A great culinary experience underground was provided by Lugger.
In the mid 80's we were on a CRO and Army caving association trip to the Berger and Fromagere.
This was in the days when you could camp on the Molliere and the army team set up an amazing canteen converting great fresh French produce into expedition food beyond compare.
After a few days of the Army cooking Lugger who has the dietary preferences of a fussy 5 year old was in a different condition to myself and was really struggling.
I needed to go underground to stop eating and do some work and for some reason Lugger was very keen as well, so off we went to rig the big pitch in the Fromagere.
As I was rigging Lugger suddenly went mysteriously silent and expecting mischief I prusicked back up to look for him.
About 50 metres from the top was a small ledge and there was Lugger frantically unpacking a large tackle bag.
He had worked out that those on longer underground trips / camps were entitled to an MoD 24 hour ration pack and he had a tackle bag full of them to stock a lower camp.
After rooting around he found the object of his desire, set up the little stove and shortly afterwards we were both sat in splendid isolation grinning from ear to ear and eating steaming Jam Roly Poly and Custard.
The theory was you had to be underground to qualify and unlike the surface there was no one around to tell us off, so it was fair game.
a week or so later on the same trip I did a trip down the Berger to the Gallery of the Ded and so in preparation I went and collected my ration pack and carefully stashed the goodies in amongst my kit.
I then descended to a camp at the bottom of the great rubble heap and met up with a few others plus a member of the army team who for some reason had been living in the camp for the last week. I grabbed some food from my pack, ate and then sacked out.
Some time later I was woken by a disturbance and it was then that I discovered how the camp resident had survived so long without the need to resurface - there he was going through my tackle bag and picking out items of food a nighttime raider, a true rat.
Not only that, but we all knew there was one item in the pack that you never shared and was valuable beyond belief and he had his hand on them - Oi F*** O** my Rollo's I screamed as I tore my way out of my bivi bag.
Now I may have been a little over protective, but they are hard to replace when underground and abroad, but I never did see him again - next morning he was gone.
So the motto of the stories is that you can probably have whatever you want when you are underground just so long as you don't get caught - mmmmmm Jam Roly Poly, thanks Lugger
I just ensure i am adequately rehydrated at the nearest public house afterwards.
