The Grampian Speleological Group Bulletin

ISSN 0306 1698

comhairle uamh-eolasach na monadh liath the grampian speleological group bulletin

Fourth Series vol. 2 no.4

October 2005 Price £2 2

GSG Bulletin Fourth Series Vol.2 No.4

CONTENTS

Page Number

Editorial 3 Meet Reports 4 A Homage to Chapel-le-Dale (Poem) 7 Additions to the Library 8 The Stalactite Cave, Arbroath, Angus 11 Another Update to Bibliography of Articles of Speleological Interest in Scots Magazine 13 Cave or Grave? 14 ‘Cobblers to the Wessex’ -Traversing the Verneau 15 Some Karst Sites at Heast, Skye 17 Caves of Kishorn 18 Some Caving Notes 25 The Club Library 32 Cave Spotting in the Berchtesgadener Alps 33 The Cuil Dhubh System - Revealed Once More 34 Under a Dark Skye 39 Cundy Mole Cave 41 Why Aren’t All Deep Caves Hot? 42 Caving in the Abode of the Clouds 2005 45 Meghalaya 2005 - Discoveries in the Jaintia and West Khasi Hills 47

Cover: Sartorial go-faster caving gear employed at Hillhouse Mine, Beecraigs, West Lothian. Alan Jeffreys in 2000. Photo: Ivan Young.

Obtainable from:

The Grampian Speleological Group 8 Scone Gardens EDINBURGH EH8 7DQ

(0131 661 1123)

Web Site: http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/~arb/gsg/

E-mail (Editorial) [email protected] 3

The Grampian Speleological Group

EDITORIAL:

The disc jockey Paul Gambaccini once observed (sagely) that the chief value of pop songs was as instant memory triggers - to recall times and places gone by whose background was coloured by particular songs or melodies. Never one to praise ‘pop’ music as a mainstream interest, nevertheless I would most certainly support this contention. Indeed, I would expand his premise to include all forms of music which in my case is a broad church indeed.

The human brain is a marvellous organ. Just a single sniff or taste and one’s mind instantly relives some pre- cious moment from our past - particularly our childhood. A whiff of marzipan and I am back as a ten year old, laboriously mounting postage stamps in an album with that special gum that smelt like almonds. From that one contact point a whole cinemascope film of my childhood in Llandaff replays in bold technicolour. Let’s hear it for nostalgia!

Music is very important to me and there are certain pieces which embolden caving memories like nothing else. Let me share just a few of them with you.

The late 1950s and early ‘60s saw an assembly line of Hollywood-style epic films (I’m a sucker for epic films) and many of their stirring film scores do it for me. As but one example, the main theme from Miklos Rozsa’s “King of Kings” quantum leaps me to a sunny walk up Trow Gill onto the Allotment in pre club days and envious stares at famous, but as yet unattainable, potholes - Bar, Disappointment, GG. Having subsequently formed and nurtured the fledgling GSG, my mind re-visits our explorations of shattered and gaseous Fordel Coal Mine in 1961-2, recalled by the strains of “The Big Country”[Jerome Moross] - which was also playing as I typed out the very first issues of the GSG Bulletin.

By the mid 1960s, several songs symbolised our spreading activity: “Downtown” [Petula Clark] and “River Deep, Mountain High” [Ike & Tina Turner] are prominent, the latter, it seemed, always playing on a juke box in the Three Peaks transport cafe at Ingleton. This period evolved (disgracefully) into the caving flat at 121 Gilmore Place, Edinburgh and formation of the Ghillies folk group, within which I bellowed dutifully at a nearby hotel. Thus the Waterstons Folk Group came into our ken, presenting a seemingly endless number of Yorkshire and North Country songs. Listening to “Dido Bendigo” or “The Holmfirth Anthem”, unfailingly I can feel the rough creaking rope ladders, hear the merry chink of electron and less attractively smell exhaust fumes as I travelled home in the club’s ex-army lorry (“Hey Eric... London’s big, but Biggar’s bigger!”)

In 1970 my invulnerability came to an abrupt end in aptly named Fall Pot. My long, plastered road to recov- ery was punctuated by “Give Me Just a Little More Time” [Chairman of the Board] and “Montego Bay” [Bobby Bloom]. These were happy and fulfilled days for all that.

Jumping closer to the present, sweet, sweet memories are conjured up by “Wuthering Heights” [Kate Bush], “Bakers Street” [Gerry Rafferty - who stayed at Gilmore Place for a while actually] and “Forever Autumn” [Justin Hayward]. Mud, rock, water, snow and sun of a hundred trips fly past the back of my eyes and I sail airily down cathedrals of dark brown stone back to the land of lost content.

Perhaps the latest decade is too recent for such things because nothing special comes to mind, but I daresay something will mature in due course. I notice though that all the above memories are happy ones; that’s fine by me. Recollecting bad moments is unproductive and an obstacle to a forward thinking personality.

Have you ever thought this way about music? If the answer is ‘No’, conduct an exploration of your own 4 memory and if you can’t get out much, perhaps compile a CD in chronological order of your principal ‘jog- gers’. Harmless but enjoyable in a gentle sort of way.

And now the nice man in his white coat is here to give me my medicine, so I’ll sign off for the moment. (Exit left to the strains of “These Boots Were Made For Walking”).

Alan L. Jeffreys, Editor. ------AREA MEET REPORTS (to 1.9.05) [Edinburgh logbook only]

Caving continues apace, with members active in a variety of areas, and although these reports are culled from the Edinburgh log only, the contents of this issue show that exploration in Sutherland and Kishorn is at a higher level than the reports might indicate. Also, it is pleasing to record a continued resurgence in Yorkshire trips.

ABERDEENSHIRE

The so-called ‘Colonel’s Cave’ near Braemar was checked out by Jim Salvona in August, but it turned out to be merely a very small rock shelter.

ARGYLL

In May, twelve members turned out for a practice rescue out of Uamh na Duilean Briste (ruinous to cloth- ing!) and most thereafter descended Claig-ionn to clean off.

The following day there was a serious bash in Glen Duror. Some scaffolding was erected in Albion Pot and a dig above the presumed end of Draught Caledonian was halted when fluorscein indicated it would probably not bypass the terminal constriction.

The middle of August witnessed five members in a six-man party commencing a detailed survey of the caves on Staffa, which represents undoubtedly the most detailed investigation to date of this fascinating island. Many new caves were identified. An article will appear in a later issue of this Bulletin.

AUSTRALIA

Escaping to the sun in February, Dick and Anne Grindley managed tourist trips into Royal Cave, Buchan and Swallow Cave, Sheok River, both in Victoria. The latter, although not strictly speaking a cave, has unusual fretted erosion in its roof. They also visited Survivor’s Cave at Port Campbell which is more of an over- hang.

AUSTRIA

On holiday in June, Jim Salvona managed, in the land of deep caverns, to locate an eight metre trial adit near Seefeld. You can’t keep a good man out of holes!

BELGIUM

After a military excursion along the Western Front in France and Belgium, Jackie Yuill persuaded her part- ner to visit Grotte de Lorette and Hans-sur-Lesse show caves in April. She reports the son et lumiere to still be good value. 5 CORNWALL

Goon and family, in Plymouth for Su’s Passing-in Parade, sought out a small show mine at St Neot in April. Called Carnglaze Slate Quarry, it possesses an underground concert hall and was worth a ten minute stroll.

DERBYSHIRE

Assisting SUSS in their favourite dig, Roger Galloway, Annie Audsley and Mark Brown excavated for some time in Crematorium Pot in August, but eventually had to leave for a party!

EDINBURGH

John Crae, working in Holyrood Palace, explored 17 metres of brick lined boilerhouse flue in June which terminated in a vertical flue rising to the top of the N.W. tower.

INVERNESS-SHIRE

Over the Spring a good deal of rewarding work has been carried out in the Kishorn area by local members Dave Morrison and Richard Simpson and in May they were joined by an Edinburgh contingent for a bash round all the new finds. (See this issue).

On 28th May the whole party crossed to Skye for a selection of trips into High Pasture, Valley Head and Camas Malag Caves in rather damp conditions.

July saw Dick Grindley on Barra (Hebrides) investigating a cave marked at Dun Sgurabhal but a frustrating search did not throw up anything.

In August there was a short trip in High Pasture Cave while Ivan ran some cables through to the dig site, and in Applecross, Chris Warwick and Mark Campbell were successful in discovering some short new caves and a host of other karstic sites (see this issue) and also managed to extend Cave of the Kings at Kishorn.

ITALY

On holiday in the Dolomites in July, Pete and Virginia Dowswell carried out trips into WW1 tunnels on Little Lagazoi and the Grotta Cascata Varone.

PEEBLESSHIRE

In April Matt Hutson soloed Jeanie Barrie’s Cave one evening, but encountered bad air in the far reaches.

PERTHSHIRE

Five members paid a rare visit to Schiehallion in July, seizing an opportunity to GPS caves at Foss and Lassintullich. Nothing new found but progress to the area hampered by the G8 summit. The following day they explored Acharn ‘cave’ and Tullich Mine.

In June, Jim Salvona, Peter Ireson and Mark Lonnen investigated lime kilns in Glenshee, but nothing particularly speleological emerged.

SOMERSET

The convenient ‘fly-drive’ expeditions to Mendip continued in April when five members enjoyed poking 6 about in Rose Cottage Cave, Swildons Hole and Templeton Pot. On the Sunday, joined by Pete Bennett (MCG) three of them carried out a sporting descent of Longwood Swallet.

July witnessed the British Cave Rescue Conference at Priddy and a party of five attended. Included in the programme were partial descents of Swildons Hole, Eastwater Swallet and Templeton Pot and a splash in Wookey Hole Rising. Before the event got underway Peter Dennis and Dave Warren completed trips into Hunter’s Lodge Inn Sink and Rose Cottage Cave and to round off the weekend, Peter and Goon descended GB Cave where the latter, needing new treads on his wellies, slipped off a climb to fall six feet onto a rather un-resilient cave floor. (He blames Peter for smearing the climb with prime Mendip wet mud!)

SUTHERLAND

February saw a record session in Rana Hole when a ten-strong team hauled out 280 skips and the following day a mass descent of Storm Cave when the upstream inlet was pushed to a sump pool and tiny waterfall.

On 21st March, after a media launch of a new Bone Caves pamphlet by SNH a large party embracing many children and OAPs (including Dick Grindley and John Manchip) were entertained on site by a ranger talking about objects recovered over the past hundred years.

There were tourist trips to Cnoc nan Uamh and Lower Traligill Cave in April and later the same month, Storm Cave was completely surveyed (apart from the low inlet) and many photographs taken.

The June barbeque allowed Rana diggers to remove another 125 skips from the dig face while others were touristing around ANUSC and Uamh an Claonaite. During the week following three parties of school pupils from Kinlochbervie and Ullapool High Schools were guided round Cnoc nan Uamh and an opportunity taken to inspect Storm Cave once more. Noted that Cuil Dubh is now entirely sinking into the old ‘dry’ entrance.

July saw yet another record broken, with 281 skips removed from Rana Hole, and an inspection of the inlet in Storm Cave revealed no flow, so this is not the main feeder from Cuil Dubh. There was some bagging of spoil in Rana at the beginning of August, and later the same month 100 skips were excavated from the dig face and stacked ready for surface hauling.

WEST LOTHIAN

An SCRO call-out in August to assist police and MR teams searching for a missing 11yr old boy resulted in eight members working for two days. Underground sites checked out included Linhouse Water Shale Mine, three canal culverts in Almondell Country Park, a sewer and culverts at Pumpherston, Hilderston ‘silver’ mine, small holes in the Bathgate Hills and Beecraigs Limestone Mine. (The boy was subsequently found murdered in woodland).

YORKSHIRE

The Spring season got under way in March with an interesting jaunt down Rumbling Hole, enlivened by hor- izontal sleet on the surface. The next day a party of six visited Notts 2.

En route to the BCRC AGM, Peter Dennis achieved a quick descent of Jingling Pot in April and later the same month six people carried out visits to Manchester Hole, Goyden Pot and Box Pot and on the Sunday explored New Goyden Pot as well.

May commenced with a three man descent of Simpsons Pot and Cliff Force Cave, Swaledale, and at the end of the month Matt Hutson carried out trips down Ireby Fell, Long Churn and Sell Gill Holes. 7 Ten people attended an exchange meet between County Pot and Pool Sink in June, with four of them later having a fine Sunday trip down Illusion Pot, and a week later Pete Ireson and Mark Lonnen descended Rowten Pot, Jingling Cave and part of Simpsons Pot.

On 18/19th June there was an SRT training weekend. After hanging about on the Inglesport wall, the 13- strong party retired to Sell Gill to dangle down every vertical available.

In July there was a pull-through from Simpsons Pot to KMC and Dave and Julian Warren spent a few days in the Dales, achieving trips into a very dry Meregill, Sunset Hole and Sell Gill Holes. On 13th August, a party of eight experienced the maze-like delights of Devis Mine Cave in Swaledale, and two weeks later three members set off for east Kingsdale to do Heron Pot, explored Gaze Gill Cave first instead, then did Heron and finally roped down Yordas Pot.

------oOo------

A HOMAGE TO CHAPEL-LE-DALE

It’s a whispering landscape: the molar surface cleft with shadowed mystery. Only a quivering flower in the gusty air and a plaintive curlew crying over the fell. But there’s tumult below - water rushing madly to its destiny, like White Rabbit, no time to stop. Swirling round this corner, that; until flung into space it fragments into a million falling stars dashed into oblivion upon the scalloped landing and pouring on down the chocolate rock.

And here come I, A thing from a blue-green world, an alien visiting alienation. Thirsty for each black void and sculpted crevice. Limb and wind tested against disinterested neutral stone.

At times these holes have hurt me; but what’s a tiff between lovers? Oh how I live for the dark embrace. Each time is a consummation; a union with the cave.

Alan L. Jeffreys 8 ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY: (to 1.9.05 )

1. BOOKS

Kharpran-Daly, B.D. (2003) Jagged Lines. Poems Walker, M. (2002) The Caves of Périgord. (adult novel) Schmitt, G.E. (1994) Höholen-und Karstforschungen im mittleren türkischen Taurusgebirge. A.J. Day (2002) Cave Surveying.BCRA Cave Studies Series No.11 Casteret, N. (1949) Exploration Gebauer, H.D. (2004) Resources on the Speleology of Afghanistan Oldham, T. (2005) Caves of South Western Scotland Oldham, T. (2005) The Mines of South Western Scotland Young, I. (2005) Appin Cave Guide Supplement, Revised Lewis-Williams, D. (2002) The Mind In The Cave (Archaeology section) Tucker, D.E. (1993) The Treacle Mine Affair. (childrens' novel) Murphy, P.J. (2005) Exploring the Limestone Landscapes of the Three Peaks and Malham. BCRA Cave Studies Series No. 15. Irwin, D.J. (2004) Swildons Two and Three. BCRA Cave Studies Series No. 14.

