does anyone have a spare copy of this book? I have someone looking for a copy

Mike

Might be able to sort you out - see PM

thanks John,

In the meantime if anyone else has a spare cope copy I guess others may be looking for it through this page let me know.

Mike

I too have been looking for a copy of this book for a considerable time.

George

So, what are they worth on the open market?

(I note that I paid ?9.95 for my copy in Bat Products in 1988.)

M

The chapter on Mossdale is rather good, but the unexpurgated version as told by the 'Grand Master' Bob Toogood is better.

in cumbria? said:

The chapter on Mossdale is rather good, but the unexpurgated version as told by the 'Grand Master' Bob Toogood is better.

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I won't repeat what Bob told me of the trip that he, Ken Pearce and Mike Boon did in Mossdale, but an account from any of them is well worth reading or hearing over a pint or two, allowing for the fact that Ken is challenging the riffraff* as to whether they're hard enough somewhere else now.

Even rarer than the book itself is the draft for a chapter on the 1963 exploration of Daren Cilau, which when I met Mike at a BCRA Conference in the late 1980s he told me that he didn't know what had happened to it . . . Considering his first draft was completed in late 1966 this seems reasonable enough. However, should Mike have recalled in the meanwhile where it ended up, and also come across this forum thread, then it would be great to hear!

* The secret was knowing you were not riffraff and therefore had no need to compete with Ken: winning by example, which he was good at, rather than by direct one-to-one challenge which he excelled at.

'Down to a Sunless Sea' by J.M. Boon, The Stalactite Press, Department of Geography, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2H4, 1977.

Agree totally. I know Bob rates some of Mike's exploits as some of the hardest & impressive he's come across, so I hope nobody inferred oterwise from previous post.


Is there any chance you could persuade Bob to get some of his tales documented for posterity? I know a few who've tried, but he is way too modest.

I know of several volumes worth of material that Bob has tucked away in the old grey matter, and that this would be an incredible record of British caving history were it to be committed to print.

If anyone is ever fortunate enough to meet Bob, buy him a pint (or two) and get him to tell you some of his exploits. The Berger trip with Ken Pearce is a good place to start.

Bit off thread, but necessary.

No one has come up with a spare copy yet - I now have at least two people who want copies

Mike

I "may" be able to help you but I have to contact Mike In Edmonton through another caver.I have sent you a PM.

in cumbria? said:

Is there any chance you could persuade Bob to get some of his tales documented for posterity? I know a few who've tried, but he is way too modest.

I know of several volumes worth of material that Bob has tucked away in the old grey matter, and that this would be an incredible record of British caving history were it to be committed to print.

If anyone is ever fortunate enough to meet Bob, buy him a pint (or two) and get him to tell you some of his exploits. The Berger trip with Ken Pearce is a good place to start.

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Sounds like a worthy addition to http://caving-library.org.uk/audio/list.php