Belfry Bulletin Number 254

- 50 BELFRY BULLETIN

CONTENTS:

VOL.23

No.5

May

1969

Address Changes Ian Dear M.F. CUTHBERT’S ROUNDUP Book Report Letter MEREGILL (Yorks) On Climbing Just a Sec Bob Bagshaw Calling Cave Photography Sym C.R.G. Southern Meeting Caving in France Monthly Notes No.23

Number 254 ++++++++++++ Hon. Sec: A.R. Thomas, Westhaven School, Uphill, Weston s Mare, Somerset.

50 50 51 53 54 54 55 56 56 56 57 58 59

EDITOR: D.J. Irwin. 23 Camden Road, Bristol 3.

Non- members whishing to obtain the B.B. can purchase them separately for 1/6 (or price stated) or 18/6 p.a. post free.

Price 1/6 IMPORTANT NEW FIND AT FAIRY CAVE

S A H L H TTER O E or Balch III

A 1,200ft. long system has been found in Fairy Cave Quarry. The entrance lies at the bottom of the southern face of the quarry, to the right of the short system found early last year known as Balch extension.

The new cave has been called Shatter Hole because of the extensive blast damage to be seen in the first two hundred feet of the cave.

Entry is fairly restricted and is controlled by the Cerberus Spel. Society. Indemnity forms have to be signed and returned to Brian Prewer before going into the cave system. The forms are available from Alan Thomas. Members wishing to visit the cave are invited to write or contact Dave Irwin, 23 Camden Road, Bristol 3, as soon as possible in order that arrangements can be made to get as many people down the cave before blasting in the quarry starts again. At the moment Bob Whittaker, Hon. Sec. of the C.S.S. has held an injunction against further blasting until the cave has been surveyed for the Avon River Authority; this is thought to be only about three months. The cave was found on the Tuesday after Easter. The formations are magnificent and anyone interested in cave photography should have a heyday in there. A more detailed article will appear in the June B.B. “”””””””””””””””””””””” Address Changes Alan Williams, 34 Cross Ways, Roggiett, Newport, Mon. Rowan Brown, 24 Cranleigh Gardens, Luton, Beds.

Stephan Miller, 27 Walnut Way, South Ruislip, Middx. (new member).

A (Rusty) Rushton, Rectification Squadron, A.S.F., R.A.F. Coningsby, Lincs.

Mr & Mrs B.C. Tilbury, 256 Cressex Road, High Wycombe, Bucks.

G. Watts, 23A Hampton Park, Redland, Bristol 6.

Miss S. Paul, 21 Lovelace Road, Surbiton, Surrey.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SOME SUBS ARE STILL OUTSTANDING – SEND IT TO Bob Bagshaw2, 699 Wells Road, Bristol 4.

Remember it’s 25/- and was due on 31st Jan. 1969.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------IAN DEAR MEMORIAL FUND There was one application for the Ian Dear Fund this year, in fact the first member to apply, and was granted a sum of £10 towards his costs to visit the Ahnenschacht this year. One of the requirements, under the rules drawn up at the 1965 Annual General Meeting, was that he should submit a report to the Club of his activities – so, Dave Yendle, get your pen ready for the September B.B.

- 51 FIGURE 1. Dining Room Dig relative to the adjoining parts of the cave.

based on MSC Accurate Outline Plan (C.R.G. Grade 6D) by D.J. Irwin.

Full details of Gour Hall area and Rabbit Warren published in B.E.C. Caving Report No. 13 parts E & F. CUTHBERT’S ROUND UP by Dave Irwin

Although not much seems to be going on in St. Cuthbert’s at the moment, a great deal of plodding work is being carried out. It is hoped to summarise what in fact is taking place by those mid-week cavers.

DINING ROOM DIG

For nearly a year the Dining Room Dig has been continually worked by a team, of up to twelve people, from the B.E.C.; S.M.C.C. and Bath University C.C. resulting in the dig being pushed to a length of 150ft.; most of it having been dug out except for a short breakthrough into open passage last October of some 30 odd feet.

