasant climbs, we were
abruptly baulked when we arrived on the edge of an awesome chasm. This was, of course, the next pitch. From the bottom of this hundred and fifty
foot drop to the roof must be all of two hundred and fifty feet, thus it forms
quite a chamber.
The pitch is in two parts; thirty feet to a huge basin of
deep water and then a hundred and twenty foot to the boulder strewn floor
below. We were intending to abseil and
prussick, but due to the lower pitch being against the rock most of the way, we
decided to ladder instead, while Ray was sorting out the ladder, I wandered off
down a passage to the left which emerged at the, side of the pitch and provided
quite an easy climb down to the basin. Having found this quite entertaining, I set about climbing back up the
opposite side of the pot back to where Ray was. This was found to be not quite so easy. At the top of the pitch we found a very handy belay point and it did not
take long to thread the ladders on down. Unfortunately the ladders just poured into the water filled basin thirty
feet down and so the whole issue had to be dragged clear of the water and fed
down the final hundred and twenty. Once
we had laddered, I set off down for a quick look round at the bottom. The ladder had to be freed several times and
the final thirty foot was hanging on only one C-link, which was a bit difficult
to rectify, as the pitch was free-hanging at that point. The view up the pitch was quite magnificent
and after looking around the chamber, I followed the continuing passage on down
two short drops to the edge of another small lake. This was furthest point reached on the first
day, and we rapidly made our way back to the entrance. As we reached it an hour before we were due
to be picked up, we got changed and see off towards the local taverna, which
just happened to be in the same direction as the pavilion!
The following day Ray and I, this time accompanied by Steve
who unfortunately was suffering from severe toothache; set off down the
cave. This time we had only a small
amount of tackle for some small drops we knew to exist below the ‘Big Pitch. The main pitch was soon reached and I quickly
went down. When Ray reached the bottom
he said that Steve had decided to give the trip a miss as his tooth was playing
up so, leaving him at the top of the pitch as lifeliner, we started on down the
passage. The short drops did not prove
to be bad, although we found that we only had a rope for the final one, so the
climb back up it was rather like a trapeze act! A few hundred feet beyond this, the passage widened and we entered a
vast chamber. It was difficult to decide
where the way on was, but by going down the slope over huge boulder and
climbing a somewhat tottering boulder pile, a horizontal, passage was entered
which led off to the right. The cave
completely changed from then on. The
passage became smaller and muddier and we eventually had to crawl now and
again! Soon we came to a junction. At first we could only find two ways on. An obvious ascending passage going slightly
to the right and a low bedding plane going sharply right. By this time we were beginning to feel the
strain. It had become customary for us
only to have one large meal a day and as the tourist pavilion had only supplied
a small meal of lamb and tomato, we had long since used up our energy reserves!
After much heavy breathing, we took the ascending
passage. We gained quite a lot of height
and eventually ended up in a large circular chamber. The passage on was found at the opposite end
and we had a climb down through boulders into it. It was evident that at times quite a large
stream flowed along here. We descended,
following a series of short climbs to the edge of a deep lake. There was a climb on the right hand wall by
which we found it possible to keep at least some of ourselves dry. However, the holds had a nasty tendency to
break away!
The passage ascended slightly beyond, but within a few feet
we came to the edge of a formidable looking hole, which brought our progress in
this direction to an abrupt halt. Feeling somewhat bemused, we retraced our steps as far as the junction
and at this point were a little puzzled. We knew that the pitch we had reached was approximately eighty feet deep
and led to a sump. This was not the
deepest point in the cave however, as another passage; supposedly leading from
the junction went a lot deeper.
Ray disappeared up the bedding plane but after much hunting
round decided that it did not look very likely. Just as were about to give up, we noticed a passage going off to the
left behind a flake of rock. This led
into a crawl and then out into a rather grubby looking descending passage. We scrambled along this passage gaining depth
rapidly until it finally levelled out in a series of tight sandy chokes. The draught at this point was
considerable! Beyond this, it started to
rise again and a small chamber was entered with an aven leading vertically
upwards. This we felt must be the end as
the sandy area looked very much like a dried up sump, so it was with some
pleasure that we started back through the chokes. Later on inspection of our none too clear
survey, we found that the end of the cave was, in fact, on beyond the top of
the aven. To compensate for our
disappointment at not getting to the end, we did find that the sand choke was
the deepest point in the cave, so we had achieved our main object which was to
bottom it.