3. CAVING JOURNALS

Bristol Exploration Club, Belfry Bulletin Nos. 521,522 (2005) British Caving Association, Newsletter No.3 (2005) British Caving Association, Handbook 2005-6 BCRA Members' Newsletter June 2005 BCRA Caves and Caving Nos. 78,79,81 (1997-98) BCRA Trans. Cave and Karst Science Vol.31 No.2 (2004) BCRA CREG Journal Nos.59,60 (2005) Cave Diving Group, Newsletter Nos. 154,155,156 (2005) Chelsea Spelaeological Society, Newsletter Vol. 47 Nos.3,4,5,6,7 (2005) Craven Pothole Club, Record Nos. 77,78,79 (2005) Derbyshire Caver No. 122 (2005) Descent Nos. 183,184,185 (2005) Endins. Federació Balear d'Espeleologia No. 26 (2004) Italian Speleo. Society, 'Speleologia' Year 25 No. 51 (2004) Mendip Caving Group, Newsletter Nos. 322,323,324,325,326,327, 328,329 (2004-5) Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland,'Casbag' Issues 6,7 (2005) NAMHO Newsletter April 2005 Red Rose Cave & Pothole Club, Newsletter Vol. 42 No.1 (2005) Shepton Mallet Caving Club, Journal Series 11 No.5 (2004) Subterranea Britannica N/L Subterranea No.7 (2005) Sydney Speleological Society, Journal Vol. 49 Nos.2,3,4,5,6,7 (2005) Technical Rescue No. 42 (no date) Wessex Cave Club, Journal Nos. 293,294,295,296 (2005) Westminster Spelaeological Group, Newsletter 1/2005, 2/2005,3/2005 William Pengelly Cave Studies Trust, Newsletter Nos. 23-37;40-45;49,55-71, 74,75,78-81,83-92 (1976-2004) William Pengelly Cave Studies Trust, 'Studies in Speleology' Vols. VII,XI,X,XII,XIII (1987- 2004) 9 5. CAVE GUIDES, ABSTRACTS ETC.

Chelsea Spelaelological Society, Records: Vol. 28. Exploring Welsh Caves 1994/95 (2004) Vol. 29. Cave Conservation (2004) Vol. 30. Exploring Welsh Caves 1995/6 (2004) Vol. 31. Caves and Tunnels in S.E. England Part 16 (2004) Abstract: Taylor, P.L. (2005) The Cave Dwellers. Readers Digest, No. 995 March 2005, pp.64-71. No. 970 The National Trust for Scotland/Scottish Natural Heritage (no date) Staffa. National Nature Reserve. Leaflet. No. 971 Meghalaya Calendar, 2005. No. 972 Communication, not Conflict: Using Communication to Encourage Considerate Shared Recreational Use of the Outdoors. Sportscotland/Scottish Natural Heritage (2004) No. 973 Towards Responsible Use: Influencing Recreational Behaviour in the Countryside. Scottish Natural Heritage (2004) No. 974 Abstract: Settle Cave Exploration (Victoria Cave). Annual Reports and Accounts for the years 1877 and 1878. J. Birkbeck and R.H. Tiddeman. No. 975 Cuckoo Cleeves. Prospectus for Sale by Private Treaty. David James & Ptnrs. (2005) No. 976 Meghalaya Adventurer's Association, Caving Handbook (2002) No. 977 Inchnadamph Bone Caves. SNH Pamphlet (2005) No. 978 North West Seaboard. Places to Visit for Wildlife and Landscapes in Wester Ross and West Sutherland. SNH booklet (2005) No. 979 Cave Guide Leaflets: Yarrangobilly, Australia Buchan Caves, Australia Anon (post 1929) Newly Discovered White Scar Caverns, Ingleton Travel leaflets: Tours to Iona, Staffa and Mull. Bowman's Tours (no date) Treshnish Isles. Staffa, Iona. Turus Mara Tours (2005) Abstract: Settle Cave Exploration. Settle Cave Exploration Committee Report (1871) No. 980 A Book of Songs and Poems for The Hunter's Lodge, and Similar Places. Anon (1955) No. 981 Abstract: An Adventure Underground [Eastwater 1910] E.A. Baker. Blackwood's Magazine CXC (MCL) pp 194-202 No. 982 Abstract: 'The Great Eastwater Flood. Manuscript Letter from Col. Barton [A Member of the Trapped Party, Eastwater Cavern, 1910] No. 983 Leaflets: Carnglaze Caverns, Cornwall Blue Hills Tin. Cornwall Grotte de Lorette, Belgium Guide: The Slate Caverns at Carnglaze, St Neots, Cornwall. E.A.C. Pascoe (2002) Abstract: Call of the Abyss. [Krubera Cave] A. Klimchouk. National Geographic Magazine, Vol. 207 No.5 pp 70-85. No. 984 Handbook and Access Guide. Council of Southern Caving Clubs (2005) No. 985 SNH (2003) North West Seaboard. Places to Visit for Wildlife and Landscapes in Wester Ross and West Sutherland. No. 986 Sportscotland (2005) Out There. A Sportscotland statement and policy position on sport in the countryside. No. 987 A Baseline Survey of the Significant Cave Features in the Ben More Assynt SSSI. I. Young, T. Lawson, P. Dowswell. SNH Commissioned Report No. 086 (2005) No. 988 Abstract: Harris, M.F. (1948) The Caves of Castellana. Blackwood's Magazine Vol. 264 No. 1593, pp 43- 49. No. 989 Abstract: Bartlett, I.A. (1901) Cave-Hunting in the Holidays. The Boys Own Paper. Summer Number, pp.26-29. No. 990. 10 Abstract: Balch, H.E. (1932) The Development of Wookey Hole. Wookey Hole Old Scholars' Association Magazine No. 10 [1924-32] pp 23-26. No. 991 Abstract: Griffin, A.S. (c. 1925) A Unique School Club [ Sidcot's Speleological Society]. Boys Own Paper, issue not known. pp 53-54.No. 992 Abstract: Hiley, F.E. (1905) Caving. Idler Magazine, March 1905 pp. 578-585. No. 993 Abstract: Balcombe, G. (1978) Great Gable to Wookey Hole. Alpine Club Journal Vol. 83 No. 327, pp 168-174. No. 994 Leaflets: Haig Colliery Mining Museum (2005) Discover the Southern Dales (2005) Discover the Western Dales (2005) Discover the Northern Dales (2005) Discover the Eastern Dales (2005) The Forbidden Corner, Tupgill Park Estate, Leyburn (no date) Visit a Real Lead Mine, Wanlockhead Mining Museum (no date) Honister Slate Mine (no date) Abstracts: H.W. Rhodes (1942-3) Adventures in Underground Yorkshire. Methodist Magazine (New Series) Nos. 62,63, Dec, 1942; Jan, 1943; March 1943; April, 1943; May, 1943; June 1943; July, 1943;Aug, 1943. No. 995 Abstract: Jeffreys, A.L. (2002/5) Caving in the Royal Museum. Carnyx, NMS Staff Newsletter No. 28 (2005) pp 6-7. No. 996

6. VIDEOS, CDs, SLIDES ETC

CD: Axbridge Caving Group, logbooks 1960-2003 and Membership Lists 1950-2003 CD: Axbridge Caving Group, Publications 1950-1964. CD: A Baseline Survey of Significant Cave Features in the Ben More Assynt SSSI. (2005) [expanded elec- tronic version of No. 988 above]

Video No.

43. BCRC Conference, Mendip 2005. Speeches, CRO Race etc) (2005)

Slide No.

1057. Eric Glen at Knockan Hut, 1974 1058. Front of Knockan Hut looking north, 1974 1059. Cul Mor from Knockan hut, 1974 1060. Cul Mor from Knockan hillside, 1974 1061. Dick Grindley at south end of Knockan hut, 1974 1062. Cul Mor from Knockan hut doorway, 1974 1063. Eric Glen sunbathing at south end of Knockan hut, 1974 1064. Cul Mor and ruined cottage from hut, 1974 1065. Front view of Knockan hut, 1974 1066. View of Canisp from the south, 1974 1067. View from Hut doorway of road, Cul Mor and ruined cottage, 1974 1068. Rear of Knockan Hut before extension, 1974 1069. Chamber in Beecraigs Mine, West Lothian, 1989 1070. Napier College Iran expedition team in the Balkans (?) 1974 1071. Andy Reid at Kermanshah, Iran, 1974

------11

THE STALACTITE CAVE, ARBROATH, ANGUS

By Iain Greig

Over the last year or so, some AUPCC friends and I have been making the occasional trip to Arbroath to explore the Stalactite Cave (NGR NO 662 412), one of the many sea caves dotted along the Seaton cliffs from the town itself to Auchmithie, located c. 3 kms northeast of Arbroath. Around 40 caves/rock shelters have been documented along this stretch of scenic coastline but with little detail and accuracy on lengths and locations in some cases. In this brief report I intend highlighting some of the main and unusual features of this beautiful and fascinating sea cave.

With the obvious exception of coastal erosion, the local geology has been one of the most influential factors in cave development here. Both Upper and Lower Old Red Sandstone groups have been deposited, leaving a much softer (yet strong) rock than the other igneous and metamorphics along the northeast coast. This in turn has led to the formation of the longest sea cave on the east coast of Scotland at just under 200m long. These rocks have also been affected by numerous faults and joints related to tectonic activity and hence the high number of caves to be found in the area, almost all of which follow these structures.

Description of the Cave:

There are two entrances to this cave. One is located within a small ‘canyon’ inlet at the base of a steep cliff-face c. 30m high (NGR NO 662 412) and is flooded at all times. This is the most accessible entrance of the two, found by either negotiating a discrete and ropey ‘path’ down the cliff-face or walking along the shore line from the car park where there are three other sea caves of interest before the Stalactite Cave. The second entrance is located in a large, steep-sided inlet known as ‘Monk and Maiden’s Leap’ just to the north and can be seen from the footpath (NGR NO 663 412). It is permanently flooded and inaccessible from the cliff-top path (boat only). For simplicity, the cave is located beneath the first bench that you encounter when walking northwards along the track from the start of the cliff trail at Victoria Park in Arbroath (where there is also a free car park).

The cave itself is rather impressive with two main galleries with average heights of c. 15m and 5 to 10m in width, the result Northern entrance to the Stalactite Cave, of what I imagine to be two sea caves that have joined together Arbroath. Photo: Iain Greig over time. A large inner cavern which must be at least 25m in height is to be found at the junction of the galleries that is probably the remnants of a blowhole that never fully developed. Despite the uplift of the land from glacial retreat, it is within this cavern that the incoming waves from both of the cave’s entrances still meet, making a large crashing noise that echoes around the cave, even during the lowest tides.

As sea caves go, there normally isn’t much to discuss about the geomorphology but its most interesting features by far are the best part of its 200 metres of passage that is decorated with thick flowstone deposits reaching thicknesses of up to several inches in parts. As probably guessed by the name of the cave, several stalactite formations are to be found, some of which have been described as ‘snot like’ by observers and can reach diameters of what must be over 30cm. With the exception of coastal caves formed in the limestone region around Durness (eg. Smoo and Balnakiel Gloup Cave), such extensive deposits are not readily asso- 12 ciated with sea caves in Scotland, but when they are also formed within sandstone (ie, NOT limestone!) then they become even more fascinating.

Speleothem Formation:

For such large features to have formed here, the sandstone host-rocks must be rich in carbonate minerals. From small tests conducted within my geology department at Aberdeen University, this was found to be the case with high levels of carbonate cements holding the sandstone grains in place. From the unusual deep pink-beige-orange/brown colour of the speleothems (rather than milky white) I also suspect that they contain impurities from iron minerals (eg haematite) that are also derived from the Old Red Sandstone. However, from the estimated mass of flowstone already deposited on the walls, it may be the case that the cement may not be the only source of carbonate because it is unlikely that there is enough cement in ~ 15m of overlying sandstone to supply such mineral rich volumes of water. I therefore also suspect that what may be caliche- like soil profiles towards the cliff tops are another carbonate source that has been (or is being) affected by dissolution from meteoric water and this has travelled down the fault and bedding structures. From there the lime-rich water has deposited it at the base of the faults which also happens to be along the roof of the cave, creating curtain-like speleothems as the water runs down both walls of the cave.

From heavy freshwater springs within other caves in the area and evidence of rock dissolution, I would imagine that these sandstones have higher fluid flow rates reflecting the sandstone’s porosities and permeabilities than some of the finer grained limestones in Scotland. This is a possible reason for some of Scotland’s largest speleothems being formed relatively quickly in what must surely be post-glacial times as the isostatic uplift from the glaciers helping to create the cliffs must have occurred after the ice retreated. Even later deposition is also likely in order for the precipitates to remain intact. The large ‘abandoned blowhole’ cavern within implies there were much higher seawater levels in the past which would have washed such freshwater away before carbonate deposition, therefore they must have been deposited after the sea base level had fallen (?) Only proper analysis of the flowstone bands will tell!

Problems:

Despite the regular inaccessibility of this cave due to the tides, it has suffered badly from vandalism with many initials carved into the walls and the removal of stalactites and flowstone from the inner chambers where one is able to reach them at eye level. There is also the problem with the waves washing in domestic rubbish from surrounding towns due to the caves’ close proxim- ity to the town of Arbroath. Thankfully this is all concentrated at the very back of the cave and would make any clean up scheme much easier. Damage to flowstone near Stalactite Cave. One of sev------oOo------eral holes where careless and thoughtless visitors have hacked away at part of the formation to make hand- I’M NOT ALONE! holds.Part of this particular formation has already fallen off the rock face (top right). Photo: Iain Greig A wonderful quote from best selling author Michael Crichton came my way recently. It encapsulates my opinions in a lucid statement that is worth repeating:

“The current near-hysterical preoccupation with safety is at best a waste of resources and a crimp on the human spirit, and at worst an invitation to totalitarianism. Public education is desperately needed.” Goon -----oOo----- 13 ANOTHER UPDATE TO THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ARTICLES OF SPELEOLOGICAL INTEREST IN THE SCOTS MAGAZINE

By Martin Mills

In this Bulletin, Second Series Vol.4 No.2 pp 33-35 (December 1983) Peter Dowswell detailed items in the Scots Magazine between 1957 and 1983, to which I supplied additions in Vol.4 No.5 p.9 (December 1985), a first update in Third Series Vol.3 No.2 pp.16-18 (October 1994) and a second update in Fourth Series Vol.1 No.1 pp.10-12 (October 2001). As a regular reader of the magazine I detail subsequent items to the present.

2001 September, p.[264-265] ‘Island Trilogy: Staffa’: article by Douglas Laidlaw, essentially a two page colour photo of the entrance of Fingal’s Cave. Clamshell Cave is also mentioned in the brief text.

2002 October, p.[372] ‘Rob Roy - A Writer’s Hero’article by Philip Hawkins, who reveals that he located the small cave in the N.E. banks of Loch Lomond which Rob Roy and his men used as a hideaway when planning their raid on Duke of Montrose’s land.

November, p. 456-458. ‘Rock of Ages’: illustrated feature by Alan McKirdy about the Knockan Crag Visitor Centre, opened in August 2001. Caves not specifically mentioned.

2003 August, p.[136-139] ‘Kintyre: Almost an Island’: by Willie Shand, includes a colour photo of the famous cave painting of the crucifixion on the island of Davaar. When first discovered in 1887 some thought it a miracle, but it was in fact the work of local art teacher Alexander MacKinnon, who was inspired one night in a dream.

2004 March, p. 258-262. ‘Reflections of Rona’: article by Terry Williams mentions Church Cave, about 85 feet above sea level,was used as a place of worship with stone pews made from boulders, a tiny font under a constant drip from the roof and a large altar stone near the entrance. The practice has been revived recently, ferrying a congregation over from Skye and Raasay. A midden of limpet and winkle shells at the cave entrance suggests very early human occupation.

Ibid, p. 280-284. ‘Murder Mystery Tour’: article by Rennie McOwan about the history of Appin mentions Glen Stockdale, Salachan Glen and Gleann na h-Iola containing several caves, some used as refuges in the aftermath of the 1745 Jacobite Uprising.

