BEYOND TECHNICAL
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any UK-based cave divers will be familiar with heading over the Channel to France to enjoy the delights of the large underwater caves and often excellent visibility which can be found in our nearest continental neighbour. Most divers head to the well-renowned ‘Lot’ region (a department in the Occitanie region of France) and the caves there see a steady stream of visiting cave divers from all over Europe enjoying the world-class conditions. The Lot, however, is not the only part of France with fantastic underwater caves. A few hours further south, the caves in the Herault are equally spectacular, if logistically more demanding. For those that preservere, you will be rewarded by sites less frequented than in the Lot, although you need to be prepared to work a little harder for your diving. In an early January trip, myself, Andy Torbet and Rich Stevenson headed to the Herault to see what the area had to offer. As we knew we’d be a long way from the nearest diving centre, we ensured we’d be self-sufficient with our own compressor and gas booster and, as we’d all be diving rebreathers, that would also ease the burden on needing fresh gas supplies. Handily, Rich’s VW Transporter swallowed the large mountain of equipment which three self-sufficient cave divers require. After several days of reconnoitring various other sites, we decided to visit a cave called the Gourneyras. Despite the heavy winter rainfall plaguing some locations in France, when our trio arrived at the large sump pool below a tall cliff face, the water looked clear and extremely inviting. The cave is part way along a rough track which contours along the side of a valley. After 3km of steering the VW Transporter along the tricky road, a path down the short but very steep hillside led us to the valley bottom where the cave resurges into the river. At the top of the path there was evidence of the tyrolean traverse which is normally rigged to lower gear to the cave entrance when large groups visit. However, with just three of us, and lacking the long section of rope required for the tyrolean, we decided to simply carry our kit down to the water’s edge for a short recon dive in order to check the cave’s conditions. Sturdy rucksacks, a pack frame, walking boots and several ropes fixed as ‘hand lines’ were essential to move the gear down the steep slope to the cave. However, after several journeys up and down, we had sufficient equipment to allow Andy and I to enjoy a dive while Rich stayed topside to take some photos.
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