It was two somewhat weary cavers that eventually reached the
Big Pitch. Much to our consternation,
we found that Steve had disappeared. We
managed to get up without any assistance only to find that the ladder seemed
rather reluctant to leave. Finally, we
managed to persuade it to come with us, so laden with our mountainous
assortment of metal wire and rope; we staggered up the seemingly endless
passageways. At the thirty foot pot we
tied all the gear to the bottom of the ladder. I thought at the time that we were being a bit optimistic, for when we
came to shift the huge load; we found that it would not budge. I descended once more and removed the large
rock which was hanging on to our precious burden. This time, the load, accompanied by much
groaning from the top of the shaft, slowly inched its way upwards, finally to
disappear over the lip. I came up and we
were en our way once more, feeling rather like overburdened Christmas trees.
When we eventually made our triumphant exit, we met Steve
who was just about to come down to assist us! I thought that he had timed his entrance rather well, and secretly, I
expect he did too! The trip had lasted
five and a half hours and although we had not fully achieved our aims, we felt
well pleased with an extremely good days caving.
1967 Expedition to
U.B.S.S. Report.
At the Belfry
The first of a series of short
articles designed to keep members up-to-date with what is going on at the
Belfry
Fellow club members,
Most of you will have heard by now that Dave ‘Wig’ Irwin has
resigned from the post of Hut Warden because he is moving from
be occupied with getting things organised for some time to come.
Those of us at the Belfry during Dave’s term of office knew
that by direction of the committee he was instrumental in tightening up a
certain element irresponsible behaviour calculated to inconvenience club
members staying at the Belfry. During my
term of service, as your Hut Warden, I shall continue to implement the
committee’s policy and will be looking for co-operation in this direction from
all who stay at the Belfry in order to promote the interests and requirements
of members and visitors engaged in useful and productive activities according
to our club constitution.
At the February meeting of the committee, on which I now sit
as Hut Warden, the chairman suggested that there should be a thorough enquiry
into the running and financing of the Belfry. The committee agreed to this, and the statistical and financial side is
being handled by ‘Wig’ – abetted no doubt by our Hon. Treasurer. The maintenance side of this enquiry is being
looked into by our new Belfry Engineer, Rodney Hobbs, with whom I shall be
working closely. I shall be primarily
concerned with keeping an eye on maintaining an acceptable standard of
housekeeping compatible with the smooth running of the Belfry and with the
purpose of attracting, for preference, a full complement of club members, or
alternatively, visitors, staying over the week end. I have been doing a bit of checking up on the
internal functioning of the new Belfry and have compiled a long list of faults
which make very interesting reading. This list, a formidable one of twenty two items, all of which need some
improvement or alteration before the Belfry can really be said to be an
efficient and comfortable headquarters worthy of the B.E.C., will be given to
the working party and will no doubt lead to a few muttered oaths from the
Belfry Engineer. The result of the whole
enquiry will be put to the club at a later stage.
To conclude this first note on the Belfry with some general
remarks, I am looking forward to an increase in attendance and an acceleration
of activities in caving, digging and work on the Belfry over the coming
weekends – with less festering and hanging about the Belfry. I shall also encourage active support for any
propositions for the organisation of a greater degree of conviviality and
relaxation in the Belfry on Friday and Saturday evenings between the hours of
nine pm and midnight.
In fact, my inspiration which will effectively promote the
social atmosphere of the club on the club premises will receive my active
support. All musicians and choristers,
jugglers and acrobats will be welcome to perform their various talents at such
functions with the proviso that they start in time to knock off at midnight –
thus avoiding any complaints of late night disturbances to the inconvenience of
active members who wish to go caving or have to attend to work on the Belfry
site on Sunday morning.
Naturally, I would prefer to be notified in advance of any
impending special celebratory occasion in order to assist and assess the
suitability and timing of the affair within the framework of other club
activities.
I shall be contributing a regular Hut Wardens commentary to
the B.B., and in the meantime, I wish to convey a welcome to the Belfry to all
club members, their guests and visitors.
Jok Orr
In the Brecon Beacons
A fell walking article
by BOB CROSS.
The Saturday before Christmas, a group of five club members
headed over the border to the Brecknock Beacons for a days walking. The party consisted of myself, Rodney, Sue,
Steve and Colin. It was our intention to
traverse the whole Brecon Horseshoe, a distance of about twelve miles, so we
left town early to ensure a full day on the fells.
