Belfry Bulletin Number 292

13

Vol XXVI No.2

B 72 B

February1972 No. 292

CONTENTS CONTENTS

BRISTOL EXPLORATION CLUB

List of Club Officers

Page 14

Editorial

Page 14

OMALOS CAVE

Page 14

At the Belfry

Page 16

On the Brecon Beacons

Page 17

Caving News

Page 19

In Committee

Page 19

Anguila’s Karstic Conumdrum

Page 20

Letter to the Editor

Page 21

Dates for your Diary

Page 22

Club Tackle

Page 22

Additions and alterations to member’s addresses Page 23 Monthly Crossword No.19

Page 24

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.

MENDIP RESCUE ORGANISATION

CLUB HEADQUARTERS ‘The Belfry’, Wells Rd., Priddy, Wells, Somerset.

Tele: WELLS 72126 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, Allen’s House, Nine Barrows Lane, Priddy, Wells, Somerset. Tel: PRIDDY 269.

Hon. Treasurer: R.J. Bagshaw, 699 Wells Road, Knowle, Bristol 4.

Tel: WHITCHURCH. 5626.

Caving Sec: T.E. Large, 39 Seymour Ave, Bishopston, Bristol.

Climbing Sec: N. Jago, 2 Broughton House, Somerset St., Redcliffe, Bristol 1.

Hut Warden: R. Orr. ‘The Belfry’, as above.

Hut Engineer: R. Hobbs, Rose Cottage, West End, Nailsea, Bristol. Tele BRISTOL 77368 Tacklemaster: W. Cooper, 259 Wick Rd, Bristol BS4 4HE. Tel: BRISTOL 77368.

B.B. Editor: S.J. Collins, Lavender Cottage, Bishop Sutton, Nr. Bristol.

Librarian: D.J. Irwin, Townsend Cottage, Priddy, Wells, Somerset.

Publications: D.J. Irwin. Address as above B.B. Post: Mrs. K. Mansfield, Tiny Kott, Little London, Oakhill, Bath, Somerset.

In case of emergency telephone WELLS 73481. _______________________________________________________________________________________ The Climbing Secretary would like to appeal to all climb and past climbers for the return of any of the club’s 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 it’s 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.

14

Editorial HINT TAKEN It’s 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 Wessex, for example, now do their 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 Crete, surrounded by 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

15 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 – Omalos Cave - the deepest and longest cave in Crete.

The entrance chamber provided a striking contrast to the dazzling light 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 Samaria. This gorge is entered by descending into the valley and is one of the largest gorges of its type in Europe!

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 Omalos Cave.

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 Clink, 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

16 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 Crete - 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 Bristol to his new house in Priddy, and will be occupied with getting things organised for some time to come.

17 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 Warden’s 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 day’s 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 Black Mountains. However, the skies were full of cloud and the heights were in the mist - 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

18 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 didn’t 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 hour’s 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 R.A.F. Mountain Rescue who were 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 Dartmoor National Parks are all 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.

19 Although little has been heard in the B. B. of the Tuesday evening digging team, their valuable work still continues at the bottom of Cuthbert’s. 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 ‘’’by Dave Irwin 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. Cuthbert’s could well reward the diggers with a superb extension. Here, almost under the Belfry, is one of Mendip’s 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.

Caving News

March 1st sees the appearance of Caving Report No 16 - entitled Mendip’s Vanishing Grottos. This is the publication of John Eatough's collection of Balch Cave photographs and Roy Pearce's selection of Shatter Cave material. For 30p (6/-) going up to 40p (8/-) after mid -April, one can’t afford to miss this opportunity of adding this collection to one’s caving bookshelf. Not only does one receive a photographic record of Balch Cave 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, Somerset.

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. Cuthbert’s with interesting results. Pockets of C02 were found in the boulder ruckle area of Arête - is the ruckle on the move? _______________________________________________________________________________________ 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. _______________________________________________________________________________________

In Committee

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

20 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 island of Anguilla lying WSW - 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 Trinidad. There are no streams at all on the island.

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.

MEADS BAY CAVE. This was a shallow sea cave formed along spectacular fault plane, but its walls have now been removed by the sea.

21

BARBARUDAN CAVE. This is similar to the Fountain Cavern and is 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.

NORTH SIDE CAVE. This was discovered by my colleague in a very 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. _______________________________________________________________________________________ 256, Cressex Road, High Wycombe, Bucks.

15th February, 1972

LETT ER 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 year’s 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.

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DATES for your DIARY MARCH 4th MARCH 4th MARCH 12th MARCH 26th APRIL 8th APRIL AUG-SEPT.

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.

Rodney Robbs and 'Mr' Nigel Taylor are holding a joint birthday celebration. At the Belfry after the Hunters shuts.

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!

Caving trip to Box stone Mines. Leader, Jock Orr. Meet at the Belfry at 9.30. a.m.

Caving trip to Stoke Lane Slocker. Leader, T. Gage. Meet at the Belfry at 11 a.m.

(Date to be announced later). Repeat of the B.E.C. Course on Cave Surveying.

SUTHERLAND. Caving; Climbing; Walking etc. Suit all tastes. Contact Jim Abbott at 34, Kirkgate, Shipley, Yorks. for further detail

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 Ladder Standard Ladder Heavyweight Ladder Wire Tethers Lifeline Ropes Hauling Ropes Extras

5 twenty foot ladders.

6 twenties and 1 twenty five.

2 ten foot ladders.

3 x 100’, 1 x 93’, 1 x 103’.

3 x 100’, 1 x 93’, 1 x 103’.

1 x 50’.

1 descendeur, 1 spreader, 1 lifeline pulley, 1 nylon sling.

CUTHBERT’S STORE For Cuthbert’s trips only. This store can be opened with a Cuthbert’s key.

Heavyweight Ladder Wire Tethers Lifeline Ropes Extras

1 twenty-five and 4 twenties.

1 five and 1 ten foot.

112’ nylon rope. 60’ terylene.

1 lifeline pulley.

BRISTOL STORE Ultralightweight Ladder Standard Ladder Wire Tethers Rope

6 twenties.

4 fifties.

1 x 27’, 5 x 10’, 1 x 5’.

2 x 300’ Ulstron, 1 x 200’ Nylon, 1 x 96’ Nylon.

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3 Nylon slings. 2 - ⅜ stardrills, 1 - ½ stardrill, 3 - ⅜ rawlbolts, 3 - ½ rawlbolts, 2 Karabiners, 1 pulley.

ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS TO MEMBER’S ADDRESSES

Additions: G. Bull.

R. Wallin, C.H. Dooley,

2 Maple Close, Eastcote, Ruislip, Middlesex.

175 Bryant’s Hill, Bristol 5.

497a City Road, Edgebaston, Birmingham 17.

Changes: P. Sutton, R. Cross, J. Abbott,

75 Bredon, Yate, Bristol.

36a Meneage Street, Helston, Cornwall.

34 Kirkgatem Shipley, Yorks.

Resignation: D.A. Greenwood, 42 St. David’s Drive, S. Anstan, Sheffield. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Solution To Last Month’s Crossword L

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MONTHLY CROSSWORD – Number 19.

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4. “Ain’t it all a waste of time?”(4,5) 5. French stops in Cuthbert’s 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 isn’t 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)