Belfry Bulletin Vol. 2 No. 12
BRISTOL EXPLORATION CLUB
June 1948
The Editor’s Notes As most of you know, Mr. Beecham has asked us to move the Belfry and has considerably reduced our rent. We want to complete this work as soon as possible and the job was started the first weekend after Whitsun. Mr. Beecham has given us a new site and promised to lay on transport. We need lots of labour to complete the job, so let the Hon. Sec. know if you can come, if not turn up anyway there’s plenty for all to do. *************************** Caving at Bude II by T.H.S. Since my article published recently in Belfry Bulletin Vol. 1. No.9. was written, I have been asked to increase the area covered by it. I intend to cover the coast southwards from Wheelbarrow Rock to Millbrook Cove. Although the area is singularly barren and the scenery is as fine as any that I know of the same type. To the B.E.C. the area is of particular interest, as the cliff at Upton is the nearest point to the club camp site at South Lynstone Farm, from which the sea can be seen. The camp site is about ½ mile from Upton Cliff, and until the cliff is actually reached there is no sign of the sea except its roar and the fact that the trees, such as they are, all lean landwards at an acute angle. Upon reaching the cliff a really wonderful view can be seen of the southern end of Bude Bay; Millbrook with its Trial Hills and water-splash, already tasted by certain club members; Crackington Haven; Boscastle and Trevena, (now known generally, as Tintagel is the headland, not the village) with their sea caves and seals; with Trevose in the far distance with its lighthouse showing a red flash at night. To the north the view of the bay is curtailed by Efford Beacon, but Lundy Island can be seen lying; low on the horizon. The Coast Road as its name implies, runs parallel to the cliff as far as the south of Widemouth Bay, and then becomes a ‘Mountain Track’ along the edge of the cliff to Millbrook Cove. Cliff falls on the higher land has caused the road to be moved inland some time ago, and on the low lying land at Widemouth Bay the sand has completely covered the old road, the new one making a considerable detour. The beaches are readily accessible from this road, along which runs the bus from Bude to Widemouth. Numerous paths run down over the cliffs, which hereabouts are usually steep for the greater part of their height. At low water there are sandy tongues running towards the cliff, but when the tide is in the seas beat against the bases of the cliffs. Following our previous plan, we will follow the cliff bases to the southwards. From Wheelbarrow Rock to Upton there is good climbing and just before Upton is reached, a hole through the rock gives access to Upton Beach itself. Upton Cliffs are sloping and grassy and we pass on to one or two tiny depressions in the cliff face that one can hardly dignify by the name of Cave. Beyond this the cliffs heighten and run out to a small headland, the outstanding characteristic of which is the contortion of the strata (Fig. I). Past this headland the shattered cliffs are clothed in turf almost to the sea, and shale beds form the major part of the next headland, the point of which is so broken and contorted as to make it impossible to describe or draw. Fig. 2 shows only a few of the contortions. Below this point the character of the cliff changes and vertical cliffs rise from the beach. Here are isolated fingers of vertical rock 60-80ft. high that will defy the best of climbers to scale them. In contrast to the previous cliff, this rock is both hard and strong and can be trusted not to break when weight is placed upon it. The next headland is broken up, but passing it and also the little cove adjacent to it, we see that the next one stand out in a totally different manner to its predecessors. This headland, too, has been broken up, but instead of becoming a mass of tiny fragments, has become colossal mass of huge boulders, some as large as a house. Excellent sport can be has here, climbing over and through them. The writer visited these boulders the day before writing this article. The passages are of a satisfactory tightness, but the boulders themselves are so much larger by anything seen by him underground that the familiar ‘Ant in stone-pile’ feeling of the boulder ruckle of Eastwater is considerably magnified.