We left Rodney’s motor at the summit of the fell road from
Talybont-on-Usk to Merthyr-Tydfil. From
here you usually get a fine view back down the wooded valley toward the
an indication of the compass marches to come. Not deterred by the elements, we trudged enthusiastically up the grassy
slopes of TwynDu. On our right lay a deep gully with a sprinkling cascade and
waterfall of about sixty feet or so. This side of the Beacons abounds with impressive torrents and water
courses which cut deep into the Old Red Sandstone cappings. East of this gully lay a conifer plantation,
and it was at the top of this that the slope steepened. Here, the smoky vistas of the valley gave way
to thick unbroken mist. The aches and
twinges of lack of fitness were getting a grip on us, but after two or three
hundred feet of this ascent, the steepness gave way and we were on top of a
ridge and second breath came with the now more leisurely pace. This ridge had an extremely steep side to the
east, and we walked along the top until we reached a stream which had broken
through the hard edge and formed a steep gully of tumbled sandstone cobbles.
The source of this stream lay amongst steep sided peat hags
and groughs away across a plateau. At
this point we had a pow-wow to decide the next move. I suggested a compass march, as it was
useless to try to use landmarks in the thick mist. All agreed, and we trudged off of 320O
magnetic bearing across the moor.
The going was tough among the hags that in places must have
been ten feet deep. The best path seemed
to be on the sand stone flatties and over the silvery sand in the base of the
ditches. The terrain is, I imagine, very
similar to the simmit plateau of that well-known peak, Kinder Scout in
Derbyshire.
My navigation proved PERFECT and we soon hit the steep,
descending crags of the plateau’s northern edge. Our planned route lay in a north westerly
direction along this edge, on over a spur and thence by lesser peaks to the
summit of Pen¬-y-Fan. From this point, I
went wrong in my bearings and, after a mile of fruitless bog-trotting, we
decided we were lost. Yearning for an
open view of more than fifty feet, we reckoned it was best to descend south
westerly to the Taf Fechan and then follow the Roman road up the valley. Halfway down the fellside, we came out of the
clag and glimpsed the choppy waters of the Taf Fechan reservoir. Rodney produced a flask of delicious hot
Bovril and I helped him guzzle the savoury brew. Sue did well scrounging wads (sandwiches) off
the rest of us. Thus fattened, we set
off down the hillside to the caw-cawing of a circling raven. We reached the main road and followed it for
about two miles to a point where it crosses the saddle between the mountains
and winds its way down into the Usk valley. From here, we turned north easterly and ascended the slopes of Bryn Teg. Deciding to give this peak a miss, we skirted
across its southern slopes. Daylight
would soon be waning and the wind began to increase, driving the tiny droplets
of moisture through our clothing. The
path got steeper, eventually coming close to the edge of the north face of
Pen-y-Fan. Here, the grassy slopes gave
way abruptly to a very sharp edge and a long, almost vertical drop into the
corrie below. We saw nothing of the
depths – only swirling mists. One
unfortunate soul met a nasty end on these slopes. He fell nearly five hundred feet from the summit
shelf after slipping on hard ice.
After a long slog, we stumbled onto the summit and
ran/crawled the traditional race to the trig point where Steve took some
photos. There were two other folk on the
summit, they didnt hang around either, as the wind was incredibly powerful,
knocking us over like skittles. Here, we had a disappointing experience. We saw blue sky for about ten seconds, then,
once more, the blanket descended.
With about four hours daylight left, we thought it best to
lose as much height as possible and get down into shelter. We ran and stumbled down the back of the
mountain into the Taf Fechan valley. The
stream here is very picturesque, cascading and tumbling through rock and
heather and reaching at last the gently sloping valley bottom. This part of the ramble was, I think, the
most enjoyable. I was beginning to
mellow, as that numb feeling was creeping into my boots, and we all yearned for
the comfort and warmth of some cosy pub. We followed the banks of the two reservoirs and an old railway track
that follows the contours around to a disused railway station at
Torpentau. Here we were surprised by the
sight of green and red flares soaring into the murky sky and sounds that
resembled guns firing. I thought that
the army were at play and feared for us all. It turned out to be the
enjoying themselves letting off fireworks. We stopped over for a friendly yarn and walked the last few feet to the
car. It had just started to rain – what
luck! – and our clothes were just a little bit damp. We piled into Rodney’s barrow, tired but
contented after an enjoyable amble – about ten miles – and got to the Hunters
in time for a couple of hours boozing.
Footnote: I feel that
much more fell walking could be done by club members with a little enthusiasm
and organisation. The Brecon Beacons and
the Exmoor and
within a day’s driving and all three offer interest and variety. All that’s needed is a little bit of
spirit. Try it and taste the difference!
