tim.rose2
Active member
With not a lot to do and no friends, Saturday I headed off to Portland to visit my Mum. During the afternoon I decided I'd go out for a "walk" and headed off up the cliff, descended via the climbers path to the crag called the Veranda, dropped down to the boulder beach and hopped along to the Coastguard path at Portland bill. The hidden agenda was to see if it was possible at low tide to get to a sea cave I've been wanting to visit for a while. The answer is yes, but not without getting salty wet feet so decided to leave that for another day having had a little excitement already...
Along the way I spotted a feature of interest! What appeared to be a possible (but blocked at about 2m in) phreatic entrance.
Obviously I felt inclined to move a few rocks and that lump of tree washed in by the sea to get my arm and camera through a gap. This was the result...
With no caving kit and nobody really having any idea where I was further poking was going to have to wait.
Strangely enough my suggestion to Sas for what to do on Sunday was to take the crowbar, some caving kit and head back to my blocked hole. Having negotiated the 'path' to the entrance we started shifting boulders and within 15mins we had a route through into the void seen on the image above. It was now apparent this was definitely a phreatic tunnel rather than something undercut by the sea. A further minor blockage about 8m in was cleared within 10 min and we crawled into the open passage beyond. The passage is typically 1.5 m wide varying from roughly 0.4 to 1 m in height. We explored to approx. 50m passing some nice but very vulnerable formations. Despite still being open, we didn't have time to crawl further on this occasion however it did look as though the tunnel continued but a little more boulder shifting might be necessary. More next time!
The details...
The cave is in Wallsend Cove which is on the West side of the isle but much further south than any known pheatic passage on Portland (please correct me if you know differently). As far as I'm aware this cave has never been reported before (again please correct me if you know differently). I'm pretty certain the cave is in the same band of rock as Sandy Hole, Hopeless Hole & Showerbath approx. 1.3 miles to the North. Could this be the other end of Ammonite Passage? The tunnel dimensions are similar.
Unfortunately this cave could well answer a long standing question of the end of Ammonite Passage - is it tidal? This cave is roughly level with the high tide limit and I don't doubt it floods on spring high tides (we were there at low spring tide today). In anything other than calm seas, the cave would also be a death trap. Numerous bits of sea detritus are deposited throughout the cave including as far as our limit of exploration today, which was the far side of two boulder blockages. As a result I strongly advise you do not attempt to visit unless you fully understand the tides and weather. I'm also guessing each time there is a major storm the entrance will need clearing.
Our trip did include a little humour when I lobbed "the remains of the last caver who attempted to explore this cave" at Sas - a manky old welly washed in by the sea! As a result we've decided to name it "Wellington Hole".
A few pictures...
Sas coming through the second blockage:
The passage beyond:
A lower bit:
The wellie:
The entrance:
Well it just shows an hour of effort moving boulders by hand can find caves. I could really do with more friends - I think this is now the 5th promising site on Portland I'm poking around with.
Along the way I spotted a feature of interest! What appeared to be a possible (but blocked at about 2m in) phreatic entrance.
Obviously I felt inclined to move a few rocks and that lump of tree washed in by the sea to get my arm and camera through a gap. This was the result...
With no caving kit and nobody really having any idea where I was further poking was going to have to wait.
Strangely enough my suggestion to Sas for what to do on Sunday was to take the crowbar, some caving kit and head back to my blocked hole. Having negotiated the 'path' to the entrance we started shifting boulders and within 15mins we had a route through into the void seen on the image above. It was now apparent this was definitely a phreatic tunnel rather than something undercut by the sea. A further minor blockage about 8m in was cleared within 10 min and we crawled into the open passage beyond. The passage is typically 1.5 m wide varying from roughly 0.4 to 1 m in height. We explored to approx. 50m passing some nice but very vulnerable formations. Despite still being open, we didn't have time to crawl further on this occasion however it did look as though the tunnel continued but a little more boulder shifting might be necessary. More next time!
The details...
The cave is in Wallsend Cove which is on the West side of the isle but much further south than any known pheatic passage on Portland (please correct me if you know differently). As far as I'm aware this cave has never been reported before (again please correct me if you know differently). I'm pretty certain the cave is in the same band of rock as Sandy Hole, Hopeless Hole & Showerbath approx. 1.3 miles to the North. Could this be the other end of Ammonite Passage? The tunnel dimensions are similar.
Unfortunately this cave could well answer a long standing question of the end of Ammonite Passage - is it tidal? This cave is roughly level with the high tide limit and I don't doubt it floods on spring high tides (we were there at low spring tide today). In anything other than calm seas, the cave would also be a death trap. Numerous bits of sea detritus are deposited throughout the cave including as far as our limit of exploration today, which was the far side of two boulder blockages. As a result I strongly advise you do not attempt to visit unless you fully understand the tides and weather. I'm also guessing each time there is a major storm the entrance will need clearing.
Our trip did include a little humour when I lobbed "the remains of the last caver who attempted to explore this cave" at Sas - a manky old welly washed in by the sea! As a result we've decided to name it "Wellington Hole".
A few pictures...
Sas coming through the second blockage:
The passage beyond:
A lower bit:
The wellie:
The entrance:
Well it just shows an hour of effort moving boulders by hand can find caves. I could really do with more friends - I think this is now the 5th promising site on Portland I'm poking around with.