Ibid, p. 290-292. ‘North Harris Trust’: article by Will Boyd-Wallis mentions the hidden cave of Sron Uladal with its beautifully crafted stone walls lining a neat angular doorway. The cave is roomy and dry except for a pool of clear water near the entrance. Martin Martin in his ‘Description of the Western Isles of Scotland’ (1703) stated there were two wells, one for humans and one for the dogs. It is claimed that the cave had been lived in by Mac An t-Sronaich who allegedly, was the last person to be hanged in the Highlands in the 1830s. Another story associated with the cave concerns Dos Mac a’ cheannaiche, a man from the island of Scarp. He was once walking between Amhuinnsuidhe and Morsgail in Uig, Lewis and his journey took him through Gleann Uladail. As he walked down the dark glen he heard an unearthly howling and a large hound bore down on him from the direction of the cave. A courageous chase and fight ensued but Dos was mortally wounded.

September, p. 252. ‘Bothy Ballad’: article by Rennie McOwan mentions Arivurichardich near Callander, and a good path leads from Keltie Water footbridge in the Glen Artney, passing Glen Artney Lodge. On the south side of the path are the outliers and neighbours of two hills called Uamh Bheag and Uamh Mhor, the (place of) the little and big caves which caught the eye of the young Robert Louis Stevenson when he spent holidays at Bridge of Allan.... and included Uamh Mhor in his novel ‘Kidnapped’. 14

December, p. 614-617. ‘Roughing It’: article by Hamish Brown recalls experiences of nights out in the wilds. Included that caves can occasionally be good howffs and specifically mentions Brecan’s Cave and others at the north end of Jura when studying the Corrievreckan.

2005 February, p.183. ‘From Charlotte Square to Fingal’s Cave’ Reminiscences of a Journey Through Scotland, 1820-1824’ By Krystyn Lach-Szyrma. Book review by Elizabeth Sutherland.

March, p. 253-256. ‘Cluny Macpherson’s Cage’: article by David Trainer who followed the mountain routes (all 277 miles) taken by Bonnie Prince Charlie after his defeat at Culloden in the summer of 1746. Detailed consideration of all the evidence of it being on the south slopes of Ben Alder. Cluny stayed here and evaded capture for nine years after Culloden. The Ordnance Survey maps mark it as Prince Charlie’s Cave on the east side of Loch Ericht. Includes extracts from the original notes of the surveyors preparing the First Edition Ordnance Survey Maps.

September, p. 238-242. ‘Turus Mara’: illustrated article by Polly Pullar of Iain Morrison and family from the Isle of Mull who for 32 years have been running boat trips to Staffa and Fingal’s Cave, Iona and the Treshnish Isles.

Ibid, p. 289-294. ‘Discovering Drumyat’: illustrated article by Rennie McOwan tracing the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson who climbed this hill at the western end of the Ochils on 30th June 1860. RLS’s holidays in the area included visits to the cave in the Dam Glen between Bridge of Allan and Dunblane, Uamh Var (Mhor) overlooking the Braes o’Doune and Upper Glen Artney, and the nearby Uamh Bheag, and possible depictions in Treasure Island and Kidnapped.

Ibid, p. 316-319. ‘A Life on the Land. Part Fifteen: The Dog Star’: by Ian Weir. Tales of the Appin farming community, including a Blue Peter TV programme in the late 1970s. Mentions Domhnuil nan Ord’s cave above Loch Creran where Donald Stewart is reputed to have hidden with his nurse in the 1500s.

------

NOTE: CAVE OR GRAVE?

ADAM’S CAVE

Sandbank near Dunoon, Argyll NGR NS 162 800

The O.S. map shows Adam’s Cave at the above grid reference near the farm of Ardnadam. However the grid reference marks a small mound in the middle of a flat grassy field. There are three large boulders on top of the mound and I was informed by the farmer that tradition has it that a number of large boulders were removed and used as gate posts etc. a hundred years ago.

The confusion may have come about due to an O.S. staff member being unaware that the word ‘Uamh’ can refer to a grave as well as a cave and in the south west, was often used as such.

Jim Salvona

------15

“Cobblers to the Wessex” - Traversing the Verneau

By Julian Walford

When GSG’s very own Tav - lately of St George’s Cave - asked me last year if I had any info on the Verneau system, I couldn’t help asking if I could join the Wessex 2004 party last summer. The end result is that I joined Tav in his car for a fortnight, Roger Galloway and Yorkshire Dave came a bit later for ten days and Carol joined me for the last week. Last time GSG (plus some) went to the Jura was 2002 when we sampled both the top and bottom ends, but we hadn’t got permission and in truth the party was a bit light for a through trip.

We drove out through torrential rain and thunder in the Saone valley, though I slept through most of it as I’d already driven from Thurso to Bristol overnight. It rained more overnight and into the following morning too - but Tav had fixed up the Tour-de-France to do a time trial just up the road. Fantastic all-day experi- ence!

The camp site was initially rather chaotic, despite Noel Cleave’s efforts to book us an exclusive ‘sector’ as the hordes who follow the Tour got there first. Most of them left leaving us with plenty of space criss-crossed with main cables and junction boxes. I think wellies were needed to avoid electrocution rather than keep feet dry!

Saturday saw the first rigging trip to the Grotte Baudin - the dry way into the bottom end. It is a bit muddy but by no means as bad as often reported. Unfortunately the third pitch went down into a sump pool, the water levels being clearly a metre or two higher than needed. However it was easy to find the flood bypass tube - as a howling draught emerges from it. The tube emerges at the top of the huge final ‘marmites’ chamber. Awesome noise!

So back the next day to rig it, and descend - great 20m fast free ab! By now the water level had dropped so the normal route was now passable. We went up the system to check out the two pitches in the middle making the odd short route finding error of course. We were pleasantly surprised to find bright new bolts, dupli- cate Y-hangs and new rope on both, plus a nice little ladder on the first. Exited well satisfied. Quite tiring though and you appreciate that you have only gone maybe 1/4 of the way up the system! I was pleased to find that I could still keep up with the youngsters. Tav admitted to cycling 50 miles a day to get fit - I did- n’t think a couple of trips down Rana once a month quite matched that.

Though we rerigged Grotte Baudin with ropes, the three short pitches would be better rigged with ladder as they aren’t really vertical and the mud doesn’t help rope-work.

Roger and Dave arrived keen as mustard and next day immediately went down the top end - Gouffre de Biefs Boussets - the system was rigged.

After a day off the No.1 team (formed rigging Baudin) including Tav and me set off down Bief Boussets. I did it in 2002 with Dan and Clive but my memories are coloured by dragging the kit back out. It is a great abseil in, and soon you are in the Collecteur (main drain). It starts as a good stomp, always high but not that wide. Then we got to the sump. Tav had warned me to ensure we had hoods and masks but the survey shows it as 15 metres and looking maybe a couple of metres deep. No point in thinking about it - kit up and go for it!

Magic - a couple of metres and I was through; no depth at all. Straight back out and told the others the joy- ous news and we were all through with our kit. We can’t understand why the survey and reports are wrong. As far as we can tell all other UK parties have taken the hour-long three pitch dry bypass. Strange! 16 17 The system really starts to get big here as it picks up inlet after inlet. Careful navigating by Tav got us the ‘new’ easier route. This section is simply fantastic - large, often wet, always changing passage shape km after km.

The Salle de la Corniche traverse is reached - a rope encourages one to hold it. Then it suddenly goes ver- tically over the edge! The stream has dropped down a pitch and it’s a long way to the bottom. Harnesses go back on; it looks muddy but actually it is a simple climb on calcite. Then big collapse chambers, Salle du Bon Negro and another food stop. Then quite suddenly there is a pitch up - been here before. Brew up at a food dump and we left, off out.

By the time we got back to the ‘marmites’ - huge pots in the stream near the bottom - I was really enjoying myself and plunged into them. Unfortunately the last one involves a 4m plunge so I had to have a line passed to me, but I did liberate a Petzl hand jammer from the bottom. The usual worming around in Baudin and we were all out - 11 hrs and 9km after we had gone in and all mighty pleased.

Dave and Roger joined Biff and Simon a couple of days later to make up Team No.2. Modesty may prevent them telling this tale themselves, but it is quite good second-hand. Seemingly this youthful team had not ben- efited from the sort of training we did. Free diving trips like Bridge Cave and Swildons to Nine seem to have faded. It appears there was some trepidation at the sump despite our tales of ease. Anyway all went well except that Biff arrived without one welly. Some effort was made to find it but that is not going to happen in a muddy sump which must be quite large as the full flow of the Collecteur goes through it in flood.

I can only guess at what went through the team’s mind. No doubt one option was to leave Biff to try to get out of the top on his own, or to bring him a spare a day later. Perhaps the effect of this on Lou was consid- ered - now single-handedly looking after the twins (2 yrs old) back at camp. Luckily Britain’s top boot man was in his element, and in a few minutes using only spare parts (insoles, knee pads, glove fingers) a new ‘boot’ was fashioned and attached. And Biff walked on through on his own, a touch later than otherwise but fine. Surely Roger and Dave can claim an official ‘appointment’ for the GSG as ‘Cobblers to the Wessex’!

A brilliant through trip, the longest in France and by Tav’s account the best. Many thanks to Tav and the whole Wessex team for a great holiday. ------Meet Note: SOME KARST SITES AT HEAST, SKYE

Numbering is that of original way stations. The first site (71) gives the spot where we parked the car. Sites were to the west of the road. The furthest north we got to was to Loch an Starsaich and then followed the ridge south under Beinn nan Carn to about 600 metres from its end. Tav also looked at the east side of the road as far as the beach. Shakeholes lay at the base of the ridge in clusters. A limestone pavement was found on the ridge with evidence of drainage onto it. Unfortunately adjacent to the limestone the rock was quite different and it was onto this that the active stream ran, forming a boggy depression. No risings were seen although a couple of seepage springs were noted on descent. The one cave was in a small gorge and we think we identified the limestone/sandstone junction. We even found a bed of conglomerate that the same stream passing the cave flowed over. There was no karst development visible at lower levels.

Site number Grid Reference Site number Grid Reference 71 65103 17981 82 63502 17585 72 64105 17971 83 63468 17567 73 64063 17982 84 63474 17563 74 64054 17972 85 63474 17563 duplicated 75 63982 17912 86 63474 17563 “ 76 63894 17910 87 63641 17562 77 63901 17884 88 63628 17542 78 63827 17752 89 63735 17636 79 63801 17762 90 63844 17751 80 63782 17768 91 63998 17880 81 63753 17757 Peter Glanvill 18

CAVES OF KISHORN

By Richard Simpson

Returning from a foray to Applecross, David Morrison suggest- ed looking at a possible cave entrance seen from the road on the hillside near Rassal wood at Kishorn.

With the prospect of beer back at Kyle I was reluctant at first but by the time we reached the junction at Tornapress and not knowing when we would be back in the area the decisions was made to ‘go for a look’. Leaving the car in the layby at the turn-off for Glasnock House we took a rising traverse to a small, dark, wet cliff which disappoint- ingly showed no signs of a cave entrance. At least the puzzle was solved, and with our legs warmed up from the walk we carried on up the hillside, David checking hollows and shakeholes while I followed a dry stream gully. Crossing the higher of two fences we converged on a spot in the gully which looked promising. David set to removing boulders and after a short time it was clear we had an entrance. Having until this day caved exclusively on Skye it was hard to believe what we had discovered (See ‘Uamh an Righ’, GSG Bull. 4th series 2(3) (2005) pp 16-18).

A phone call to Steve Birch had us returning the following Sunday to survey the cave which we named Cave of the Kings (Uamh nan Righ) due to Richard at the Levitation Squeeze, its sloping floor leading to large chambers which are reminiscent of Heretic’s Cave lower passage, May ancient Egyptian burial sites. 2005 Photo: David Morrison Steve mentioned an old 18th century copper mine situated at the edge of Rassal wood which we found to be flooded and best left for divers to explore. Traversing back east we went in search of Glasnock Cave. Not having much information on its whereabouts the search proved fruitless but Steve and David noticed a row of small holes below a rocky outcrop. Only the centre one proved large enough to enter, a muddy feet-first slide led to a low wide chamber with animal bedding at its back wall and small passages continuing on. This was later named Wee Beastie Cave and turned out to lie level with and on the opposite bank to Glasnock Cave at 86202 44195. The entrance to Upper Glasnock Cave was looked at but not entered. Through the winter months more trips to the area were made, firstly covering the Coille Dhubh area where at 87831 44950 a small opening was made larger with the aid of ice-axes ( a good light-weight digging tool) but full access into the body-sized entrance was barred by a large boulder, and with many shakeholes still to be examined it was decided to mark it as a possible dig site. A six metre cave within the bank of a large shakehole at 87988 45004 was explored and with its walls made from small rocks held together with peat David aptly named it the Gravel Coffin. Not far from here at 87850 44946 within a smaller shakehole a lot of water could be heard running below the surface. Armed only with ice-axes and hand trowels it would be too hard to get through the limestone and possible passage beyond, so again it was marked as a dig site. A few metres below this at 87846 44972 water could again be heard but breaching a crack in the limestone was too difficult. Not far from here a small three metre pot was found at 87875 44971.

Correspondence between David and Ivan produced the whereabouts of several finds recorded by Bill Lindsay and Jim Salvona in this area back in the early 80s, and so while searching for Raspberry Pot a large shakehole sporting a tree at approx. 87771 44758 was investigated. A resurgence was noticed at one end and so 19 a dig began to open up a body sized entrance. While digging, a disturbed frog hiding within the passage scrambled for safety and so the name Frog Cave was chosen for this site. However, after only a short way entry was barred by a stubborn rock and with the cold melt water and the consequences of the previous night’s alcohol intake it was decided to try again another time.

Still within the shakehole a jumble of very large boulders masking the sound of water caught our attention but moving them requires the aid of heavier weaponry.

We eventually found Raspberry Pot and also entered Tadpole Resurgence which seems to have mutated since it was last surveyed, having grown another head of approximately the same width as its original but of stooping height. A survey was postponed as the prospect of another journey through its freezing duck would mean the ‘migration’ of bodily parts to warmer climes without a fixed return ticket.

Having felt we had covered most of the Coille Dhubh area we headed east until we came upon a dry stream bed which I followed to find it stopped at a hole through which a larger stream bed can be seen. Meanwhile David had found the main burn and I joined him at a natural arch which spans the stream. We called this the triple arch which is easier seen than described, 88245 44933. Two short caves were found here one named Triple Arch Cave which is an ascending 5m passage which has been partially dug and appears to head for the upper dry streambed. The other cave is called the Triple Arch Oxbow, which is a short wriggle through the north arch. This was the first substantial sign of water since Glasnock Cave and so hopes were high as we headed upstream. We hadn’t gone far when the burn split; the left fork led to a resurgence from an undercut in a small limestone outcrop, which in wetter weather also has a small waterfall from the surface water. The right fork also channels surface water (a small impenetrable sink was found here several trips later. A dye The Triple Arch, looking downstream. test would ascertain if this feeds the waterfall in Aten’s Photo: D. Morrison Chamber), but is often dry. Travelling back downstream to the split, a small hole in the right bank looked promising after a torch showed a widening cavity. This was soon enlarged to uncover a sizeable looking entrance which soon narrows to an awkward squeeze leading to a split chamber. We named this Aten’s Chamber, 88235 44873 to keep with the Egyptian theme. It was getting late in the day and so we walked out following the burn downstream. (This burn is not named on the OS map but runs down west of Cnoc na Creige to join the Allt a Ghiubhais). It was beginning to get dark and while I was checking holes and crannies along the banks David came across a large open entrance with a fallen tree trunk lying across it. Unable to Sink above Cnoc na Creige Cave, Kishorn, Photo: R. Simpson believe our luck we made our way into the easy going passage which gradually lowered to an easy crawl to where progress was stopped by what appeared to be a tight squeeze. We decided to return the next week with a hammer and chisel and sort out the squeeze and some jammed blocks past the entrance into Aten’s Chamber which we unknowingly placed in what looked to be a narrow descent into continuing passage. In the dark 20 ness with failing head-torches we walked back to the car, eager to return.