The dig was started by ‘Mo’ Marriott and others in 1962 and this digging continued at regular intervals during the 1962/63 winter when the passage was opened up as large as could be achieved with the size of the party. Open air space was followed for nearly 20ft. until a small chamber was entered; a chamber just large enough to accommodate three people. It had been hoped that the passage direction would have continued in the same direction as the start of the dig, that is at right angles to the Gour-Lake fault, so as to achieve the maximum distance away from the cave boundary. At first sight this did not appear to happen at the ‘T’ Junction (the name commonly used for the chamber) as the direction appeared to be running parallel with the main fault. Work stopped as a result around mid-1963 largely due to the work being carried out in the Long Chamber area. The sort out of the most complicated area of the St. Cuthbert’s - Long Chamber and Coral area – tool several years to work out and the result was published in the B.E.C. Caving Report No.11 published in 1965.

- 52 Early in 1966 an arch was located by Andy MacGregor that led to Dave Irwin and Pete Hudson to start work again the following weekend. A short spell of digging in a tight ‘rabbit burrow’ showed in fact that the arch was the roof of quite a large passage – although completely choked – running in the right direction that had been hoped for in the earlier series of digs. The next weekend saw a large party in the cave, practising for the International Week at the Raucherkar System in Austria where it would be necessary to sleep in the cave during the big push. A team of B.E.C. members with their camping gear set up in Cerberus Hall split up to carry out various jobs. One team continued digging at the Dining Room site and broke through into a 10ft. long, steeply ascending passage with a high 6” high air space continuing for at least another 20ft. At the end the passage appeared to close down or turn to the right – until a trench had been dug to the end noone could tell what happened. Compass readings were taken at the site and it appeared that the passage was continuing in the direction that it was hoped to go; though in the final survey carried out by the writer in 1969 there was a considerable swing back to the fault; this was due to the line of the small trench passing diagonally across the true direction of the passage. Digging continued at rather infrequent intervals over the next two years but during that time the diggers had reached the point at the end of the open section and found that the air space continued although the airspace fell from about 15” to 6”. Thus encouraged digging began in earnest in May 1968 though one or two trips has taken place during the previous March and April.

Regular digging trips followed at weekend and on Tuesday evenings. The Tuesday evening digs are still continuing and if the reader is free on this evening they are welcome to come along to meet at the Belfry at 6.45pm for a 7.00pm descent to the dig.

The 1968-69 digging evenings have open up the existing passage to an easy working size, though the passage is rather constricted in places where the passages ‘close-in’. When the passage has been opened as far as the ‘Arch’ the writer noticed that the rock pendants showed that the water had entered the ‘Arch’ area from all directions and a determined effort, lasting several weeks, drove the floor level down for some eight feet only to find the ‘way on’ trended back towards the line of the Gour-Lake fault. At the same time ‘spare’ diggers were pushing forwards along the top section beyond the ‘Arch’. During October a break through was made and a 30ft. extension made to the length of the dig in the upper passage. The new length of passage gave the necessary incentive to ‘bash’ the upper level again particularly when the water markings showed that is had travelled away from the dig at this point! The vadose scallops indicated that in the later stages of choking the passage that the water had entered from a small hole in the roof near the ‘breakthrough’ point and had in all probability flown in two directions; one away from the cave boundary and the other towards the cave and sinking in the ‘Arch’ area. Since this time digging has pushed forward another 30ft. or so to a point where the passage has suddenly changed shape. It has become much wider and higher with the left hand wall swinging round to the right. If this indicates a sudden change from the strike to the dip and then this could be the real changing point of the dig and things will now begin to look even more promising than before.