Editor’s
Note: Reminds me of the time we set
out to climb Pen-y-Fan I the usual Welsh mist and we finished up on top of Bryn
Teg having got ourselves on to the wrong mountain. I can certainly vouch for the force of the
wind that blows over the top of the Beacons – you really do have a job to avoid
being blown over.
Caving News
by Dave Irwin
Although little has been heard in the B. B. of the Tuesday
evening digging team, their valuable work still continues at the bottom of
Cuthberts. The pushing of sump II is
becoming one of ‘ bail the sump; remove rock from the open hole at the present
end, and allow to refill itself.’ Not
what one would call very inspiring caving but for the edification for
many this it would seem, is the only way of locating further cave discoveries
on Mendip. A determined effort at a site
of interest in St. Cuthberts could well reward the diggers with a superb
extension. Here, almost under the
Belfry, is one of Mendips most promising systems and yet to get a digging team
underground is proving almost impossible. Swildons would seem to have the greatest appeal amongst Belfryites.
March 1st sees the appearance of Caving Report No 16 –
entitled Mendips Vanishing Grottos. This is the publication of John Eatough’s collection of
photographs and Roy Pearce’s selection of
material. For 30p (6/-) going up to 40p
(8/-) after mid -April, one cant afford to miss this opportunity of adding
this collection to ones caving bookshelf. Not only does one receive a photographic record of
and Shatter as they were but a collection of photographs showing cave
photography at its best. The booklet
(10″ x 8″) is printed on top quality art paper, saddle stitched with
an art card cover. A limited number is
being printed, so don’t hesitate to send your 30p + 5p P & P to Dave Irwin,
Townsend Cottage, Priddy, Wells,
News in Brief
Prew has succeeded in producing a radio transmitter
powerful enough to transmit through 400 feet of rock. Gour Hall has been located on the surface and
when the weather improves, a surface survey will be carried out by ‘Wig’ to the
cave entrance to enable a closure to be obtained.
Not deterred by foul air foul digging conditions and other obstacles,
NHASA are digging again at North Hill Swallet on Sundays.
Bob Picknett and Roger Stenner have carried out a Carbon
Dioxide check in St. Cuthberts with interesting results. Pockets of C02 were found in the boulder
ruckle area of Arête – is the ruckle on the move?
In Committee
The February meeting of the committee received with regret
the resignation of Dave Irwin as Hut Warden (due to pressure of work on his new
home and his being no longer in a position to stay at the Belfry). Pete Stobart as Belfry Engineer (due to
having to work most weekends) and Dave Searle as Librarian (due to pressure of
other interests). Accordingly ‘Jok’ Orr
has been appointed as Hut Harden (and so becomes ipso facto a member of the
club committee). Rodney Hobbs has been
appointed Belfry Engineer (and replaces Pete Stobart on the committee) and Dave
Irwin becomes Hon. Librarian (thus breaking a long standing tradition of
librarians not being members of the committee). On suggestions from the chair, the committee agreed to conduct an investigation
into the running of the Belfry. This
will be conducted on the widest possible lines, with Dave Irwin in charge of
costings of Belfry expenses of all kinds, aided by Jok and Rodney who will
provide suggestions for more efficient use and maintenance of the Belfry. One another suggestion from the chair, an
investigation into the club dinner is going ahead. Findings of both these exercises will be
presented to the club later. The
remainder of the meeting was taken up with routine business.
Wanted
Short items of interest to fill up the odd space like this
one. Spaces inevitably turn up at the
end of longer articles, or even, as you can see, in between shorter items. If you see anything interesting in the
press, or on radio or television connected with caving climbing etc., or road
some useful or interesting snippet of information somewhere, PASS IT ON to the
editor so that it can be put in a space this size and be read by all the club
members in the B.B.
-WHY NOT WRITE TO THE B.B.? ?? Suggestions; criticisms;
information are always welcome. Even
praise, if you feel that way! Write
direct to the editor or drop your screed into the B.B. post box at the Belfry.