It turned out that the squeeze wasn’t what it first seemed. A closer inspection saw that after removing some loose stones, easy passage continues to a corner where the ceiling lowers to a sump, which very possibly resurges approximately 60 metres away. The cave was named Cave of Queens (Uamh nan Banrigh), 88264 45144. Heading towards Aten’s Chamber we came across a large resurgence issuing from a slab of limestone at 88244 45069. Its slanting passage becomes too tight after a short way with slightly larger passage seen beyond. This is called Slab Resurgence Cave and it was noted that when the burn is dry this resurgence still carries a fair amount of water. It was while running about this area to keep warm that David found a four metre pot situated a short distance east of the resurgence at 88258 45055 and creatively called Slab Resurgence Pot. Heading upstream we looked at a hole I had seen previously. This was made large enough to allow a feet- first slide into a rift passage large enough to stand in which con- stricts in places but is easily passed. Soon we reached an obstacle we named Levitation Squeeze. This is a tight sideways squeeze and unless you keep your body high it is possible to wedge yourself in its tapering slot. (It is best to reverse the move when returning, ie feet first). The way on became Entrance to Aten’s Chamber, Heretic’s Cave. R. Simpson easier with several cascades leading us to the surveying. Photo: D. Morrison jammed blocks in Aten’s Chamber. This lower passage can be found at 88236 44900. The whole system is named Heretic’s Cave (Uamh na Saobh- chreidmheach). During our many trips to Kishorn we have found a few resurgences within the woods at Coille Dhubh. Some carry a lot of water and have received attempts to find passage within them, to no avail. The sinks for these have still to be found and investigated. We began a dig at approximately 87334 45099 which with more work may produce passage; this is called Fence Cave. The latest find is a small cave high above Cave of Kings in a heather covered limestone outcrop. It is called Crofter’s Cave and may have been used as a shelter as a bag of apples were left behind. Signs of a small heather fire and a fire beater acted as a marker but obviously this will have changed by now.

CAVE DESCRIPTIONS by David Morrison

GLASNOCK CAVES

All caves are in the same 100 metre square as the grid reference for Glasnock Cave.

Triangle Cave - 5m

Squeeze into small chamber (harder on the way out) with a boulder floor, voids in boulders with water audible. Passage becomes too tight after 5m but continues as a small rift.

Choked Cave - 9.6m

Squirm into a boulder floored chamber which splits after 4m. Left the passage continues (too tight) for 21 approx. 4m. Right is a steep gravel slope ascending 5m to the roof of the cave. There is a small hole half way up with a small passage visible.

Wee Beastie Cave - 10m

Slide down over stones to enter a large low chamber. On the left is a small bay; on the right is a rock shelf which continues for most of the cave’s length. Crawl through thick mud floor to three bays, all too tight. Left hand bay continues as small passage whilst centre and right hand bays have animal bedding in them (nice smell).

Heretic’s Cave: Aten’s Chamber - 11.2m

Scramble over jammed boulders to an awkward squeeze. This leads into the main chamber. On the left crawl under a loose boulder arch onto a false floor, the inlet waterfall is a couple of metres beyond. Above this three metres of tight passage look to end in a choke.

Going right from the squeeze, sloping passage leads to a bay where there is a small inlet. This drains down a tight 1.9m climb to more passage. This becomes blocked by rock fins after 2.2 metres. Just before the squeeze there is a connection with Heretic’s lower passage. This is too tight to pass but maybe could be widened.

Heretic’s Cave Lower Passage - 45m

Slide down mud to enter standing height rift passage. This leads after a few metres to a cascade and a small waterfall. After a couple of tight bits the passage splits. To the right is the Waiting Room, a small passage which looks too tight. The main way on is via the Levitation Squeeze. After negotiating this, there is a hole high on the right, normally an inlet. The passage continues twisting up another cascade then awkwardly up past two small waterfalls to a side passage on the left. This looks too tight. Continuing up another small waterfall a sharp turn left leads after a few metres to the boulders at the entrance to Aten’s Chamber. Downstream from the entrance is the cellar, 3m of low crawl ending too tight.

Cave of Queens -21m

Scramble down over boulders into stooping height water carved limestone passage. Follow this for 12 metres to the top of a 0.8m waterfall where the passage becomes quite tight. Down this to bigger passage which leads, with one flat out section, to a 3m x 1m sump. The resurgence is approximately 60m downhill from the entrance.

Cnoc na Creig Cave -8.2m

NGR 88724 45068.

Found by Bill Lindsay in 1981. Surveyed and named by D. Morrison and R. Simpson in May 2005.

Enter into a low chamber 3 metres long ending at a choke on the right. On the left the ceiling lowers and a short crawl leads to a fork left, closing down David Morrison surveying at Cnoc na Creige entrance. after 1.2m. Right, the larger main passage Photo: R. Simpson continues through a pool and over a boulder to end at a complete choke formed by fallen boulders. On the 22 right wall of this passage the limestone looks to be weathered as if once on the surface. -----oOo----- KISHORN - CAVE LOCATIONS By Ivan Young

No. Grid reference Altitude Name 1 NG 85446 43755 161m Cave of the Kings 2 NG 85318 44064 Cave of the Kings Resurgence 3 NG 86182 44175 240m Glasnock Cave 4 NG 86202 44195 246m Wee Beastie Cave 5 NG 86178 44154 245m Triangle Cave and Choked Cave 6 NG 86400 43900 High Glasnock Cave 7 NG 87831 44950 324m Dig 1 (flood resurgence) 8 NG 87850 44946 325m Dig 2 (sound of running water; appears diggable) 9 NG 87846 44972 322m Dig 3 (sound of water and a pool, but solid rock) 10 NG 87988 45004 325m Gravel Coffin Cave 11 NG 87875 44971 Pot 12 NG 87771 44758 Very large shakehole and Frog Cave 13 NG 88000 44800 Raspberry Pot 14 NG 88000 44830 Tadpole Resurgence 15 NG 88274 45176 291m Resurgence for Cave of Queens 16 NG 88264 45144 300m Cave of Queens 17 NG 88244 45069 320m Slab Resurgence 18 NG 88258 45055 328m Slab Resurgence Pot 19 NG 88245 44933 350m Triple Arch Cave 20 NG 88236 44900 350m Heretic’s Cave 21 NG 88235 44873 363m Aten’s Chamber 22 NG 88724 45068 350m Cnoc na Creige Cave 23 Notes: Grid references are as given by my Garmin GPS 12 (except for 11-14) and have not been corrected for systematic errors. They are the result of a single measurement and would be improved by averaging multiple measurements taken at different times.

Altitudes are as given by GPS and will all be high because of the systematic error by between 10 and 15m if Kishorn is like other areas in Scotland.

Sites 11, 12 and 22 were measured by David and Richard, and the NGRs for 13 and 14 are as given on the 1983 surveys by Jim Salvona. TRIANGLE CAVE Kishorn Nest Nest Mag N NGR NG 86178 44154 Alt. 245m Length 5m Survey D. Morrison Gd 1.5 26.12.04 ? 2m too 2m tight

mud A ? too tight A B WEE BEASTIE CAVE B Kishorn NGR NG 86202 44195 Mag N Alt. 246m AA Length 10m

squeeze Survey D. Morrison Gd 1.5 26.12.04 ENT. ENT.

2m CHOKED CAVE Kishorn A NGR NG 86178 44154 Alt. 245m Length 9m Survey D. Morrison Gd 1.5 26.12.04

gravel too tight Cliff Section A - A

scoop Mag N

ENT.

A 24 Heretic’s Cave:Aten’s Chamber Heretic’s Cave Lower Passage Kishorn NGR NG 88235 44872 Kishorn NGR NG 88236 44900 Alt. 363m Length: 11.5m Alt 350m Length: 46m Survey D. Morrison Gd 1.5 Aten’s Survey: D. Morrison Gd 1. 15.5.05 Chamber 23.1.05 choke

too tight

inlet inlet inlet Levitation 1.7m drop Squeeze too tight false floor too tight The Waiting Room

arch surface stream rock fins squeeze surface stream

ENT. Heretic’s Cave ENT. lower passage Mag N The Cellar 3m Mag N ? 10m ENT. AA Cnoc Na Creige Cave shelf Kishorn. NGR NG 88724 45068 Alt. 350m Length: 8.2m Survey: D. Morrison Gd 1.5 22.5.05 choked B B

small stal. AA inlet C C choked waterfall 0.8m D

shelf D

Cave of Queens Kishorn NGR NG 88264 45144 sink Alt. 300m Length: 21m Mag N Mag.N ENT. 5m 3m Survey: D. Morrison Gd 1.5 23.1.05 25 SOME CAVING NOTES By Chris Warwick Perthshire

In April we paid a visit to the Foss caves, finding them much better than expected, but a walk to Lassintullich revealed a Forestry Commission gate securely locked. The following day we made a tourist trip into Tullich Mine. After a look around we discovered a small network of passages beneath the entrance depression, link- ing them to (1) the southern wet passage and (2) to a point close to a very low collapse at the north wall of the main chamber. All these new passages are flooded to a depth of five feet. We found some nice pieces of fool’s gold above the eight metre flooded shaft which looked very blue in our torches (copper sulphate?)

All emboldened passages flooded to 1.5 m and water came down 8m choke through boulders.

Collapse - may join here but very loose

EXTENSIONS TO TULLICH MINE (For details see GSG Bulletin 3rd Series 1(4) (1990) page 29) New passages in black Skye

A trip to Skye in June allowed us to explore many of the popular caves in the Coille Gaireallach and Broadford area. In High Pasture Cave we managed to get through the water logged terminal tube and sump into a stooping height chamber lined with collapsed boulders. It was draughting and adorned with litter. We noted that a sandbank to the right of the start of the waterlogged tube could be dug away and this might give access to a visible space beyond through what would be a duck.

Being in the area, we also took an opportunity to visit Raasay Iron Mine. We spent three hours exploring these workings and got 210 metres in from the main entrance (the gate is easily climbed) to a substantial roof collapse acting as a dam with over a metre of water beyond. We walked up to the ventilation shaft through a gap in some corrugated iron and descended to the main passage to a point about 100 metres beyond our furthest point from the main entrance. We explored for a couple of hours; there are many roof collapses but the grid pattern of the mine means one can bypass them easily. We had no plan at the time so it will take another visit to establish whether the N.E. access is open or not.

During the week I recorded the following GPS references: Uamh Cinn Ghlinn lower entrance NG 60219 18273 upper entrance NG 60395 18342 Cave of Murmur (?) NG 6112 2009 Uamh an XXXX NG 6099 1831 ‘Caves of Skye’ refs way out Uamh an Easgann NG 6139 1842 Frustration Hole NG 6365 2185 26 Cave of Broken Glass NG 59631 19795 High Pasture Cave NG 59432 19706 Pit Cave NG 59554 18386 Slant Cave NG 59769 18327 Uamh Aosda NG 60004 18263 Upper Through Cave in West gully NG 60522 19568 Willowtree Cave NG 59386 18369 New through route (not in Caves of Skye) Upper NG 59581 18419 Lower NG 59561 18403

There is a small 18th century coal mine north of Ben Tianavaig in a bay opposite Portree at NG 490427. Four to six hundred tons of coal were removed here. To find the entrance follow sand round the bay to the north to where the sand ends and then climb inland up basalt to a rockfall. The entrance is behind this.

Sutherland

Mark Campbell and I found a small collapse at the bottom of a sink hole at NC 26473 21519 near Glenbain Cottage and have begun excavating it. It lies adjacent to a large sink filled with farm rubbish and machinery and we have so far dropped three metres into a rift with a sizeable stream. The rift runs across the hill and the stream flows toward Firehose, presumably supplying some of the water to it. It lies uphill and slightly north of Waterfall Rising. Watch this space!

Applecross

In August, Mark and I made a thorough search for Hartfield Cave and concluded it has either been covered or quarried away with expansion of the quarry. We did find one small sink uphill of this taking a tiny stream but this seemed far too small to be Hartfield, being the wrong shape and with no tree. We did not enter the sink as it requires major excavation. The plantation does have limestone showing here and there and there are sink holes which would warrant detailed examination but the ground is extremely boggy with many wind blown trees.

Thereafter we located 3D Cave at NG 72276 44395. Its entrance lies in a sink hollow and the shaft is covered by metal fence posts and rocks. We found the cave very loose with weak mudstone walls and pieces spontaneously dropping from the roof. Discretion took over after 20 metres. There is a small shakehole with a sink downhill from the cave at NG 72219644425 which would be worth a dig and a sink with three holes at NG 72685 44499.

Afterwards, armed with the latest OS 1:25000 map we went to investigate some stretches of stream shown to disappear and reappear in a conifer plantation one km west of 3D Cave. The first sink investigated -Sink 1 on the map- was an obvious swallet but full of silt and pebbles. There was no sign of water overflowing the shakehole so it must take all its water even in flood, but would be a major excavation. No GPS co-ordi- nates as the unit wouldn’t work in the forest. Nice limestone floor to the surface stream running into the sink. We followed the dry water course to the next section shown on the map downhill but it was totally dry and looked like it usually was. We then went to the sink shown on the map as south of the first and found a new (?) cave. Approximately 20 metres of passage was followed and there was no sign of it having been entered before.

We entered the cave and went 6 metres to where a tight rift allowed a 2 metre climb down to a passage under- neath the entrance passage but below it, which could be followed a short distance towards and under the sink but slightly offset. This was indicated by water and pebbles which seemed to have come down from above. 27

From the archives: Rescue of Teddy the dog from a ledge on Blackford Hill Quarry, Edinburgh, 6th February 1966. L-R: Sam Anderson, Les Henderson, Gordon Henderson, Donald Fraser.

Photo: Alan. Jeffreys

In Blacksmith’s Cave, Applecross, August 2005. Photo: Chris. Warwick 28

Visitors to the Bone Caves, Allt nan Uamh, on the Occasion of the Launch of the SNH Information Leaflet, March 2005 Photo: Dick Grindley

In Camas Malag Cave, Skye.

Photo: Peter Glanvill 29

Uamh an Righ (Cave of Kings), Kishorn. At the foot of the Gramd Gallery L-R:- David Morrison, John Crae (mostly hidden), Richard Simpson, Martin Hayes.

Photo: Ivan Young

Martin Hayes in the streamway of Storm Cave, Traligill during a dry spell.

Photo: Ivan Young 30

Krem Panigundur, Rongdanggai, Meghalaya. Photo: Simon Brooks

Main Passage, Krem Mondil Kol, Rongdanggai, Meghalaya. Photo: Simon Brooks 31 The whole thing looks easily diggable. We decided to call it Blacksmith’s Cave (Uamh an Gobha [ I think]) as on our way back to Kinlochewe bunkhouse (very poor by the way) we stopped at the Ben Damph Bar for refreshments and noticed an 1872 OS map of Applecross on the wall which showed a smiddy near the cave site and indeed we had seen a small circular wall nearby.