The methods employed with the dig is worth mentioning. Previously the ‘rabbit’ burrowing technique had worked out its usefulness in that it became almost impossible to transport the material out of the dig with a small team. When the dig recommenced last year the policy was changed and the passage that was already dug would be opened up to a size that made work much more easy and the new section of the dig would be treated the same way. At first the digging was made by a team spaced out along the passage shovelling the gravel back out to the Dining Room and when approaches to the ‘Arch’ had been cleared a sledge was brought into use. Regular digging on a Tuesday evening encouraged cavers to come up to Mendip with the knowledge that there would be someone up and a caving (albeit working) trip ensured . The problem of passage length has produced a need for some simple mechanisation. Plans are now being made to install an overhead cable system that will enable ‘sausage’ shaped bags to be clipped to a pulley and thus easing the problems of moving the gravel back to the Dining Room.

--------------------BOOK REPORT from Gerard Platten

Those interested in Lead Mines should apply to the Peak Park Planning Board, Aldon House, Baslow Road, Bakewell DE4 1AE., for a copy of their handbook. It is entitled “Lead Mining in the Peak District” and is compiled by Dr. T.D. Ford and J.H. Rieuwerys.

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B(ob) B(agshaw) £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££ Calling…….Dear Members, I should first like to express my sincere apologies for the delay in sending out the receipts due to my other commitments – mainly overtime. I have recently sent out receipts to these who have paid their Annual Subs. but there are still many outstanding. Would you please send your subs P.D.Q. and enclose your membership card and a S.A.E. IF YOUR CONSCIENCE TROUBLES YOU (OR EVEN IF IT DOESN’T) HOW ABOUT INCLUDING A DONATION TO THE NEW HUT FUND WHICH HAS NOW PASSED THE £1,000 mar.

Bob Bagshaw, Hon. Treas. £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££

- 54 LETTER TO Thinking back to the C.R.G. meeting at Wells and the lecture on Cave Surveying, it THE occurred to me that some support for the production of an accurate survey was necessary.

EDITOR The majority of people who aired their views on the subject suggested that, in general, a ‘map’ was all that was required, suitably cluttered with names, sections etc, so that the experts (?) could add their own scientific data.

Surely the once ‘mystic art’ of cave surveying has graduated to being a science, if not a technology (judging by Mike Luckwill’s efforts it must be approaching the latter) among the many followings of cavers today.

The object must be to produce the best and most accurate survey, barely detailed, so that there is room for the other experts to indicate the geology, hydrology and what have you, as they wish, thereby helping to complete an accurate account of the cave system concerned. It is also important, from the point of view of further exploration, to know accurately the directions, position and lengths of passages, to avoid abortive digging to produce more cave passage (it would be very annoying (amusing? – Ed) if the Dining Room Dig came out at Eastwater because of inaccurate surveying – wouldn’t it?)

I feel that as long as there are cavers willing to devote their time to surveying and the raising of the standards of surveying to produce something more than ‘maps’, then they should receive every encouragement, especially from their own club.

Yours sincerely, Mike Palmer 15 – 5 – 69 ----------Perhaps your Editor would be allowed a few words on Mike Palmer’s letter to put the letter into context as it were. The Mendip surveyors have been advocating for several years the principal of producing accurate surveys without passage detail included within the passage outline (a survey rather like the St. Cuthbert’s or Swildons) and the argument that developed at the C.R.G. meeting was one of whether the passage detail should be included or not. Further at the meeting questioned the validity of the C.R.G. Grading system as a C.R.G. Grade 6 survey only told cavers that the survey was made with certain types of instruments and not the accuracy or precision of the survey. There will be more on this subject in a later B.B. when the ‘guts’ of the C.R.G. lecture will be published. The June issue of the B.B. will include an article by Henry Oakley on what to do if your caving companion nears the ‘pearly gates’ of St. Peter……….and the usual other items.

------------MEREGILL By Martin Webster

Until recently Meregill was not one of Yorkshire’s most frequently visited caves, largely because of the lake at the bottom of the entrance rift which, if except in times of draught, kept the entrance passage under water and made the entry very difficult.

Recently however, it was announced that a bypass to the entrance had been blasted out so at the end of March some members of the Dining Room Digging Team (Derek Harding, Brian Woodward, Colin Clarke Bob Craig and myself) decided to have a go at bottoming this ‘classic’ of Yorkshire potholes.

