Page 8 of 16
The BEC Get Everywhere -
Crete
"Where are we going on honeymoon?" said Jane. "
Crete"
said Phil and Lil. "Theres over
4,000 caves on
Crete!" says I.
For cheapness and to avoid crowds and heat we went in
May. The girls took suntan lotion and
historical novels. Phil and I took
Rennies and "The Caves of Crete" - a xeroxed abstract.
Our happy holiday villa was located miles from the limestone
in the small coastal
village of
Matala, some 60km
south of Heraklion. Our first walk down
to the beach boozers and boobs led past at least fifty cave entrances in three
rows in the sandstone headland. These
man made single chambers are thought to have been excavated by early Christians
and have latterly been used as a hippy colony. Some have carved niches, bed-spaces and shelves, others are decorated
with psychedelic paintings and all stink like the legendary Ystradfellte public
bog. Some small natural cavities exist
in the cliffs above these caves, notable only for their grandstand (!) views of
the topless talent on the beach below.
After three days of ouzo, sun and Minoan palaces the wives
were deserted and a 50km drive took Phil and I to Sarchos, near Heraklion. Our description of the local cave bore no
location so we found the "local". Following beer and political discussion (spitting on the floor) with the
village boozers we managed to understand enough to find our way to
Sarchos
Cave. The 6 x 8m entrance lead to 1/2km of undulating phereatic passage ending
in a clear, green sump pool. "Damn,
we forgot Bob Cork". 10m of new
passage (oxbow) was found and a previously visited upper level full of bats
investigated before returning to the entrance to be confronted by a large
buzzard and a population of very active bees necessitating a quick
retreat. There is doubtless much more
passage to be found in this cave and all around the eastern end of the
Psiloritis mountain range where Sarchos is located.
Two days later, the full team assembled on the amazing
Lasithi Plateau at the east end of
Crete. The plateau is actually a 6 x 12km swallet
with two tourist caves (and many others) located around the mountainous
sides. Kronio or
Trapezas
Cave
is a miserable little grot hole supposedly of archaeological interest. Inside is a two inch long scorpion and
outside an old rat bag who cons gullible English tourists (but doesnt make
much profit from them). The other
"show" cave is on the far side of the windmill covered plateau and is
famous as the birthplace of the god Zeus. Called the
Dictaean
Cave it is now also
famous as the place where two English tourists posing as famous international
speleologists got a bollocking from the manager. By lending him a newly published Greek caving
book (in English) and letting him take the girls to the cafe he was eventually
persuaded to give the two the run of the cave.
A steep rock "staircase" led up the mountainside
to a 4 x 20m entrance - a typical collapse feature leading to a vast inclined
chamber well decorated with huge, ancient and soot covered stalagmites. A tourist trail of stone steps leads around this
chamber and while one of the guides escorted his party, Phil and I guided a
passing Royal Navy officer around before scrambling off to explore the further
reaches - essentially an extension of the entrance chamber but with better and
cleaner formations. Before our departure
the god Zeus was left, with a small black and white sticker as a votive
offering. An impressive cave despite its
modest length. Longer, sporting systems
are believed to exist further up in the mountains behind this cave.
Near Rethymnon, on the central north coast of Crete, we
found the show
cave of
Gerani to be locked
and deserted. This may be due to damage
from reconstruction of the main coast road which runs directly over the cave.
Another disappointment - though not in the way of scenery
was the lack of speleological sites in the 18km length of the Samaria Gorge,
south of Chania. Carved through solid
limestone and with cliffs up to 600m high, it makes an incredible walk from the
mountains near Omalos to the boat departure site on the coast. Local geological conditions seem unfavourable
for large systems in the gorge itself, though
Tzani
Cave,
near Omalos, is reputed to be a lengthy swallet system.
The
Kamares
Cave, situated high on
the mountains above the village of the same name, was visited after a crippling
uphill walk on the evening of the 10th May. It was only found by asking directions from a Sheppard and family
inhabiting a cave lower down the hill. The huge, gaping entrance of
Kamares
Cave opens into a cavern
60m wide, 80m high and 70m long which was used as a place of worship on Minoan
times and gave its name to the famous Kamares Ware style of pottery, much of
which has been found in the cave during Greek and British archaeological digs.
Knackered by the climb up and prepared for a night on the
hill, Phil and I decided to move into the cave. A floor of assorted goat, swift, chough and batsh from the cave's
assorted populace made a nice soft mattress and hot whiskies brewed over a
chough's nest fire in the entrance provided a suitable nightcap as we sat and
watched darkness descend over the plains and coast of southern
Crete - the whole of which was visible from our
eyrie. As we and the noisy choughs got
our heads down for the night the bat population began to leave for their
nightly hunt. Their occasional squeaks
and the odd drip of water punctuated the otherwise soundless night. Our awakening was heralded by the choughs
again, who were hurtling in and put of the entrance with apparent unconcern for
collisions. Following a brew of hot
chocolate (and whisky) we explored all corners of the cavern including various
forays into the massive boulder ruckle flooring the chamber.
Our proposed climb from here to the
peak
of
Psiloritis (
Mt.
Ida)
was called off on reaching the summit of the "Saddle of Digenis" above
the cave when we realised how far we still had to go across very difficult and
unpleasant ground. Plan "B"
was executed and we descended to the village and the bar of one Mickaelis - ex
World War 2 pilot, whistle player, dirty old man and pinhead extraordinaire. Here we met the girls and got completely
plastered, my last memory being of Lil Romford dancing with an 80 year old
drunken Greek Orthodox priest in the middle of the road.
Our last cave visited was also advertised as a show cave and
from a point 23km east of Heraklion signs pointing to the site were followed
for miles up progressively worsening mountain tracks. Eventually a small white chapel on the edge
of a large collapsed doline was reached - this was
Skotino
Cave. The enormous and well decorated passage
descending from the entrance was followed for a hundred metres until lack of
boots and adequate light forced a retreat -all show cave facilities being
absent! The end of the cave is believed
to be not much further and for anyone visiting
Crete
it would be worth a look to confirm this. Again, this cave was a major Minoan
archaeological site.
Thus ended a superb and festerous holiday on this very
friendly island. For the casual visitor
there are plenty of short, easy and interesting caves but anyone considering a
serious expedition should do plenty of research beforehand to avoid barren
areas and duplication of effort. I have
more detailed information on all of the show caves and some others if anyone is
interested.
Tony Jarratt.