We checked the stream course all the way to the road - gorge-like in places but totally dry and no evidence of cave. We then walked back up the road to the car checking out a resurgence we had seen on the map. This 2m climb down rift - turned out to be a man-made, roofed culvert, very well crafted, which ran under the plantation so we followed its entrance line above ground to a submerged header tank - some-

one’s H2O supply I think, although it did continue above 0 6 12 this but had collapsed. It also seemed to head off in two m. sink directions from here as the water could be clearly heard UAMH AN GOBHA (BLACKSMITH’S CAVE) but again it had collapsed. We found an entrance and tra- Applecross versed the culvert back to the resurgence to give about 50 NGR NG 718445 Alt. 100m metres of wet sporting ‘cave’. The limestone blocks on Sketch survey, C. Warwick, 2005 the floor were eroding and exposing many ‘devil’s toe- nail’ fossils. The passage size was about 28” across and 30” high.

Kishorn

Took a second look at Cave of the Kings at Kishorn and the sump on the left looking down was very clear and certainly spa- cious enough to dive in. We also saw a void on the right just above the bifurcation. We lifted a few boulders to gain entrance to an inlet passage which went for 2 metres then turned right. It was floored with silt and would warrant a dig but we had no spade or crowbar. The end currently curves round toward the inlet drawn on the original survey. The passage is about one metre wide and 40cm high. We think the ground to the west of the cave would repay a look to see if other entrances exist, as the new passage may go under the roof collapse to enter - who knows what? Two other potential dig sites were found nearby at GPS NG 85545 43954 (vertical rift) and NG 85535 44418 (small resurgence). Extract of Applecross map showing locations of features mentioned in the text -----oOo----- 32 THE CLUB LIBRARY

By Alan L. Jeffreys

Ever since the club’s inception in 1961, I have regarded the establishment of a reference library for the GSG as a principal objective. In the early years, Edinburgh members were not very well informed of matters in the wider speleological world, and a stock of other clubs’ journals assisted in familiarising them with work being achieved, particularly in the Yorkshire Dales, where we were most active. In those days, the club was not awash with money and, until the publication of the Bulletin in 1963, all acquisitions were purchased pri- vately by me and donated for general use. This practice continues, although we have of course also built up a healthy set of exchanges, reaching as far afield as Eastern Europe and Australia.

Because I am the Recorder and also because I was/am the primary investor, the library has always been housed at my home. This allows me to exercise a good deal of control and protection over what has now grown to become a valuable, and in many instances, irreplaceable resource: so much so that certain items are not allowed out of the premises, but have to be consulted on site.

I recognised that this was not the most convenient arrangement, since most of the material was shelved in an extension off my bedroom and involved climbing over stacks of other stuff with no place even to sit down.

Recently however, I have been able to rehouse the collection in a specific room, completely furnished com- pliments of Ikea, and there is provision of a PC, printer and scanner, along with a photo-copier in an adjoin- ing room, for abstracts to be taken. The arrangement has left a comfortable amount of room for expansion, although at the rate we acquire fresh material, this will probably be a problem again in the future! One down- side has been the alphabetical storage of club journals. The Ikea shelving, while adjustable, has only so much leaway and each bookcase can only accommodate four A4 high shelves (six, including the top extension) which means some journals and a lot of smaller books have had to be distributed round the room out of sequence in a rather haphazrad manner.

Now everything - publications, maps, surveys, photographs, slides, CDs, newspaper cuttings, club papers - can be consulted in one place. A comfortable chair has even been provided.

Information is power, as the saying goes, but all too few members of the GSG make full and proper use of this major speleological collection. I suspect this is due to the imbalanced ‘scientific’ input to the club’s activities. In fact, I find myself more often hunting for references not for members, but for inquiries from the internet. Over the past forty-five years, hundreds - perhaps thousands - of pounds have been spent purchasing books and journals and this practice will continue because I believe in a hard copy archive. It is a pleasure to read, more difficult to destroy than elec- A view of the new library room tronic discs (I’ll back a book against a CD-rom in a fire any day, even if the edges of the former get burnt!) and in many cases the material will never be entered into software anyway.

As the opportunity arises, and complete runs of journals are available, I attempt to compile indexes of their 33 contents to make retrieval of data more efficient. In this matter I am assisted by a number of published indexes produced by Chris Howes who has had access to journal runs as yet incomplete in the GSG hold- ings.

Naturally, it is desirable that our library reflects our interest in Scotland and a steady flow of donations keeps the collection of abstracts - particularly historical material - growing ever more comprehensive. Members who encounter such descriptions during research, perhaps into completely different subjects, are urged to note the reference in full and, if appropriate, obtain a photo-copy of it.

Ancilliary to the library proper, but forming an integral part of it, is the club ‘museum’ of formations, arti- facts and old fashioned equipment. Stored in a separate room, this contains a unique collection of cave pearls, nests and other crystal formations, all recovered from limestone mines now quarried away, which are available, along with large photographic prints, for exhibition. The equipment section contains rope ladders, goon suits, pulp helmets, carbide caplamps and surveying gear as well as relics of wire ladders removed from caves where they were left to rot, and old mining tools. Bear in mind that in six years we will be celebrating 50 years of the GSG; these collections will play an important role and further donations are always appreciated. ------Meet Report: Cave Spotting in the Berchtesgadener Alps

Bob and Rosemary Jones, Davie Robertson and Suzie Peggie spent a week in the Berchtesgadener Alps at the end of July, staying in Alpenverein huts. Although it was primarily a hillwalking trip, it is a limestone area, so the opportunity was taken to keep an eye out for caves. Numerous pots were peered down and small caves entered, including one short through trip adjacent to the main path between two huts. Cautionary note if caving near paths: beware of German walkers lobbing stones down holes. Rosemary managed to deter one startled pedestrian by shouting “Mein mann is darunter” at him.

Three features were of particular interest:

1. The Teufelsmuhle (Devil’s Mill) near the Karlinger Hut can be heard rather than seen. There is a shallow depression at the bottom of which the rumbling of underground water can be heard. A manhole lid nearby was lifted to reveal a second, mud covered, lid below it. As this was all in full view of the hut and the party wasn’t equipped for muddy crawling, it was left alone.

2. During an afternoon’s karst wandering near the Ingolstadter Hut, Suzie found an opening on the plateau into a descending 1.5m square passage of sharp, clothes destroying limestone. A few body lengths in there was a significant drop into a large, dimly lit chamber. No one was sufficiently rash to approach the pitch head too closely, so a surface search was made to find the source of the light: a considerably larger entrance partly blocked with snow. The chamber turned out to be impressive; approximately 40m x 30m and 15m high, nicely decorated with ice formations. The passage found originally entered the chamber at roof height and without equipment was definitely not a sensible way in. Needless to say it’s not a new discovery: there was a glass jar at the entrance and a rope dangling down a snow filled pot at one end of the main chamber.

3. The third feature was (or used to be?) Germany’s longest cave, the Salzgrabenhohle. This lies tantalisingly close to the path down from the Karlinger Hut. Equipped with GPS the heavily overgrown side path to the cave was found, but after much bush-whacking the attempt was abandoned 400m from the entrance.

An excellent area for hillwalking with good huts and several Alpine Corbetts (2500m+), and equally good for casual surface speleology.

------oOo------34 THE CUIL DHUBH SYSTEM - REVEALED ONCE MORE

By Martin Hayes

The upper Traligill basin, above Uamh Cailliche Peireag and Cnoc nan Uamh, is known to hide at least two underground water courses from the substantial sinks below the outflow of Loch Mhaolach-Coire and from Cuil Dhubh sink. The waters from these are supplemented by flow from sinks in the bed of the Allt a’Bhealaich and from Pool Sink, and eventually flow through, and frequently over, the cave systems of the lower Traligill Valley.

The presence of lines of shakeholes and dry valleys on the plateau above Uamh Cailliche Peireag may give clues as to the possible course of waters from the Loch Mhaolach-Coire and Cuil Dhubh sinks, but the actual routes taken are not known and ‘Caves of Assynt’, perhaps rather enigmatically, depicts the routes from the major sinks as straight, dotted lines heading to Cnoc nan Uamh.

Over the years a number of attempts have been made to gain further insight into the drainage of the area. Robust attempts at digging near the loch sink were reported in 1959 (1,2,3) and a prolonged attack on Cuil Dhubh ten years later by the GSG opened access to a chamber below the then wet swallow of Cuil Dhubh before being frustrated by a gravel-choked sump.(4) More recently the Whingeing Dog Dig project showed early promise at a site a few metres from the 1959 dig but failed to deliver. Even earlier energies near Loch Mhaolach-Coire in the 1950s led mostly to disappointment, and at the time of writing Cuil Dhubh appears to be more blocked than ever, water now flowing principally into the ‘dry’ entrance; backing up is frequent and prolonged.

The most exciting insight into flow under the plateau came in 1992 when a collapse, spotted at the edge of a massive shakehole the previous year, allowed entry into Uamh an Coire Domhain (Cave of the Deep Depression).(5) Further visits gained a GSG team access to the downstream flow from Cuil Dhubh via a steep rubble slope and eyehole, and the entertaining, if frustrating ‘Travelator’. Regrettably, downstream the stream entered a deepening sump after a short distance, which has only been tentatively dived for 7 metres. Water emerged from the upstream end through impenetrable boulders. The cave received relatively few visits during its short existence.

Within a short time of its appearing, Uamh an Coire Domhain made known its intentions. The interior underwent a number of re-arrangements and the small entrance eventually vanished under the mud and gravels carried by flood events, and successive collapses of the cliff above. Sadly the cave received its ‘obitu- ary’ in 2000. (6)

Acknowledging the dynamic nature of the surface and underground area I resolved to keep an eye on the area, and myself and numerous GSG companions have spent at least ten years infrequently, but persistently, patrolling the shakeholes, dry valleys and streams of the area. Over the years many small, unstable manholes in stream beds have appeared and then subsided once more into homogenous rubble. Holes in the peat have appeared, got bigger and then collapsed and faded from sight and memory. However, persistence does some- times pay off.

My usual circuit of the area consists of walking up-valley along the path to Uamh Cailliche Peireag, continuing along the fishermans’ path to Loch Mhaolach-Coire, checking out the ‘Dog’ on the way, and then strik- ing across country to Cuil Dhubh sink. The return journey to lower Traligill invariably follows the Cuil Dhubh overflow channel to Uamh an Coire Domhain, then continues to intersect the Allt a’Bhealaich, and follows this to the fall over Uamh Cailliche Peireag.

On Sunday 2nd January this year, I decided to do the ‘Traligill Round’ and set off on the usual route. A thaw was setting in and the surface snow at the foot of the valley was melting fast. On gaining height at Uamh 35 Cailliche Peireag it started to snow once more. Later, approaching Cuil Dhubh, this was augmented by thunder and lightning. Fine, so long as you are not wandering across the open moorland with a crowbar sticking out of your rucksack!

As I wandered across the moorland accompanied by my faithful crowbar, the snow and sleet had reduced visibility to a few metres. I picked up the overflow channel from Cuil Dhubh and headed downhill. Approaching the dyke above Uamh an Coire Domhain, at first I walked past it, my eyes concentrating on a minor sink on the north bank. However having checked that out I returned to the middle of the channel and then spotted the new hole in the south bank.

Having seen many such features over the years, usually going nowhere, it was almost with irritation that I realised I would have to take off my rucksack and drop into the small elliptical hole, about a metre deep, before I would be able to see what was going on.

Inside the hole a small passage paralleled the floor channel, the thin bedding roof lying just a few centime- tres under the grassed bank bordering the channel. The left wall was solid rock and the right wall of the metre wide passage was mud and gravel conglomerate. After a two metre comfortable crawl along I was further irritated to find I had to switch on my caving lamp, the beam left pointing out of the open top of the rucksack. Straight ahead I could now see that the passage terminated in a solid wall with a body sized slot at its base.

Still feeling more irritated than optimistic, I gave in and extricated my helmet and lamp from the rucksack. Finally. almost looking like a caver, I stuck my head down the slot.

I could see an expansive bedding plane, containing plenty of boulders but with a clear route through, of comfortable crawling height. This stretched out of sight and headed under the moor away from the flood channel on the surface. Not in the slightest bit irritated I dropped into the slot. Once in I could clearly hear a streamway. I followed the crawl along the line of least resistance and loudest streamway for a number of metres. As I progressed I was becoming aware of a gap opening above the gravel wall on my right. Pushing through this I was suddenly able to stand up. There was a black wall in front of me, about 1.5 metres high. I climbed up this and found myself on a steep slope heading beyond the range of my light. I clambered down to my right for two or three metres to a more comfortable stance, and took stock.

I was alongside the right wall of a large down-sloping chamber. There was an impression of blackness every- where, I could not see the left wall, and both floor and roof descended out of sight. I could hear a roaring streamway but could not see it. My first thought was this must be a substantial chamber. My second thought was that maybe my light was going out.

I rapidly did a grade one survey. Not of the cave, but rather of my ability to exit from it. Number of previous trips this weekend on this light....2 Number of days since light last charged..... can’t remember. Number of spare lights...... none. Number of others knowing where I was.....none. Conditions outside....snow cover and temperature rising. I decided to leave full exploration for another day. This is also known as fleeing the cave.

The following day a GSG team was led to the entrance. Actually they were led to where I thought the entrance might have been. The site was under one to two metres of flowing water. Despite my many trips to the area this was the first time I had seen a stream flowing all the way down the flood channel from Cuil Dhubh to the giant shakehole that gave the name to Cave of the Deep Depression, Uamh an Coire Domhain. The new cave would have to wait for another day.

Fortunately the waters duly receded and the cave has now seen numerous visits. In acknowledgement of the weather conditions prevailing when it was first entered, the cave has been christened Uamh na Doineinn 36 (Storm Cave). It has now been surveyed - apart from an active inlet half way up the main chamber wall) - to grade V and accompanies this article.

The volume of water to be seen depends on the water levels in Cuil Dhubh. When the ‘dry’ entrance at Cuil Dhubh is in enterable condition (ignoring for this purpose the need to dig out the debris), Storm Cave is at its best, with the large chamber leading down to an interesting streamway of reasonable length but ultimate- ly leading to a downstream sump pool. This has been probed by diving but poor visibility has so far frustrated a proper push. Upslope from the streamway, judicious use of drill and hammer has allowed comfortable access down through boulders to what seems to be the upstream area, comprising a winding floor passage, a deep pool and an inlet with a small waterfall. These areas will not be enterable in high water.

In flood conditions the cave will fill from the bottom up, at a rate determined by the ability of the underground passages and voids between it and Cuil Dhubh to absorb and transmit the flow. If these areas cannot accommodate the volume flowing into Cuil Dhubh sink, then the sink area will fill and overflow overground towards Storm Cave and Uamh an Coire Domhain. If Storm Cave is not already full by then, water will flow into the entrance. Clearly it is advisable to take note of the local water conditions before venturing into Storm Cave.

The discovery does prompt a review of the area’s potential. Just like Uamh an Coire Domhain, Storm Cave gains impressive depth in quite a small distance. There is the potential for more of the same, particularly in between Cuil Dhubh and Storm Cave. Standing water in the Cuil Dhubh overflow channel drains rapidly underground in numerous places. Ironically Roger Galloway and myself dug one such place to no avail a few years ago, giving up after about half an hour. We now know our dig site was only a few metres away from the entrance to Storm Cave. Other drainage sites in the area may allow access to the flow between the two entrances. Certainly the size of the main chamber provides startling evidence of what voids appear to exist so close to the main sink. The muds and gravels at the base of the shakehole just beyond Uamh an Coire Domhain can be seen to be in a state of continual flux. A collapse, or a dig here may allow access to the flow downstream of the Black Water Tunnel in Uamh an Coire Domhain.

As we move towards Uamh Cailliche Peireag and Cnoc nan Uamh, the plateau seems to be less dynamic in nature. It is tempting, and easy to conclude, that any underground passage will have collapsed or be jammed with gravel and debris. Nevertheless there are occasional signs of minor surface subsidence and we should take encouragement from these. Careful inspection, particularly during flood conditions, may provide insight.

