Top 5 Devon Caves.

[George North]

This area seems to be lying empty, a bit like an unwanted child, so I thought I'd get the ball rolling....

I havn't been down any caves in Devon, but in the (unlikely) event of travelling down from the caving Mecca of the Dales which caves would people reccommend?

(Any esoteric suggestions greatly appreciated)

Cheers,

George.

 

[Huw Groucutt]

red rift, or something like that, is meant to be quite good...in Devon terms at least....

 

[cap n chris]

You mean there's more than five caves in Devon?

 

[George North]

I found this usefull link showing the main contenders for the list -

http://www.eclipse.co.uk/~sa2170/devon_caves.html

To be honest it dosn't fill me with confidence that a trip down there will be very worthwhile (possibly even less so than going to the Mendips or S. Wales :trout: ), especially considering one of the ten caves is described as being a 'scrotty badger hole'

Never mind, guess I'd better just stay up here in caving Nirvana....


George.

 

[Huw Groucutt]

caving? you mean you can get off a rope in Yorkshire now?

On the other hand Wales has:
biggest passge in Britain
deepest cave
soon to be longest!
deepest trough thrip
best decorated caves (Otter Hole, Craig a Ffynnon) etc

and still plenty of potential!!!!

 

[George North]

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 7:50 pm Post subject:

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caving? you mean you can get off a rope in Yorkshire now?

I prefer to see it as having the optional extra of doing some classic SRT trips, as well as the fantastic horizontal stuff. We just have to carry loads of string and metal to get to the good stuff (just to proove how hard we are :wink: )

On the other hand Wales has:
biggest passge in Britain - size isn't everything!
deepest cave - There's deep caves and there's 'deep' caves though, I don't think anybody would consider OFD to be a 'deep' cave.
soon to be longest! - How long before Lost John's/Notts II are joined though?
deepest trough thrip (Better than Simpsons to Valley Entrance though?)
best decorated caves (Otter Hole, Craig a Ffynnon) etc We don't like to brag about our pretties 8)

and still plenty of potential!!!! Ditto! Just as soon as the weather gets dry enough to brave Tutman's Hole again....

Anyway back to Devon :nade:

 

[Huw Groucutt]

hehe only joking, both top caving regions guess it just comes down to personal prefference.

Draenen/Llangattwg system has the potential to be over 200km tho, would lost johns/notts 2 be longer than that? i dont really know about that area.

anyways, back on Devon as you say, http://www.ukcaves.co.uk/tables.php?region=1&length_depth=length
is worth a look, those three presumably being worthy of a trip if your in the area.

 

[George North]

Unfortunately not! Easegill/Leck Fell is reckoned to be 72km, Notts and Ireby would add an extra 10km. Hopefully this'll happen some time soon.

Kingsdale (22km) is also undoubtedly connected, but may take a bit longer due to the slightly wet nature of the passages!

Some people would have you believe there's undiscovered passages heading off in the other direction aswell. And though it saddens me to say it, I doubt it'll ever pass 200!

Happy digging!

 

[cap n chris]

Johnny: "Mine's bigger than yours!"

Peter: "But mine's longer than yours!"

Johnny: "Mine's wider than yours!"

Peter: "Mine's rounder than yours!"

Johnny: "Mine's harder than yours!"

Susie: "Anyone fancy a shag?".

 

[SamT]

Classic -

The pristine virginal state of the Devon/Cornwall forum has finally been corrupted....

..... and everyones talking about Yorkshire/Wales. :roll:

 

[cap n chris]

More seriously, though. I've only visited Baker's Pit so cannot advise about other sites but have heard Reeds is v.pretty (but leader system), Afton Red Rift and Prid (muddy) are good etc..

Mendip cavers have a slight advantage in that Buckfastleigh is only an hour's drive from here; I do not know whether the caves of Devon, in themselves, are worthy of a drive from Derbyshire or Yorkshire (especially when you consider the quality of the sites you've available up there in the first place) but maybe if you're passing through and/or as an add on to Mendip?....

Getting access is going to be a fiddle; however, your best best would probably be to sign up for the weekend planned 12th-13th June by Devon & Cornwall Underground Council (their website hasn't been updated yet); the Sunday is the underground trip(s) day, apparently. The event is based at the William Pengelly centre (a fine facility)and in terms of gaining access and forging good contacts this has to be the best bet (in fact I might even go myself!).

 

[SamT]

I seem to remember some mention of caving in Chudleigh when I was there with scouts years ago. We went climbing instead.

 

[cap n chris]

Don't you mean you did some vertical moondancing on the glass-like smooth rockfaces while someone held you in place with a top rope?

 

[SamT]

something like that

Actually - I think I led a HS for something. Very Very polished is an overiding memory.

 

[mrodoc]

Afton, then Baker's Pit, then Pridhamsleigh, then Radford and lastly Clifford's Cave at Chudleigh. Afton is first as it's sporting, well decorated and offers an excellent round trip.

 

[Les W]

Afton, then Baker's Pit, then Pridhamsleigh, then Radford and lastly Clifford's Cave at Chudleigh. Afton is first as it's sporting, well decorated and offers an excellent round trip.

Afton Red Rift, well known for being in Afton, also well known for being Red and also for being a Rift. Some of the finest spiders I've seen in a cave. No trip is complete without a visit to Lighthouse Chamber 

 

[LarryFatcat]

I found this usefull link showing the main contenders for the list -

http://www.eclipse.co.uk/~sa2170/devon_caves.html

To be honest it dosn't fill me with confidence that a trip down there will be very worthwhile (possibly even less so than going to the Mendips or S. Wales :trout: ), especially considering one of the ten caves is described as being a 'scrotty badger hole'

Never mind, guess I'd better just stay up here in caving Nirvana....


George.

link doesn't seem to work?

 

[Christian_Chourot]

Well it is a post from 2004 - what did you expect? The internet isn't engraved into tablets of stone...

But lucky for you it's been archived on archive.org, try:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040825115221/http://www.eclipse.co.uk/~sa2170/devon_caves.html

 

[gus horsley]

There's a couple of good mines in Devon too:  Devon Great Consols and Bedford United.  Otherwise Baker's Pit, etc, etc.