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Caving
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How far underground would you dare to explore? Keith Jackson from Bangor, a member of the North Wales Cave Rescue Team, gives us a rough guide to caving.
How did you get started?
I was brought up in Somerset where there are a lot of caves and I went on lots of school outings to them. I really enjoyed it.
Where did you go from there?
I went to college at Aberystwyth, joined the caving club and did some mines around mid Wales. Then I moved to Devon where there are a lot of caves - that's where I started with cave rescue.
We're quite similar to mountain rescue teams - if an accident happens underground, we as volunteers are called out to help the police as we're the ones who know where all the caves are. We've also got a stock of necessary equipment.
We're called out very rarely, especially in this area. Maybe once or twice a year - one is usually a hoax and the other is to rescue a dog.
What clothing and equipment do you need?
You can get away with just a boiler suit, helmet and wellies. There is more of an outlay if you need equipment like ropes, it might cost about £100, but they do last ages. It's quite a cheap hobby on the whole.
What's your most memorable experience?
I frequently go on expeditions to northern Spain where it's not uncommon to find a few kilometres of new caves every year. As often as not you have to dig your way into them though. To judge if there are new caves, you have to judge the features - a river flowing out is a big giveaway, or you might just know that there should be more caves around somewhere. Most of the time you're digging and it won't go anywhere, which is quite soul-destroying, but when you do find a cave it's really something quite exciting.
There are unbelievable things to see underground - rivers, waterfalls, huge passages, stalagtites.
I used to be a cave diver, which is very exciting, but I've given it up because carrying the equipment got too hard. When you go cave diving, maybe through an underground sump, you don't necessarily know if there's another side to come out of. You have to either be stupid or really have your wits about you to do that.
One of the best places I dived was in a huge flooded cavern in Devon where the water was crystal clear - it was like being a space walker, you feel so light, just floating in the darkness.
Have you got a favourite place?
Dan yr Ogof in south Wales. It is open to tourists, but cavers are allowed to go beyond that, to the most spectacular caves in Britain by a long way, with fantastic rock formations.
Any other points?
You should learn about caving by going out on expeditions with your local club.
You need to be quite fit. It does vary - there are some strenuous caves which involve ropework and climbing, but some of the slate mines in North Wales are quite easy, it just involves walking around.
Where can I have a go?
There aren't many caves in north Wales, but the area is almost hollow, like a big Swiss cheese because of all the mining. The sheer scale of some of the mine works is amazing.
Snowdonia has got massive slate mines of staggering size and there are an awful lot of metal mines. There are a few lead mines in the Gwydir Forest and copper mines on the Great Orme and Parys Mountain, where I spend a lot of time - they've got about 15 kilometres of tunnels over there in Amlwch. The amount of work which has gone into the tunnels is amazing, especially to think what conditions they were working in hundreds, maybe thousands of years ago. It's fine for us - no dust, no fumes, but when you think of how much earth and rock they had to shift to create the tunnels...
Useful websites:
British Caving Association
North Wales Caving Club
Parys Underground Group
Great Orme Mines
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Parys Mountain, Amlwch
Great Orme, Llandudno
Wales Underground
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