The area between Loch Mhaolach-Coire and Uamh Cailliche Peireag has a similar dynamic to that of Cuil Dhubh, with sinks, resurgences and gravel piles marking the bed of an overflow channel. The underground flows have not yet been penetrated and careful inspection during high water flows may yet prove useful.

It is possible that the underground flows for most of the upper basin will remain unseen. However we cannot know this for sure and we should give the area proper attention. If nothing else we should be encouraged by our finds in the area, none of which required massive preparatory excavations. Storm Cave was entered without any digging whatsoever. Uamh an Coire Domhain, although demanding internally, required mini- mal effort to gain entry. Both caves were found by the simple process of going for a walk. ----oOo---- References: 1. Queen Mary College Exploration Society, N.W. Scotland Expedition 1959, Caving Report. 4pp 2. Ford, T.D. The Sutherland Caves. Trans CRG 5(2) (1959)p.162 3. Queen Mary College Report. rep.in GSG Bull. 4th Series 1(2) (2003) pp 59-61 4. Manchip, J, Penman, M & Cornock, B.(1969) Assault on Cuil Dhubh. Bull. GSG 1st Series 4(2) pp21-26 5. Jeffreys, A.L. (1993) Uamh an Coire Domhain. Bull. GSG 3rd Series 2(4) pp 15-20 6. Jeffreys, A.L. (2000) Some Lost Caves of Sutherland. Bull.GSG 3rd Series 5(3) pp 9-12 37 UAMH NA DOINEANN (STORM CAVE) Cuil Dhubh Sutherland

NGR: NC 28175 1952 Alt. 270 metres

PLAN & SECTIONS

inlet Entrance

Scale (metres)

Surveyed January 2005 P. Dowswell, A. Peggie Drawn by A. Peggie Grampian Speleological Group Uamh Na Doineinn

SECTIONS

LONG SECTION 38

Surveyed January 2005 P. Dowswell, A. Peggie Scale (metres) Drawn by A. Peggie Grampian Speleological Group 39 UNDER A DARK SKYE

By David Morrison

Over the past few months, whilst not exploring and digging in Kishorn, R. Simpson (RS) and myself (DM) have made sporadic visits to Skye resulting in some new caves being found. The longest to date is Meekons Cave, grid ref. 66650 19440, situated east of the Heast road, the cave being found in December 2004 when the burn was in spate. Despite this, RS managed to crawl in for about nine metres.

We returned on 3rd April 2005 to find very low water levels. This gave access to 46 metres of wet crawl through a very entertaining system. A later visit gained another five metres of passage and the sump was probed; it seems to have good sized descending passage.

A resurgence further up the hill at NGR 66260 20018 was dug into in December 2004 but the water level was too high. A later dig gave two metres of tight passage ending at a sump. This sump has now been entered to neck depth and seems to continue into the hill at about 30o. It may be worth diving. We called this site Strawberry Cave as there were wild strawberries growing around the entrance.

Two more caves were found in this area during recent visits. Roadside Cave, NGR 66082 19839 is just that. It was first spotted after a visit to Meekons Cave. DM returned later and removed a few stones to gain access to a small, low chamber 3m x 2m with more passage visible but needing some digging. Having no gear apart from a hand torch and wearing a motorcycle jacket (caving and biking is an awkward mix), he retreated, now rather muddy, and continued along the road to Heast for a few hundred metres where a wander about the moor revealed a small gorge at NGR 66012 18999. A stream disappeared into the back of the gorge before it went underground through a crawling size passage. This would have to wait as a wetsuit seemed necessary.

Both sites were revisited, the small gorge first. The crawl sized passage lowers to a flat crawl through shallow water for 16m. Although the cave is full of sheep bones it was named Rowantree Cave after the one at the entrance. At Roadside Cave RS dug his way into a second low chamber, 3.5m x 2m. This ends in a small passage too tight to enter but showing small stalactites 4m in.

The other main find was Condyle Cave, NGR 61739 24302 which lies on the limestone outcrop below Beinn na Caillich near Broadford. The shakehole that contains the entrance was first noted on a visit to Boundary Sink (GSG Bull. 4th series, 2(3) p.39). Returning some weeks later, the shakehole entrance was being dug when daylight from a small hole was noticed. Some digging here revealed the small pothole entrance that gives access to the cave.

After some hammer work at an awkward corner by DM, RS entered the cave and passing this he continued crawling until a vocal connection was made through a small hole some metres downhill. With DM still digging this lower entrance RS pushed through a tight squeeze (now widened) to give a through trip of 22m. In the next shakehole a few metres south, two entrances Richard Simpson at the entrance of Condyle were looked at. The lower one was dug out and gives 2m of flat Cave crawl to an awkward bend (not passed) with low passage continu- Photo: D. Morrison ing which connects with Condyle Cave. It seemed appropriate to 40 call this little cave the Condyle Connection. The other entrance proved to be much more stubborn and only after a great deal of digging, hammering, chiselling and minor blasting with Hilti caps was entry finally gained. A tight squeeze gives access to two small chambers with tight passage continuing uphill (this looks to be too tight). We called this Upper Condyle Cave. About 80m uphill RS found a 4m cave in what seems to be basalt. A side passage goes in for a few metres but is too tight. It is named Scree Pot Cave.

Over the hill from Scree Pot heading N.W., DM found some features including Calcanaus Cave, NGR 61294 24688. This is a 5.3m long cave ending at a small chamber. A stream is audible through a small hole in the far wall. Two small pots were also noted.

Returning later with RS they were dug out to give Anvil Cave, 3.5m and Collapse Cave which are really two small pots in the same shakehole with some choked passage. Back down the hill, in Scapula Cave, the stone mentioned in the GSG Bulletin was dug out along with others to give access to a small chamber; there is just room through this small access hole for a head, arm and a torch. Sadly the cave can be seen to choke completely after 1.5m.

The squeeze in Shelter Cave (Caves of Skye, page 64) has been passed by a high level route found by RS on 24th July 2005. Unfortunately the cave ends at a blank wall about 3m past the squeeze.

Although many of these new finds are short, most are worth a visit, and it has been very enjoyable finding and digging them out. There are probably more caves to be discovered and I will certainly be out there looking. All our finds have been or are being surveyed. I have included descriptions and surveys of the longest caves below. ----oOo---- Rowantree Cave Heast Skye CAVE DESCRIPTIONS: NGR NG 66012 18999 rising Alt. 178 metre Length 16m ROWANTREE CAVE NGR 66012 18999 hole to daylight A wet crawl along a triangular shaped passage for 16 metres to where the ceiling gets too low. Two side passages end after a too low short distance. The cave is full of sheep bones which adds char- acter to an otherwise average cave. The hole to daylight could possibly be dug to give a tight through trip.

Mag BEINN NA CAILLICH, BROADFORD N 10m

CONDYLE CAVE NGR 61739 24302 tree small Climb down a 1.8 metre deep hole to a U-bend. Proceed feet first gorge over a 0.8 metre drop to land in the cave proper. On the right is Survey grade 1.5 an inlet passage blocked after 1 metre by a large boulder. This D. Morrison 30.7.05 passage connects with Condyle Connection. The way on is through a small chamber with a tiny passage in the left wall. Continue round the hammered corner and along more small passage to a left turn with tiny stalactites and some flowstone. After 3 metres there is a squeeze leading to the small final chamber and an exit via the lower entrance. 41 surface stream Meekons Cave sink 100m Heast Skye from entrance NGR NG 66650 19440 Alt 125m sump rising Length 51m

standing chamber

small Lower entrance formations

Mag N sink Triangle Passage squeeze

squeeze

duck hammered corner Riffty the Canyon tube Passage B 5m B too low Mag N ? A A Condyle Cave Beinn na Caillich 0.8 Broadford drop NGR NG 61739 24302 inlet Alt 160 m boulder entrance (1.8m drop) Length 21.6m choke entrance

waterfall 10m Survey grade 1.5 D. Morrison sink holes 12.6.05 Survey grade 1.5 D. Morrison 24.7.05

------CUNDY MOLE CAVE

By Jim Salvona

This cave, lying on Creag Ghlas above Ledcharrie burn, Stirlingshire was reached, or breached, after a series of digs spread over a number of years.

The first of these was started when Scott Robertson and I were cave hunting in the area, following a visit to Pepper Pot, Fox Hole, Rabbit Warren and other small caves in the area (see ‘Caves of the Southern Highlands’ pp.18-23). The dig is at the bottom of a 5 metre deep shakehole on Creag Ghlas above Ledcharrie and was a very tentative thing to fill in time towards the end of the day, consisting of pulling out a few loose rocks to a depth of over one metre. The hole was capped to stop sheep or gamekeepers from falling into it.

For various reasons the dig wasn’t re-visited until April 2000 when Pete Ireson and I increased the entrance pitch to over two metres and gained access to a body length crawl. A rock projecting from the roof prevent- ed progress as did a large boulder that fell from the roof.

The next visit in May saw the obstruction in the roof and the large rock removed. The short crawl was ‘improved’ and removal of several boulders round a small hole at the end of the crawl gave access to a 3m vertical cleft that appeared to widen lower down, but was very neat at chest height, impossible to see down 42 when in the cleft. A further visit in July saw us once again removing ‘capping’ rocks. Widening of the inner end of the crawl gave better access to the cleft, at the bottom of which another short crawl led to an eye hole opening into a wide space in solid limestone. Pete belayed me down a 6 metre 45o pitch which included a .7m step at the top and a 1 metre step at the bottom. The chamber which has a short side passage at the top, is some 5 metres high, 4 metres long and over 2 metres wide at the bottom. The floor is level and offers two blocked sink areas as potential digs, one into dry earth, the other into rubble.

On the way out I noticed that a boulder at the ‘tight bit’ was loose so we decided to drop this in the hope that we could push it through the eye hole. It proved to be much larger than expected and although it can be rocked, an hour’s effort left it blocking the way on. The hole was capped and in view of the time lapse it may be difficult to recognise.

For various reasons the cave has not been re-visited since July 2000 which is why the sketch survey is not likely to be 100% accurate.

entrance Cundy Mole Cave Creag Ghlas Stirlingshire SKETCH NGR NN 51920 26610 ELEVATION

boulder A B (original position)

new position

2m chamber

possible digs

Sketch survey, J. Salvona, A May 2000 B

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WHY AREN’T ALL DEEP CAVES HOT?

By Ivan Young

The news that cavers had descended more than 2km into Krubera Cave in the Western Caucasus made the headlines earlier this year. An article in National Geographic Magazine (1) resulted in an email and an implied question from a non-caving friend. He was surprised that the temperature at the bottom of the cave - reported as 5o C - was so low. Now you may be used to freezing your way through Scottish caves, but once you begin to descend into the solid earth things usually begin to heat up. Temperature is a major problem in deep mines. The world’s deepest mines are for gold in South Africa and are more than 4km deep. The temperature of the virgin rock can reach 60oC and even with masses of air conditioning equipment the air temperatures exceed 30oC. So why isn’t Krubera a lot warmer? 43

The earth has heated up over geological time and may now be cooling down. It still continues to generate heat from radioactive decay and other possible sources such as crystallisation in its solid mostly iron inner core. Once people start talking about what lies more than a few km beneath their feet certainties become probabilities and hard figures become fuzzy estimates. Current thinking is that the entire earth is generating between 30 and 44 terawatts of power 1, and the temperature at the inner core is between 0 200 400 o 5000 and 7000 . Radioactive decay has Krubera km recently been calculated as generating as much Cave Russia Caspian as 60 terawatts, though the most likely amount Sea is estimated to be about 24 terawatts. (2) So Abkhazia there could be a large gap in there to be filled Black Sea by other sources. Georgia Tbilisi* The effect of this internal energy generation is a flow of heat outwards through the earth’s Turkey crust driven by the temperature gradient. This Armenia Azerbaijan increase in temperature with depth is called the Location of Krubera Cave geothermal gradient and averages 25 to 30oC/km. The geothermal gradient does vary from place to place. In volcanic regions it is higher, perhaps 30 to 60oC/km or more, while in old inactive regions it can be as little as 5 to 10oC/km. It all depends on how geologically active the region is. I could not find data for the Western Caucasus, but did find maps for Ireland and the USA (3,4). These show geothermal gradients that range from under 10 to over 60oC/km. The Caucasus Mountains are not quies- cent, and in the Northern Caucasus geothermal energy is used for district and greenhouse heating. The geothermal gradient is therefore likely to be higher than average for the Arabika Massif, the location of Krubera Cave.

Based on all this information the bottom of Krubera Cave should be at least 60oC hotter than the surface, but it isn’t. The best information for actual temperatures comes from a report from the record-breaking expedition, ‘The air temperature rises through the cave from 2.1oC at -90m to 7.7oC at -2080m, giving the overall gradient of 0.28 grad C/100m.’ (5) That is a temperature gradient of less than 3oC/km. Why is it less than a tenth of the expected value? Where has the geothermal energy gone?

The short explanation is that the Arabika Massif is full of active deep caves and the water flowing through them is heated as it descends. It carries the geothermal energy away to the resurgences near or under the surface of the Black Sea. Is it possible to check this hypothesis from the available information? Not exactly, but we can do a few rough calculations to show that the heat flows can be balanced.

An added complication is that all the water flowing down the cave is losing potential energy and that energy will appear as heat. Therefore even without any contribution from geothermal heat, the water after falling a total of 2km will be warmer.

Energy released by 1kg of water falling 2km = 2000 x 9.81 newton metres = 19630 Joules = 19630/ 4.2 = 4674 calories Temperature rise = 4674/1000 = 4.7oC Fortunately this is less than the 5.6oC differential reported by the expedition! That leaves 0.9oC to be explained by geothermal energy.

1. This is approximately 800 times the UK’s 2004 average electricity generation of 45000 MW or 0.045 TW. 1TW = 1,000,000 MW = 1,000,000,000 kW. 44 While the total amount of geothermal heat is immense, even 44 terawatts spread evenly over the Earth’s surface is only 85 milliwatts per square metre. That would take almost six days to heat a 1cm layer of water by 1oC if there were no losses, and the Arabika Massif probably has 2m or more of precipitation per year. There is of course the extra uncertainty of what fraction of the water flows in surface rivers rather than through the caves.

So we don’t know how much heat there is to remove, and we don’t know how much water there is flowing through the cave to remove it, but we can try a couple of cases and see if they make any sense.

If precipitation is 2m per year and all of it flows down to the -2000m level then we can calculate the geothermal heat flow required for a temperature rise of 0.9oC.

Geothermal energy = 200 x 10000 x 0.9 x 4.2 / (365.25 x 24 x 3600) x 1000 mW/m2 = 240 mW/m2

This is of the magnitude you’d expect in places like Yellowstone National Park. The Western Caucasus are not that active! If the rainfall is less or much of it flows away in surface rivers, then the amount flowing through the caves could perhaps be only 50cm. This would reduce the required geothermal energy flow to 60/mW/m2. This is around the global average. The truth is probably somewhere between these two extremes.

These calculations are necessarily approximate. There are too many unknowns for precision. Other compli- cating factors that have been ignored are the topology of the Arabika Massif, the influence of air currents in removing heat and the effect of surface weather on the measured temperatures. The latter is not likely to be great as the upper temperature measurement was taken at -90m below a tight section of passage that stopped the very first exploration.

One other major assumption I have made is that conditions have been the same for thousands of years. For example if the Caucasus suddenly transformed into a desert and rainfall ceased there would be no water to wash away the geothermal energy. The rock temperature would increase and the bottom of Krubera could rise to 60oC or more. However present day cavers need not worry. My calculations tell me it’ll take over 16000 years for that to happen.