We arrived at the camp site at about 1.00am and were pleased to find that the pub at the site was still ‘open’! In the morning the clouds were hanging low over the moors when we arose. Breakfast over and the tackle sorting over we started off across the fell in the direction of Black Shivers Moss.

After getting lost and looking at various sinks in the area we eventually found the Entrance Rift; it was not as impressive as I had thought it to be (although in Yorkshire I always seem to expect rather more than we find!) The new entrance was in a small depression at one end of the shaft. On inspection we were rather disturbed to find that the majority of the party were too fat to squeeze through an exceptionally light entrance passage. After some discussion we decided to ladder up the shaft to see if the normal entrance was under water. To our surprise we found that the lake was rather low, and the entrance was completely dry. This was mainly because there had been a rescue a few weeks before and the main stream had been diverted away from the cave.

- 55 While the team was being lifelined down we took careful note of the shape of the entrance passage in case we were forced to dive back through. It looked as if in very wet weather the sump would only become 12ft. long and the shape of the passage would have made diving moderately easy. So, feeling slightly more enthusiastic about the whole thing we raced off down the passage.

The first 70ft. pitch has a sturdy looking wooden beam across it, which provided a suitable belay point.

The pitch was in fact three quite easy 20ft. drops, the final one being quite wet as all the water channels into a trench and then fell directly onto the climbers head! The second pitch followed after a short section of meandering passageway. This was easily tackled, being a drop of 20ft. followed by a slope and then a vertical drop of 65ft. into a high rift passage. P.U. advises a 75ft.ladder at the Second Pitch, although we found at least 90ft. was necessary. Unfortunately the rope wasn’t long enough for a double lifeline and so that last man down and the first man up had to do without. No chances were taken however, as the sad fate of the caver who had to be rescued three weeks previous was still in our minds. The way on was down quite some easy climbs (P.U. advises 20ft. ladder although we found it unnecessary) which soon brought us to the head of the 100ft. pitch. This again was in two stages, a 40ft. to a sloping ledge, then a 60ft. down a round, rather water-worn shaft. From here the whole character of the cave changes. The passages get smaller, more horizontal, although there are one or two quite sporting 20ft. drops into deep pools. After these had been passed the pace increased as we were now in a narrow passage which could, just, be walked along. At one stage a very large stream entered from the left which increased the volume of water quite considerably. Soon the rift diminished into a crawl and then degenerated into a very low bedding plane only just large enough to get along. Finally we found it was just too small to get down so it was decided that either P.U. was inaccurate or the cave must have been built for the ‘little people’.

The return trip was completed very rapidly. The pitches were very sporting as they all had quite large waterfalls coming down them – which added to the fun somewhat! As it happened it was just as well we did return to the surface early in that it was raining quite hard, the dams were starting to fail, and our ‘dry’ entrance was rapidly becoming very damp!

The final shaft to the surface was quickly overcome (? – Ed) and we were soon off down the fell as fast as we could stumble after a hard, but on the whole very enjoyable trip.

--------------ON CLIMBING

It was interesting to read, in February’s B.B., that some of our younger members are enjoying themselves by pottering up and down the cliffs in Cheddar Gorge. At the same time it was a little sad to see that they are under the impression that this is ‘real’ ‘Vitis’ climbing; not that I have any wish to denigrate the activities of the ‘rock-apes’ into which these lads are in danger of turning themselves: merely to put the matter into its correct perspective. Rock climbing is one of the techniques required to get to the top of a mountain. Mastery of this technique, together with the ability to ascend snow and ice, to trudge foothills and to ski, amongst other practices, enable the person to enjoy ‘the mountain grandeur’. That mountaineering is enjoyable I have no need to argue: it has been argued eloquently, by far better than I, for the last hundred years. Occasionally a mountain is constructed that it can be climbed from bottom to to top on rock alone; thus arises the ‘classic’ rock-climbing route and surely there is no greater joy for the rockclimber, having scaled their selected route, eschew the final hundred feet to the summit in favour of the quickest and easiest way back to the nearest inn!