Anguillas Karstic Conundrum
The old slogan, The B.E. C. get everywhere’ is not far
short of the mark. Any caving area,
sooner or later, gets visited by some B.E.C. type, as this article by KEITH
MURRAY show
The Caribbean
ENE measures some fifteen miles by four and consists of limestone resting on a
base of tertiary volcanic rocks rarely seen. These limestone form cliffs of up to two hundred feet along the Northern
seaboard, while the Southern coast slopes gently into the sea. All these shores are much cut into by
crescent shaped bays, mostly with superb
sand beaches, and only one of the many salt lagoons at present supplies
evaporates as export to the oil producers in
About one mile inland and parallel to the coast, a belt of
lowland runs along the broadest part of the island. This is notable for two inland brackish lakes
or ponds connected by a wide strip of arable land. The Northern boundaries of these ponds are
formed by low cliffs of massive blue-grey weathering limestone with several
horizontal bedding-plane cracks but no vertical joints whatsoever. While in some cases the top bedding plane has
spalled off and broken into blocks bounded by vertical joints, none of these
joints continues through into the underlying strata.
Further North there is a third brackish lake – Badcock’s P
which is encircled by rocks, the Northern cliff in this case rising in steps to
about sixty feet. These cliffs show
several shallow individual caves formed by hemispherical collapse of rock on to
a bedding plane, there being no connected system and no vertical fissuring at
all evident. While the three major ponds
can be seen to be fed by sub- aqueous springs at points close to their Northern
shores, none of these risings spring from a hole larger than can blocked by a
closed fist. A walk or scramble along
the sharply fretted rocks around the coast will give an acute impression of
karstic topography, but few if any of the cavities, with which the rock is
riddled are interconnected, and very seldom – if at all – will one come across
a vertical fracture. Inland, the
frettings are eroded smooth, but the rocky terrain is still pocked with solution
holes usually filled with soil and supporting the typical scrib vegetation
forming a cover some fifteen feet above ground level. After heavy rain, sheets of water lie for
days on this karst’ limestone until what moisture cannot run off is absorbed by
the vegetation or evaporated away. In
the past, industrious local inhabitants succeeded in cultivating a surprising
amount of this inhospitable terrain, but the practice has died out, and only
boundary walls remain.
Despite the many and eye-catching karstic features, the ones
which matter in conducting surface water underground are remarkably and
unexpectedly absent in Anguilla. One is
driven to the conclusion that the only means by which surface water can reach
the underground water table is via the exposed outcrops of the more or less horizontal
bedding planes.
A brief description follows of the five known caves on the
island. Of these, one was discovered in
the course of our work on the island, and another conveniently happened during
our visit when Miss Miriam Hodge’s vegetable patch opened up at her feet.
FOUNTAIN CAVERN. This, the most spectacular cave, and an attraction for the more
energetic tourists, is a collapsed dome some 150 ft. in diameter. The entrance is at the very top of the dome,
where a pitch apple or autograph tree grows conveniently so that you can sign
upon a leaf before going down. A great
cluster of roots from this tree go down some 30 ft. to the cavern floor. A pile of roof debris, which descends another
twenty feet to the periphery of the dome, goes to a point on this periphery at
which lies the fountain pool which gives the cave its name. This pool was the sole source of fresh water
for the adjacent village of Shoal Bay and legend has it that the wenches of the
locality were apt to have strangely contorted bosoms from the effort of heaving
themselves up the roots with vessels of water. Today a fixed steel ladder is attached to a concrete block under the
autograph tree and is firmly secured at its base within the cavern. The fountain is disused and the cavern
occupied by numerous bats which stuff themselves up convenient avens. The wenches of today are surpassing handsome.
spectacular fault plane, but its walls have now been removed by the sea.
situated on Mr. Mackenzie Lake’s land east of the road going up to
Welches. Entry is by an arcuate rift on
the periphery of the collapsed dome. The
hopes of a cave going in two opposite directions are dashed on finding that one
simply crawls round the periphery to come out at the other end of the
rift. The roof area is much lower than
that of the Fountain and at one point a small pool of water runs into a low
bedding plane passage which a very slim caver might try.
remote part of the island and is reported to be similar to the Fountain and
Barbarudan. Unfortunately, I had no
opportunity to visit this cavern.
WEST BAY POT. This hole in Miss Miriam Hodge’s garden is an
earth shaft going down to a ledge at eighteen feet and then continuing out of
sight to approximately sea level. As the sides were very loose and the place
inhabited by hordes of black spiders as large as a man’s hand and reputed to
bite viciously, personal descent was not embarked upon.
Letter
256,
Bucks.
15th February, 1972
Dear Alfie,
There are a couple of points from the new format B.B. (of
which we all approve) on which we would like to comment.