What these back-of-an-envelope calculations do show is what cavers have always known - it’s water that makes caves, and cavers, cold. If you want to be cooked down a cave then you’ll need to first find a deep dry cave in a desert.

Reference: (1) Klimchouk, A. (2005) Call of the Abyss. National Geographic Vol. 207 No.5 pp 70-85. Other Sources: (2) Biever, Celeste (2005) First Measurements of Earth’s Core Radioactivity. Newscientist.com. news service 27 July 2005. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18725103.700 (3) Geothermal Map of Ireland at -500m. http://www.sei.ie/uploads/documents/upload/publications/14A.pdf (4) Texas’s Renewable Energy Resources; Fig. 11 Geothermal Gradient Contour Map of the U.S. http://www.infinitepower.org/resgeothermal.htm (5) Klimchouk, A., Kasjan,Y. & Solovjev,N. (March 2005) Arabika Massif, Western Caucasus:Feb-March 2005 Expedition News, Ukrainian Speleological Association. http://www.balkan-speleo.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=22 (6) Klimchouk, A. & Kasjan, Y. (2005) In a Search for the Route to 2000 metres depth; The Deepest Cave in the World in the Arabika Massif, Western Caucasus. http://www.cavediggers.com/Voronja.pdf 45 CAVING IN THE ABODE OF THE CLOUDS EXPEDITION 2005 MEGHALAYA, NORTH EAST INDIA

Summary of the cave exploration in Meghalaya, North East India - 6th February to 5th March 2005 By Simon Brooks, Expedition Co-ordinator

(Editor’s note: This report provides an overview of the whole expeditionary focus in Meghalaya. It is followed by a more personal, detailed account by Tony Jarratt. Both are reproduced to emphasise the continuing Grampian commitment to Meghalayan exploration)

The ‘2005 Caving in the Abode of the Clouds Project’ expedition, the 16th expedition of its kind to the State of Meghalaya in North East India in recent times, took place between the 6th February and 5th March 2005. Over this period 19 kms of new cave passage were explored, photographed and surveyed. This included further extension to twelve existing caves and the exploration of 26 completely new caves to take the total length of surveyed cave passage in this part of India to over 280 kms.

The 28 strong multi-national team consisted of 22 European members and six Indian cavers. This included ten cavers from the UK, six from Germany, three from Ireland, two from Switzerland and an Austrian, along with members from the Shillong-based Meghalaya Adventurers Association, with whom the cave exploration project has been working since 1994. In common with many of the recent expeditions to this part of the world the UK team contained a sizeable selection of Grampian members, namely: Simon Brooks, Mark Brown, Tony Boycott, Tony Jarratt, Dan Harries, Graham Marshall, Fraser Simpson and Jayne Stead.

Activities this year were once again focused on the Shnongrim Ridge area in the Jaintia Hills where an extensive bamboo, thatch and tarpaulin camp consisting of dormitories, wash areas, toilets, kitchen, stores, a com- munal dining room and adjacent social area complete with a camp fire, had been constructed by the Shnongrim villagers a week prior to the exploration team arriving. The camp was not quite as well equipped as the 2004 camp as due to a local bamboo and tarpaulin shortage there was no sauna for ‘apries-cave’ R and R. However, despite reduction in camp facilities the team remained focused on the cave exploration and over the period 8th February to 1st March, 14.1 kms of new passage were explored on the Shnongrim Ridge and in adjacent areas.

To the north of the base camp five new caves, Krem Urle 1,2,3,4 and 5 were explored, the longest of these being Krem Urle 1 with 788m of passage that was regretfully mostly flat-out crawling. Krem Urle 3 at 128m and Krem Urle 5 at 230m in length that were part of the same group were little better. In the large Krem Liat Prah/Um Im system a new shaft entrance was added to the Krem Liat Prah section and at the other end of the system, Krem Um Im 5 was extended from 943m in length to 1623m taking the total for the whole system to 15.9kms and reinforcing its status as India’s second longest cave. Krem Synrang Ngap, originally explored in 2002 and 2003 was extended from 1.98 kms to 4.2 kms and was left ongoing. The downstream part of the cave orginally thought to be the most promising lead finished in a sump, whilst in the upstream direction, thought to be less promising, the passage continued in fine style. As exploration progressed trips to the furthest point in the cave were becoming more difficult taking five hours just to reach the end. As a consequence the final surveying trips into the cave involved a camp in the cave entrance. This situation reminded some of the long-standing expedition members of the 1999 trip when visits just to start surveying in the furthest reaches of Synrang Pamiang were of a similar nature. In like style to caves explored on the ridge during earlier expeditions a significant number of this year’s caves began with a vertical entrance series of between 60 to 90m of descent, broken into two or three pitches, giving access to many kilometres of large streamways and trunk passages. Krem Wah Ser, explored to 3.3 kms is a classic example of this style and a worthy addition to the excellent caving to be found on the ridge. The Shnongrim Ridge continues to have a very dense concentration of caves and since exploration began in February 2000 it has yielded 113 kms of passage almost all of which is concentrated along the ridge itself.

Alongside the work on the ridge itself further exploration was undertaken in outlying areas. In the Lukka 46 Valley a German team set up base camp at Seilken Village and extended the large river cave of Pielkhlieng/Seilkan Pouk (AKA Krem Chimpi) from 9.6 kms to 10.4 kms in length along a huge and well decorated fossil passage named ‘Perfect Passage’ because it was. Saisi Dungkhur in the same area was explored for 580m and Krem Sakwa for 520m. Some 8 kms to the north west of the Shnongrim Ridge in the Samassi area further exploration took place in Krem Tyngheng, a cave that was originally explored in 2004. Here a lightweight trip to supposedly finish the cave resulted in a large amount of dry high level passage being found taking the cave from its 2004 length of 3.75 kms to 5.3 kms. With over 50 large and ongoing leads left in this cave it is likely to become somewhat larger and even more extensive in 2006, possibly gaining a place in India’s top ten longest caves.

In the latter two weeks of the expedition a team of nine split off from the main group and travelled over to the Rongdanggai area in the West Khasi Hills to continue exploration in a promising area that was first visited in 2003. Setting up a camp in the local school with the blessing of the Rongdanggai Village headman, the local children, much to their delight, had an unexpected extra half-term holiday whilst the local caves were extended and connected to form a large master system. Rongdanggai Panigundur was extended from 629m to 871m, Rongdanggai Morasora Kol from 217m to 712m and both were connected to Mondel Kol along with the new 248m long Morasora Bridge Pot. Mondil Kol itself was extended from 1.3 kms to 4.0 kms to give a total combined system length of 5.83 kms, most of which was along impressive passage. In the centre of the Rongdanggai village itself Rongdanggai Rongkol, a large seasonal sink, was extended from 407m to 1.52 kms.

This year the expedition team contained two biologists (Dan Harries and a German, Mr Christian Fisher - AKA ‘Mr Fish Pickler’) and a bat expert (Julien Oppliger) from Switzerland that allowed the biological survey of the caves on the Shnongrim Ridge to be continued and some new work to be undertaken in the Rongdanggai area in the West Khasi Hills. Again several potentially new species were noted that included at least one new species of bat. At the end of the trip Brian Kharpran Daly from the Meghalaya Adventurers Association, Simon Brooks and Dan Harries visited the North East Hill University in Shillong where Dan gave a lecture on the biospeleology of the caves of Meghalaya and at a meeting following this, collaboration was negotiated for further work in partnership with the university’s Zoological Department.

The Expedition worked in close collaboration with the Shillong based Meghalaya Adventurers Association, the State and Regional Tourist Departments and local government and local people, and is greatly indebted to them for their continued support and assistance. More caving equipment was added to the project’s equipment store in Shillong and negotiation made (along with the payment of cash) to purchase one of the huge 4WD Shaktiman trucks. Over the next year the purchased vehicle will be done up and converted (and painted in the Meghalaya Cave Exploration blue and yellow livery!) into an all-purpose/all terrain expedition vehicle to assist in exploration in more remote karst areas ofMeghalaya.

Alongside cave exploration the expedition members once again enjoyed a busy social scene. This took the form of regular visits to the camps by local villagers who were happy to mingle with the team and sit around the fires, drink beer, chat and sing. Whilst in Shillong the team were frequently invited guests at local events, afternoon teas and numerous parties in the company of the project’s ever-growing number of friends from Shillong and Meghalaya in general.

As is becoming a trend with the cave exploration in North East India, information on new leads (caves) collected exceeds the number of leads being investigated by a factor of well over 2:1, which would seem to indicate that a significant amount of cave passage still remains to be explored. To date the project has reference to over 1000 cave sites of which only 590 have been explored and surveyed. Needless to say another large multi-national team will be returning to Meghalaya in February/March 2006 and no doubt it will contain a significant number of Grampian members. Not that this should come as a surprise as after all Meghalaya is also known as ‘The Scotland of the East’. ------oOo------47 MEGHALAYA 2005 - DISCOVERIES IN THE JAINTIA AND WEST KHASI HILLS

By Tony Jarratt

Team 2005 Photo Simon Brooks

Personnel: UK: Simon Brooks (OCC/GSG), Tony Jarratt (BEC/GSG), Mark Brown (SUSS/GSG), Tony Boycott (BEC/GSG/UBSS), Jayne Stead (GSG), Fraser Simpson (GSG), Graham Marshall (GSG), Dan Harries (GSG), Joanne Whistler (OUCC), Lesley Yuen (OCC). Eire: Brian MacCoitir, Robin Sheen, Quentin Cooper (all BC). Austria: Peter Ludwig (LVHOO). Germany: Georg Baumler (HHVL), Christian Fischer (AHKG), Rainer Hoss (HFGN), Christine and Herbert Jantschke (HFGOK), Thilo Muller (AHKG). Switzerland: Thomas Arbenze (SNT), Julien Oppliger (SCI). India: Brian Kharpran-Daly (MA/GSG), Gregory Diengdoh, Shelley Diengdoh, Dale Mawlong, Tedy Mawlong, Ronnie Mawlong, Sheppard Najier and others (all MA), Raplang Shangpliang (Shnongrim guide turned caver!), Pradeep Gogoi and his film team (Assam). Adison ‘Adi’ Thaba (camp manager/driver), Bung Diengdoh (driver/organiser), David Kimberley Marak (driver/organiser), Shamphang Lyngdoh (driver/cook/betel addict), Vinod Sunar, Alam ‘Munna’ Khan (cook), Myrkassim Swer (head cook), Bhaikon Hazarika, Pulin Bara, Kamal Pradhan (cooking assistants), Mr Sukhlain (Doloi or ‘king’ of Nongkhlieh Elaka), Carlyn Phyrngap (were-tiger), Pa Heh Pajuh, Menda Syih, Shartis Dkhar, Heipormi Pajuh, Evermore Sukhlain, Moses A. Marak, Ramhouplien Tuolor, Boren G. Momin, Roilian Nampui (village headmen, guides and local characters), Grewin R. Marak, Blaster Jana, Tobias Syiem, Mr Roy (Meghalaya Police), Pambina A. Marak, Josbina N. Marak (cooking assistants).

The BEC/GSG contingent - Dr B., your scribe, Fraser and Graham - flew from Heathrow to Kolkata (nee Calcutta) on 3rd February to meet the holiday-making Jayne at the ever popular Fairlawn Hotel where our first Indian beers were gratefully quaffed. On the following day’s internal flight to Guwahati the soft south- erners were upgraded to Club Class and the heathen Scots left in the back with the plebs. Obviously offend- ed by this they mutinied in Assam and buggered off to the heavy snow and street gunfighting of Darjeeling for a relaxing few days. The Mendippers continued by taxi to Shillong to meet Brian K.D. and family and the first wave of our cosmopolitan colleagues. Beer once again featured strongly in the evening’s programme.

Jaintia Hills

After a day in the city sorting equipment and shopping we all left for the Jaintia Hills on the 7th, arriving at 48 our superb bamboo camp in the late afternoon. Here we were welcomed by the locals and camp staff and settled in for a few more beers - around the camp fire for a change.

With local guide-turned caver Raplang some of us investigated several new sites on Khloo Rasong, the NW side of the Shnongrim Ridge a couple of kilometres from camp, the primary aim being to gain access to the Krem Um Im 5 section of Krem Liat Prah. Of these Krem Urle 1 (Cave in the Mudslide Area) was later to provide some painful caving in an essentially flat-out, boulder and cobble floored stream passage entered via 100m of well rigged and attractive pitches and becoming too narrow after 0.8 kms. Only a considerable amount of squeezing and digging enabled us to get this far. Shelley’s fondest memory of the place was her unintentionally using a large freshwater crab as a handhold! Two large sections of large, dry fossil tunnel failed to yield any easier overhead routes. The general direction of the cave was towards the ever growing Krem Liat Prah system but a dye trace was not detected due to the time scales involved and the logistics of getting observers to the predicted connection points at the right time. This was to prove a problem with several other attempted traces and future work should involve detectors which could be collected and checked when convenient. Also, even in the wettest place on earth, there are times of low water and February is one of them. Several other caves in this area looked promising but soon became choked or too small.

Having failed to find an easy way into the extremely promising Ratbag River in the Krem Um Im 5 section of the Liat Prah system we bit the bullet and returned to the horrors of the crawls, boulder chokes and crab- infested streamway (Shnongrim Sewer) of this cave. The long duck at the end of the Sewer had luckily dropped by a metre and Tony, Jayne and I were soon in the unexplored Ratbag River itself. Downstream was surveyed for 40m to a deep canal, later surveyed for another 137m of swimming to a probable sump. Other members of the expedition were to make some hard won advances in the stunning resurgence cave of Krem Wah Shikar and they were also stopped by a sump. The computer generated surface map, the ‘Big Picture’, shows this to be heading towards Ratbag River and divers may be needed next year to attempt the connection and hopefully add Wah Shikar to Liat Prah to give a length of over 20 kms.

Upstream Ratbag River produced some fine phreatic tunnels but after 300m and an awkward dig through boulders we were stopped by a classic Shnongrim Ridge boulder choke - huge and impassable. What we assume is the Krem Urle stream emerges from beneath but for us, “cave finish”.

This year there was an almost complete absence of bats as opposed to the hundreds seen in 2004. Also absent were the ‘Lilliputian monkey-coloured people’ who Carlyn Um Im 5 -The Main passage assured us frequent the cave entrances in the Um Im Photo: Simon Brooks area (or has there been a secret Wessex expedition?) 49 Other work in the Um Im area involved pot-bashing, re-surveying and recce. The re-survey of Krem Um Im 7 added 226m to Liat Prah but other promising sites closed down. There is still a great deal to explore in this heavily forested area but each year gets easier as the jungle is cleared for cultivation.

With our first two big caves concluded work concentrated on the amazing Krem Synrang Ngap, left fallow last year due to the pressure of other discoveries. The traditional 100m of entrance pitches were again superbly rigged by Mark and team and parties then set off through the downstream crawls and ducks and a couple of kms of scrambling over huge calcite bosses to reach a major junction. Downstream a huge boulder choke soon loomed up and a possible way through was left for a thin man team next year. This may be beneath the oppressive Krem Bir. Just back upstream from this a massive inlet tunnel became the focus of attention for those not minding a cold 5m swim. With a rope and life jacket installed we were soon har- vesting the metres beyond. Brian M, Gregory and I were continuing the survey on the 19th February when the impressive draught dropped as we entered a smaller section of passage ending in too tight rifts. On heading back Brian noticed a side passage with a severe looking squeeze through hefty formations from whence the gale emerged. Being the skinniest I got the job and was soon sprinting up 100m or so of very attractive potholed galleries with cave pearl-like sandstone pebbles in the floor that were identical to the local kids’ cat- apult pellets. This became ‘Thin Man’s Inlet’ and another, larger passage downstream ‘Fat Man’s Inlet’.

