Thinking of joining a club

I'm a member of the CCCC https://thecccc.org.uk/ based in Cambridge. The Caving side isn't very active at the moment, but it's very welcoming and friendly and helpful, we've plenty of spare kit, and are well used to introducing people to the joys of caving. We normally run weekend trips because it's a long way from Cambridge to anywhere with limestone (Peaks, Dales, S Wales and Mendip are all about 4 hours away Peaks a bit less) trying to car share when possible.

Depends on your situation - if you join a region specific club you'll do most of your caving in that area, but you'll have a hut normally filled with club members so you can just turn up. Conversely a club local to you will organise specific trips to different areas, guesting at the regional huts.

I can confirm that caving_fox is a perfectly lovely chap if you do want to join the Cambridge club!

If you don't like spiders, don't do Great Douk and out via the limestone pavement. About the only place I have noticed them in any number. However, if I suspect them, I generally throw myself down the hle as fast as possible to get past them!
 

mikem

Well-known member
No geckos in this country. You'll more often find newts than lizards. Although there are supposed to be scorpions at an old railway station in Derbyshire
 

thehungrytroglobite

Well-known member
I've had an interest in caving for a while, and although I've been underground before I've never been properly caving. It seems like a fun activity to do every now and then. I mainly live in Norwich but I'm also local to Cambridge. I've been having a look at clubs via the BCA and I've noticed 2 based in Cambridge which seem quite convenient to me. Is proximity important in this respect? Also, as someone with arachnophobia, are spiders a concern underground?
Hi there, I'm a member of Cambridge University Caving Club and also based in Cambridge (for now, probably moving back North in a few months - too far from caves here!). I'm also in two non-student clubs, the BPC and RRCPC in the Dales (I am often called a club whore because of this!).
CUCC is a great club, super welcoming and very active. Although we have some non-student members it's important to consider that this is primarily a student club with a mostly young membership base, and we do have quite a 'student' vibe in terms of evenings at caving huts being far from 'tame'. The benefit of a student club is that they regularly take novices caving, have lots of kit to borrow, and do regular SRT training etc. Also regular lifts to caving regions.
I joined the BPC when I left my original student club (which was Newcastle University Caving Club) and wanted to still be part of a caving club after uni. Non-student caving clubs tend to have a greater proportion of experienced cavers who can look after themselves, though we do still have fairly new cavers joining - often they do a course with Yorkshire Dales Guides first. I would highly recommend YDG if you want a proper introduction to caving and can afford it, Steph and Mike who run it are wonderful people. Likewise the CNCC have SRT training courses - you will need to know how to do SRT for most caves in the Dales and many in the Peaks.
The Dales stole my soul long ago so I mostly travel up there. But if I were based in Cambridge long term I would probably join the TSG, as the Peaks aren't as far to get to and I know many lovely and very active TSG members.
We then get into the details of where you want to cave. A non region-based caving club such as CUCC cycles between all the different regions, whereas many non-student clubs are based in one particular region. I won't start a debate about which caving region is the best because we'll be here until doomsday but you might be able to guess what I think (it's Portland, obviously).

As for spiders in caves, I have a friend with arachnophobia who is a great caver. Spiders only vibe in entrances sometimes, are very sleepy and still, and the ones in the UK aren't bad at all. Active stream entrances are often clear because of regular flooding. The ones in Ardeche are pretty grim though. I have a slug phobia which has not been a problem since I started caving 4 years ago, until the last 2 weeks where I have had 4 unfortunate incidents with slugs in caves in a very short space of time. These involved a lot of screaming which probably damaged my friends hearing permanently.
 

andrewmcleod

Well-known member
I'm also in two non-student clubs, the BPC and RRCPC in the Dales (I am often called a club whore because of this!).
Only three clubs? I'm a member of one student club (EUSS) despite not being a student, three non-student clubs (BEC, SWCC and YSS) and now (once I've paid, anyway) a club in Austria.

I still need to get a Peak club to get a club in every regional council area though :p
 

pwhole

Well-known member
I just thought of a couple of good Eldon jokes there, but I'll keep them to myself for the sake of Peak caving harmony 😇
 

thehungrytroglobite

Well-known member
Only three clubs? I'm a member of one student club (EUSS) despite not being a student, three non-student clubs (BEC, SWCC and YSS) and now (once I've paid, anyway) a club in Austria.

I still need to get a Peak club to get a club in every regional council area though :p
Hahaha, I guess you could say I have more 'affiliations' due to clubs I used to be in but only 3 paid memberships now... at least yours make sense, in being in different regions, whereas mine are both in the Dales! Although I like to claim that because they're on 'different sides of the hill' it still counts
 
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2xw

Active member
I'm not aware of spiders having regional preferences when it comes to holes. I cave almost exclusively in the Peak District and hardly ever see them. I encounter more frogs if I'm honest, though they're usually sat at the bottom of shallow shafts, eating beetles.
You may be interested to know that Meta menardi is nationwide, but the closely related Meta bourneti is limited in distribution to the south. I went hunting for the latter in the Peaks and never found, wrote a wee note about it (long since inaccessible) for the British Arachnological Society.
However there were reports of bourneti in Nottingham which is the most northerly record.

(Sorry this is outside the scope of the thread!)
 
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