Our reply to Graham Phippen’s query concerning the static
pool in Shatter Series. This pool does
have a natural drain-away. This drain
can become blocked with mud and grit which will cause the pool to sump. However, in recent years this drain-away has
been kept clear by judicious poking with the fingers. To our knowledge, the pool no longer fills.
We wholeheartedly support the suggestions written in the
last B.B. by Roger Stenner. For us long
distance travellers would prefer any such programmes of talks etc. to be given
on Saturday nights. There is one point
which we must stress that is that any event must be advertised well in advance
one month is not sufficient.
In the past, we have received notification via the B.B. of
forthcoming events and invariably (apart from the dinner) they have already
taken place by the time our B.B.’s reach us. Little wonder that we never attend caving meets, rescue practices etc.
We remain, sir, your most humble and obedient servants.
Graham Wilton-Jones
Bucket Tilbury
Bert Byers.
Editor’s
Note: Many
people have complained, as you have, of not receiving notification until far
too late, often after the event has occurred. In fact, when the actual typing was done on these occasions, it was well
before the time for the event, but subsequent delays in the B.B. have made
nonsense of the notice. An attempt is
being made this year to get the B.B. back to REGULAR appearance, so that people
will be able, to get notification BEFORE events occur. We hope that these schemes will be successful,
and meanwhile, here are dates for your diaries.
Stencils received for printing 9.30 pm 25/2/72.
Dates for your Diary
MARCH 4th
Talk on the Chemistry of
Limestone and its role in cave formation – by Roger Stenner. At the Belfry at 7.30. p.m. Plenty of time afterwards for the Hunters.
MARCH 4th
Rodney Robbs and ‘Mr’ Nigel
Taylor are holding a joint birthday celebration. At the Belfry after the Hunters shuts.
MARCH 12th
A demonstration and talk on
TACKLE MAKING by the Tacklemaster, Bill Cooper. At the Belfry at 2.30 p.m. This
should be very interesting and informative. Come and see how tackle is made!
MARCH 26th
Caving trip to Box stone Mines.
Leader, Jock Orr. Meet at the Belfry at
9.30. a.m.
APRIL 8th
Caving trip to Stoke Lane
Slocker. Leader, T. Gage. Meet at the Belfry at 11 a.m.
APRIL
(Date to be announced
later). Repeat of the B.E.C. Course on
Cave Surveying.
AUG-SEPT.
SUTHERLAND. Caving; Climbing;
Walking etc. Suit all tastes. Contact Jim Abbott at 34, Kirkgate, Shipley,
If any member is organising, or knows of, any interesting
event, please send details to the editor, so that this DIARY feature may be
kept up-to-date and enable club members to plan to attend functions held by the
club.
Club Tackle
In response to many enquiries we are publishing an up to
date list of club tackle, which has been compiled by the Tacklemaster specially
for the B.B.
General Mendip Stores
For normal caving trips. Please note that if organising a trip on Mendip to a cave which requires
more tackle than normal (e.g. Rhino Rift, Primrose Pot etc.) Tackle should be obtained from the BRISTOL
STORE to avoid running the Mendip store down (and to obtain the most appropriate
tackle).
|
Ultralightweight Standard Heavyweight Wire Lifeline Hauling Extras |
5 6 2 3 3 1 1 |
Cuthberts Store
For Cuthberts trips only. This store can be opened with a Cuthberts key.
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Heavyweight Wire Lifeline Extras |
1 1 112 1 |
Bristol
Store
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Ultralightweight Standard Wire Rope |
6 4 1 2 |
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Extras |
3 3 |
Alterations and Additions to Members Addresses
Additions:
G. Bull. 2
Maple Close, Eastcote, Ruislip, Middlesex.
R. Wallin, 175
Bryants Hill,
5.
C.H. Dooley,
Edgebaston,
17.
Changes:
P. Sutton, 75
Bredon, Yate,
R. Cross, 36a
Helston,
J. Abbott, 34
Kirkgatem Shipley, Yorks.
Resignation:
D.A. Greenwood, 42
St. Davids Drive, S. Anstan,
Monthly Crossword Number 19.
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Across:
4. Aint it all a waste of
time?(4,5)
5. French stops in Cuthberts are tests. (6)
7. Can be spelt differently but is just as heavy either way. (6)
8. Dip pear in. (To Goatchurch?). (9)
Down:
1. Could describe what a litre
isnt in some future drinking days. (3,1,5)
2. Eastwater is, for example. (2,4)
3. Open Lobes in Stoke Lane. (4,5)
6. Get out of danger underground with two directional cloak. (6)
Solution To Last Months Crossword
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