Finding the classic route is easy; one merely looks at a mountain and pick out a line of weakness which runs the full height. This maybe a buttress or a gully and in the case of higher peaks may be combination of several lines of weakness; nevertheless, this is the classic route and as such is without compare. True, modern aids have enabled other lines of attack to be mounted and there is no need to reopen the futile arguments of the fifties, for and against artificial climbs. Let us admit, as a kind of modern ‘classic’ the routes which have been best described by, I believe, Bonatti who said ‘show me the path of a drop of water as it falls from the summit, and that is the route I will take’.

So that is the modern and that is the classic. Practice rock-work on Cheddar Cliffs, in the Avon Gorge, on any outcrop or boulder you an find, even in practice in North Wales and other mountainous areas if you must, but please do not confuse it with climbing. And as for ‘real’ climbing; well…….

- 56 I have had a letter of thanks from D. Wallace of Wells Museum to those members who prepared and set up the exhibition recently. He also commended the efficiency of the members who dismantled the exhibition afterwards.

-----At the April Committee meeting it was decided to co-opt Bob Cross onto the with Committee as Assistant Hut Warden. Phil Townsend is unable to spend as many Alan Thomas weekends at the Belfry as he would like and so it will often fall to Bob to be Hut Warden.

We wish him every success with this extremely difficult task and are sure that he will have the full cooperation of all Belfry users. On the subject of the Belfry; there has been some falling off of late in the standard of cleanliness. We hope this will; improve again – it is not difficult if every one does his fair share.

In an ideal community people would do this without being told and the Hut Warden (or his assistant) would have little to do beyond collecting the money. In practice, however, the decision of whoever is Hut warden at the moment is final in all matters affecting the Belfry and he will always have the full backing of the Committee.

----JUST a SEC

Still of the subject of the Belfry, we have had a lot of difficulty with the dustbins. I have at last managed to arrange for the dustmen to bring the lorry into the Belfry site so that there is not longer any need to carry them to the end of the drive. This means that in future they will be emptied regularly. It would be a good thing if people could still remember when it is dustbin week and top them up with any of the old rubbish lying about the place, old caving clothes, car springs etc.

---Theft seems to be continuing on Mendip. In your own interest do not leave anything of value about. See that tackle is under lock and key – in your car if not in the tackle store.

---oo??oo Anyone wishing to visit the new cave (or indeed any cave) in Fairy Cave Quarry must first obtain a form from me. When it is completed and signed over a 6d. stamp, it must be returned to B. (Prew) Prewer, East View, West Horrington, Wells, Somerset. No permit will be issued but you must remember the serial number on your form as the quarry manager may wish to check this against the list of permitted names.

---The Royal Forest of Dean Caving Club is holding yet another barbecue, this time on 17th. May, in British Mine near Coleford at 8.00pm. If you want accommodation contact their Hon. Sec. --------------CAVE PHOTOGRAPHY Account of the C.R.G. Symposium

by Mike Luckwill

The Cave Photography Symposium, very ably organised by Alan Coase, and held at Leicester on the 8th. March was attended by many club members.

Unfortunately, a late start made many of the talks short; this turned out to be a mixed blessing. Dennis Kemp, in good form, started the day by talking about developing colour film in the field. The major point he put over was, in fact, how to give a slide show; his combination of two projectors and tape recorder, used as usual to good effect, was an object lesson in this potentially very boring practice. Members of the B.E.C. soon recognised the voice (?) of a certain Scot ‘folk singing’ in South Wales. Returning to the subject, Kemps main suggestion was don’t; unless you absolutely have to.

Alan Wicks then discussed the difficulties of photographing a Gouffre Berger expedition and Mr. Unwin, from Phillips, told how a flash bulb worked. Alan Coase cut his own talk in order to make up time, and this was a pity as he had some interesting equipment to review; such as the ever-ready, water-proof, shock-proof Rollei case at a mere £27.