On the 23rd, after three days of ‘easy’ surface recce, a return was made to enlarge the squeeze and survey on upstream. Quentin, Greg and I were the most anorexically designed for this operation and were soon clock- ing up the metres again until a chest deep pool, twin 30m avens and a complicated series of crawling passages temporarily held us up. Greg finally hit the jackpot after crawling down the ‘Gravel Grovel’ into a magnificent stream passage stretching into the distance - ‘The Great Straight’. We were ecstatic but con- fused as we were now obviously heading downstream after having travelled upstream for several hudnred metres!

Scooping 30m tape legs we marched enthusiastically onwards to intersect a fine phreatic bore tube containing impressive columns and curtains. This, in turn, broke into the side of an even larger passage which immediately sumped to the right but continued to the left as a large canyon with its higher level in the form of a wide fossil tunnel. We climbed up into this for ease of surveying and Greg, leading with the tape, scrambled up a steep mud slope into a black void above. Cries of astonishment from this normally quiet Meghalayan caver spurred us on to ditch the survey and join him in the huge, mud and sand dune floored chamber that continued to the left and ahead as 8m wide phreatic tunnels. The sound of a large stream emanated from the distance so, with time running out, we rushed off for a look at the large phreatic river passage crossing under the chamber from right to left and heading for regions unknown. We assumed that we had reached the stream from Krem Synrang Labbit and had actually left Krem Synrang Ngap to enter a completely different drainage system. In recognition of Greg’s discovery the huge void was named Meghalayan Adventurers’ Chamber. With a total of 455m surveyed we were more than happy to stagger back to the surface which we reached after a 91/2 hour trip - knackered but elated.

A couple of fruitless days were then spent trying to reach the new extensions via undescended potholes in the jungle-covered pinnacle karst above. This very difficult terrain was thoroughly scoured by Quentin and Greg and three short but sweet vertical caves discovered, unfortunately all closing down before breaking through into the ‘master cave’ below. Peter and I spent one day on this project then diverted to Krem Synrang Labbit to put fluorescein into the downstream river in the hope of proving the connection.

A large ‘shit or bust’ team entered Krem Synrang Ngap on the 27th February with Quentin, Greg and I being the thin men. Mark, Brian M, (less anorexically challenged), Shelley, Lesley and Jo headed for Fat Man’s Inlet in an attempt to bypass the squeeze. We followed the huge M.A. Chamber to a conclusion at a mud choke above a steep, slippery and hazardous mud ‘mountain’ with large boulder chokes below from which issued both the main stream and a healthy inlet stream with clearer water. This was particularly noticeable as we were all convinced that the larger flow had a distinct green tinge to it from the dye inserted in Krem 50 Synrang Labbit the previous day. A couple of ways on here need to be checked next year in the hope of bypassing the upstream chokes. Downstream yet another huge boulder choke curtailed our progress but again there are possible routes through it. Time had run out for further pushing as it was now past 10pm. The sound of voices heralded the arrival of the more rotund team whom we assumed had bypassed the squeeze. We were suitably chastised when it was revealed that their inlet had soon fizzled out and they had followed us through the tight bit after an hour of hammer and chisel work - fair play to ‘em. For one of the gentlemen (who shall remain nameless but said ‘feck’ a lot) disrobing to his shreddies was necessary and the secondary benefit of reducing the girlies to hysterical laughter as he cursed his way through. They were suitably impressed with the extensions so we left them brewing up and admiring the place while we headed out to our beer supplies stashed in the cave entrance where we intended to bivouac until morning. With tongues hanging out we sweated up the 100m of rope only to find that the local kids had snaffled most of the ale - bastards. Luckily Greg had extra supplies and a couple of rum-filled Coke bottles were unearthed from the depths of tackle bags to quench our alcoholic thirsts. A fire was lit outside and Greg cooked soup as the others gradually emerged from the depths to the night sounds of the jungle. Honorary thin man Brian M, relieved to have escaped from the jaws of the squeeze, produced a bottle of Courvoisier and the mini-party got into full swing before we retired for a few hours draughty kip.

Fraser, Brian K.D. and Graham woke us at 10am and helped sherpa the kit up to the road. We had been underground for 20 hours but had another 800m in the bag after a classic Meghalayan caving trip. A re-survey trip in another part of the cave later brought the total length of this sporting system up to 4.17 kms with plenty more to be found. A physical connection upstream to Krem Synrang Labbit may not be easy but downstream is more promising with the sound of the river emanating from beyond the choke. The probable resurgence for both this and the original main stream is Krem Iawe, situated several kms to the WNW. Pushing trips will require underground camping to be viable unless other ways in from the jungle covered slopes of Khloo Krang south of the cave can be found. If Krem Krang Maw and/or Krem Krang Wah are the feeders to Krem Synrang Labbit then the whole system, if connections could be established, would be over 20 kms long. Time will tell. My last trip of the expedition was to the awesome system of Krem Um Thloo - my ‘baby’ - in an attempt to smash up a hanging boulder preventing access to a 10m high inlet which could be seen beyond. This lay at the end of International Schweinehund Passage and not too far from the boulder choke entrance to the cave. Unfortunately my colleagues, Quentin and Raplang, were not in the right frame of mind which made for a frustrating outing. This was probably Raplang’s first proper caving trip and he had to be restrained from carv- ing OUT, with accompanying arrows, every Krem Tyngheng - Dry Passage few metres. Quentin was pretty burnt out from Photo: Simon Brooks three weeks of extreme caving and decided to sit it out just before the dig site was reached. Not having been able to scrounge any explosives I was armed with a hefty hammer and set to work on the rock which was calcited into the ceiling of a low crawl. Suddenly the whole boulder dropped out with an earth shaking thud which aroused Quentin from his lethargy. I was just able to shift it enough to squeeze past into the big stuff beyond and the others eventually followed. Sod’s Law then decreed that this fine passage soon ended at a calcited aven with an unpleasant crawl to one side which became too tight. It also became too toxic after Quentin inadvertently set fire to the tape with his lamp! Raplang was by now totally mind blown by the curious antics of the Ferengis and we, in turn, were equally mind blown by the noise of what could only be described as loud snoring emanating from a low duck at the base of the aven. The source of 51 this weird and somewhat disturbing phenomenon will have to wait another year to be discovered but is doubt- less related to siphoning water or an intermittent draught. It just begged the name of Snoring Duck Aven.

Lots of other trips and projects took place during the three weeks of fieldwork. Mark pushed his own ‘hot tip’, Krem Wah Ser, to discover one of the finest caves on the ridge with 3.26 kms of superbly decorated passages entered via c. 40m of pitches and with a resurgence exit. New girls Jo and Lesley were very impressed with the cave but took some time to get used to the monster spiders that seem to be even larger than normal in this area. An upstream sump in this cave possibly connects with the 1.8 km Krem Muid, itself being adjacent to the 13.5 km+ of the If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that sounded Krem Umthloo system. like snoring, ha-ha!

Robin’s dedicated recce and exploration of totally obscure sites led to the discovery of Krem Brisang and its connection with Krem Wah Shikar, itself being greatly extended by Mark, Peter, Jo and Thomas after some inventive and entertaining aid climbing to pass dodgy boulder chokes. Tom, despite suffering bouts of ill- ness, was keen to see his particular ‘baby’ develop to its current length of 2.56 km and also sorted out lots of survey and computer problems with typically calm Swiss efficiency. He also tidied up question marks in Krem Liat Prah and aided by Peter, taught Rainer to understand British caving eccentrics! This worked so well that Rainer became an honorary one. On Tom’s return to Switzerland he slaved away over his computer to produce two superb ‘Big Picture’ area maps of the ridge - one with added landscape detail. The map appended is updated from these.

Georg, Rainer, Thilo, Christian, Herbert and Christine spent a few days continuing with the longstanding survey of one of India’s most stunning cave systems, Pielkhlieng - Sielkan Pouk, to bring it up to 10.3 kms with many more kms left to explore in the future. This one is the ‘baby’ of Georg who is convinced that it will be India’s (if not the earth’s) longest and is already the best in the Multiverse. Photographs of this cracking system would seem to prove him correct! They also surveyed 580m in Saisi Dungkhur near Moolian Village and reported the cave to be ongoing.

In the temperance zone of Semmasi, Krem Tyngheng was extended from 3.75 kms to 5.32 kms by Simon, Greg, Tom, Julien, Tony B. and Jayne and many leads remain for next year in this labyrinthine system.

Mainly assisted by Graham, Fraser once again spent lots of time videoing the caves, coal mining operations and local colour. He also sub-contracted to Pradeep and his Assamese team who were making a documen- tary on Meghalayan caves and cave life. Dan, Christian and Julien also became briefly involved in this as they were engaged in intensive speleobiological research throughout their stay. Dan and Simon were also able to arrange a future collaboration with several eminent professors from the Department of Zoology at the North East Hill University, Shillong.

Brian K.D. spent much time being interviewed by the press and we were all captured on film or caught by the papperazzi (nasty) at some point. The reason for all the press interest was the growing confrontation between environmentalists, cavers and locals and the recently much more mechanised cement industry which has begun to encroach on India’s current longest cave, Krem Kot Sati/Umlawan and other important karst/hydrological areas including the Shnongrim Ridge.

West Khasi Hills

On Sunday 20th February the West Khasi Hills team eventually left Shillong after a series of delays due to bureaucracy and arrived at the riverside village of Ranikor at 6pm. Next day, with a bodyguard of three armed policemen, they drove on to Maheshkola, encountering more delays at the Border Security Force post. 52 Map annotated by hand to show 2005 additions

110 km survey length (March 2005) 53 A third day of delays due to tyre punctures and having to repair road bridges before using them finally saw them reach their destination - the Rong Dangi village school - where the local kids were perfectly happy to get a surprise holiday in return for accommodating the Ferengi. The caves of Panigundur and Mondil Kol were connected by Simon, Georg and Julien after a survey of 242m and another 339 added in the latter cave by Dr. B, Christian, Thilo, Herbert and Christine. The 23rd saw the team adding another 1.16 km to the system. Videoing and biological studies were also undertaken here.

Rong Dangi Rongkol was extended by 680m next day and Morasora Kol by 431m. On the 25th the fine river sink of Gurmal Janggal Rongkol was descended via a series of short, free-climbable pitches and connected to the growing Mondil Kol master system.

Things took a turn for the worse the following day when a failed rock belay followed both Jayne and the rope and sling she was using to the floor 5m below, leaving the expedition doctor and a paucity of ladders at the top of the pitch! More tackle was fetched and the injured one recovered and carried piggy-back to the accom- modation by the good doctor (who I gather was glad she was a featherweight). After her last broken leg epic all were relieved when a badly sprained ankle was diagnosed - though it unfortunately curtailed her caving for the rest of the expedition. Despite this accident another 470m was in the bag and more biological work was done by the scientists.

Morasora Kol was added to the system on the 27th and over 400m surveyed. Next day Morasora Bridge Pot joined in the fun with 248m of passage, an excuse to do a photographic through trip by Christine, Herbert and Thilo and a good reason to re-name the whole 5.8 km system the Morasora River Cave.

To sum up: yet another enjoyable and successful expedition with great company, food, beer and superb sporting caving. Despite initially poor weather - gales, fog, wind, Mondil Kol, Bat Passage heavy rain and low temperatures - and a cou- Photo: Simon Brooks ple of earthquakes - everyone enjoyed themselves and contributed towards piecing together the fascinating underground jigsaw puzzles of various bits of Meghalaya. Our thanks to Brian K.D. and the Meghalaya Adventurers, the Ladies of Shillong and all the helpers and locals who helped make it work so well. The overall surveyed length in all the areas visited this year was just over 19 km. Not bad considering the nature of the new stuff under the ridge and the travel logistics to reach other areas. We were unable this year to visit the “vulture cave halfway up a 1000m cliff” or the “cave with clouds in” due to insurgency problems but there’s always next year. Probably more important this year was the interaction with the locals, press, scientists and environmentalists - hopefully just in time to preserve some of the planet’s finest caving areas from destruction. Apart from the above major caves many smaller sites were explored and surveyed and scores of new entrances visited in both areas so there is no fear of these marvellous expeditions winding up in the foreseeable future!

As an aside,and an example of the Indian sense of humour, Dr. B. informs me that the painted advice “Use Dipper at Night”, often seen on the back of lorries, has been collared by the National Aids Control Organisation for their new condom - the ‘Dipper’. Likewise another popular slogan - “Horn Please”. They should sell like hot cakes! ------oOo------54 Meghalaya 2005 - Survey Summary: Shnongrim: Area Cave Pre 2005 Length Survey 2005 Total Vertical Range Shnongrim Krem Urle 3 128.74 128.74 8.00 Lukka Sielkan Pouk 9600 827.64 10427.64 Shnongrim Krem Liat Prah 8406.65 292.37 8699.02 Liat Prah/Um Im System 14907.05 15879.78 Shnongrim Krem Urle 1 788.04 788.04 125.00 Shnongrim Kren Um Im 2-5 942.95 680.36 1623.31 112.00 Moolian Saisi Dungkhur 579.50 579.50 15.00 Shnongrim Krem Poh Lum Shyrngan 83.00 83.00 31.50 Shnongrim Krem Lyngkha 35.00 35.00 35.00 Shnongrim Krem Lyngkha 2 171.00 171.00 171.00 Shnongrim Krem Myrsiang 1 18.00 18.00 18.00 Shnongrim Krem Synrang Ngap 1976.87 2195.21 4172.08 132.76 Shnongrim Krem Clare 2 187.37 187.37 44.05 Lukka Buk Pouk 32.43 32.43 Shnongrim Krem Sakwa 520.43 520.43 Shnongrim Krem Rubong 177.00 177.00 Shnongrim Krem Jngeim 12.00 12.00 Shnongrim Krem Pochkem Ladous 9.50 9.50 21.50 Shnongrim Krem Wah Ser 3262.41 3262.41 145.36 Lukka Sielkan Hmar Pouk 36.72 36.72 Shnongrim Krem Tyngheng 3752.41 1566.95 5319.36 Shnongrim Krem Brisang/Wah Shikar 1333.87 1227.84 2561.71 Shnongrim Krem Urle 5 229.89 229.89 56.79 Shnongrim Thloo Moopsin 2 103.70 103.70 38.65 Shnongrim Thloo Moopsin 4 95.84 95.84 26.09 Shnongrim Krem Umsutiang 129.84 129.84 59.82 Shnongrim Krem Kor 92.67 92.67 Shnongrim Krem Khurisha 1 111.05 111.05 Shnongrim Krem Khurisha 3 39.60 39.60 Shnongrim Krem Lumjingtep 115.96 115.96 Diastong Krem Langshrieh 182.30 182.30 Shnongrim ‘Snowman’s Pot’ 55.00 55.00 Shnongrim Krem Umthloo 13413.04 132.63 13545.67

Shnongrim Total: 14119.99

West Khasi Hills

Rongdanggai Panigundur 629.00 241.68 870.68 Rongdanggai Mondil Kol 1294.00 2707.23 4001.23 (Mondil Kol Master System total: 5831.40) Rongdanggai Rongkol (Rongdanggai) 407.00 1118.81 1525.81 Rongdanggai Morasora Kol 217.04 494.60 711.64 Rongdanggai Rongdanggai Songitcham 39.20 39.20 32 Rongdanggai Morasora Bridge Pot 247.85 247.85

Garo Total: 4849.37

2005 Total: 18969.36 ------

Grampian Speleological Group Edinburgh 2005