- 57 Dr. Wooley then previewed his slide show by explaining the theory behind close-up shots involving magnifications up to X20 and showed us how to make our own ‘Hasselblad’ from an old camera bought in junk shops: one point of interest was his use of cine-lenses in order to obtain, cheaply, the short focal lengths required.

H. Lods discussion of equipment, from the professionals’ point of view, made me lose a certain amount of interest: by the time he had shown us his tripod, he had already spent some £30, which I suspect is more than the average cave-photographer spends on all his equipment. However, his review of lighting apparatus was of interest and with the development of quartz-halogen lamps there should be no shortage of light in caves in the future; I’m sure even thinking of getting one for my helmet!

The possibility of using aerial photography to interpret karst features was then discussed and illustrated

by J.W. Norman in a paper written in conjunction with A.C. Waltham. So far as this unexplored branch of photogeology and it is just waiting to be developed. Also equipped with some interesting illustrations was Trevor Ford who has been using a scanning electron microscope to take photographs of cave formations.

For the uninitiated I should explain that this instrument has a great depth of field at high magnification enabling an object to be viewed in its natural state and not as a section; another very promising field of research here and anyone with a suitable research project has been invited by Dr. Ford to use these facilities, which must work out about £5 an hour.

The best was yet to come, however, the films in the evening. Professor Tratman’s superb vintage film of Lamb Leer must be seen by anyone calling themselves a caver; it is hoped that copies will be shortly available for hire. G. Cox’s film of some Spanish Caves, shot on daylight Ansochrome, for the most part without a filter, was an interesting study in red. Some strange effects were also apparent on some of Dr. Wooley’s slides, resulting from the use of two flashes; one red and one green! His close-ups of cave flora and fauna were undoubtedly superb, however.

One of the most fascinating films, spoilt by a faulty projector unfortunately, was The Journey. Made by Colin Fearn under some rather extreme conditions; it showed a party following disused and partly flooded soughs for some six miles: having entered them from one valley to emerge in the next. A very good film by a considerable amount of hard work and devotion.

The day will be complete when the Transactions have been published and the papers can be studied in detail.

-----------------------

C.R.G. SOUTHERN MEETING Mike Luckwill

The ‘Swan’ in Wales was the scene of the C.R.G. Southern Meeting on 19th April with the B.E.C. acting as host. Four short papers were presented after tea and before dinner. Jim Hanwell set the proceedings off with cause and frequency of severe storms on Mendip and suggested that they were not only a major factor of cave formation, but might also have messed up cave deposits so much as to render interpretations of these deposits in the normal manner invalid: food for thought. Alan Thomas gave a brief resume of the exploration of the Ahnenschacht and ‘Alfie’ Collins introduced his route severity diagram to a very appreciative audience. This new topic seems to have gained a considerable foothold as a result.

Dave Irwin created quite a stir amongst non-Mendip cavers in discussing his concept of processing survey data: there will undoubtedly be suitable repercussions.

The dinner which followed saw everyone in discussion: another important facet of such a gathering. All in all the evening seem to have been an important one, particularly from the aspect of surveying; one looks forward to reading the papers in the forthcoming Transactions with the knowledge that they will be a topic of discussion for some time to come.

- 58 It’s not often that we hear from our overseas members but here is a note from Kangy who seems to be on the verge of great things in France….

I’m glad to say that I seem to have made some good contacts in the caving line. This is more essential for caving than climbing. I can see the Pyrenean Mountains from here so climbing is no problem, drive about three hours and then start walking. However, in the Ariege alone there about 1,200 known caves and enthusiastic though I am I simply haven’t the time to slide into each one, assuming I find any. So I’ve taken advice. M. Jauzions (whose habits are strikingly similar to one Irwin) has taken me under his wing and shown me around.

I was a bit cautious about contacting a Club until I’d picked up enough of the lingo to communicate the essential things like “J’ai une pou bleue”; “Pas sur votre Nelly”, “Apres vous” etc. Of course once I’d had a trip I learnt others like “Merde” which means “My goodness, look at the mud”, “Putain alors” meaning “What an utterly charming 100ft. pitch” or simply “Alors”.

Anyway my first sortie was to the Ariege to make surveys of a couple of caves, thus reducing the unsurveyed caves from 400 to 398 making a total of 802 surveyed (sounded daft to me). They turned out to be two very pleasant caves. Prehistoric and historic in that there were artefacts and bear scratches fossilised in the calcite and also an inscription left by a French Prime Minister in 1923. Hurray! The size of the largest approached that of G.B. only that the inclination was horizontal (if you see what I mean). I was so taken with it as a spectacle that I went back two weeks later with Ann and my boys. The youngest, Philip aged 4, clutching a candle in one hand and me in the other said, “I love this cave”, while Jonathan was quite uneasy at the thought of meeting Cave Bears face to face in a small passage, and secretly I sympathised with him.

Good old Prehistoric Man! Recently I spent the weekend caving. We left Toulouse at 8.30 and at 10.00 met a team which had recently discovered a new pot. The reason for Jauzion’s interest was that it occurred in an important position and promised to connect with another system. The hole was reckoned to be an hour and a half’s trudge and we took with us about 200 metres of ladder. I tried to look as though I was used to carrying all my gear plus two ladders when a native stopped with a great mucky cart pulled by two steaming oxen and offered to carry the gear part way. The ladders and gear plopped into the manure in the cart. I explained I needed to carry mine for exercise. I suppose I’m too civilised.

At the pot, which looked like other pots, we ate lunch and started down about 13.00 hours. There was quite a bit of twiddling around because the discoverers were obviously novices and during the pauses I demonstrated knots. We didn’t like to interfere too much because it was their discovery but I found my patience running low later on when I realised that we were in for a 12 hour trip that need only have taken half the time! The pot was finally bottomed at 160 metres (530ft.) where a way on seemed likely if persuaded. Quite a successful trip in that surveying and geological observations confirmed a fault system on the required line. We got to bed at 3.00 hours in the morning.

The next day was described as a potter round looking at possible sites. So we climbed Trifan by the Heather Terrace (so to speak) and spent an hour before lunch in an enormous tunnel of a grotto boring straight into the mountain for 1,000ft. and ending in a lake.. Very scenic. After lunch, taken under the huge arch of the entrance, and consisting of bags of fresh bread, pate, cheese, and more bottles of wine than blokes, we set off across the equivalent of the Glyder (though thoroughly wooded). Lots and lots of possibilities which were marked with red bands for future investigation.

Incidentally. French picnics are dynamite. I first learnt this on a skiing trip (no I didn’t break my leg Alfie). Before lunch I was skiing adequately but with great care. After, I was brilliantly rushing up the lift and swishing down the slope feeling very good indeed. But sort of sloshy inside!

Cheers, Kangy.

- 59 MONTHLY NOTES No.23 by ‘Wig’

Twin Titty (Priddy). The North Hill digging team dig has taken a set back. Shaft slumped at bottom of 25ft. deep shaft. New shaft being sunk in near future.

St. Cuthbert’s (Cerberus Rift). The source of the Dining Room Steam was dug on 27th May ’69 by Messrs Irwin, Luckwill, Riley & Turner. After four hours digging broke into high level chamber with passage heading up dip. End tight – needs opening with a chisel.

Cheddar Caves. M.N.R.C. offered agreement to C.S.C.C. but rejected. Advised to hand agreement back to Cheddar Caves Management. Cavers should show proof of third party insurance cover when asking permission to enter caves on SOUTH side of gorge.

East Twin- Dave Yendle reports that B.E.C. dig open into rift by winter stream – impassable.

Photograph (facing page) of Gour Hall originally published in Cuthbert’s Report Part ‘F’ – members wishing to obtain a copy (including survey, description, photographs etc.) should contact ‘Wig’ or Bryan Ellis, Knockauns, Combwich, Nr. Bridgwater, Som.

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