Wookey cave guides
- Thread starter Sid
- Start date
bograt
Active member
Last time we went down Wookey (a loong time ago!), the guide took one look at us in the queue and said "bugger off, just follow the path, I can do without cavers today" 
Couldn't understand it, we were in tourists dress at the time, maybe there's just something you cannot hide?
Couldn't understand it, we were in tourists dress at the time, maybe there's just something you cannot hide?
tony from suffolk
Well-known member
Was the cave always here? I mean, before the rock formed around it...
christine
Active member
Just ask them a genuine question about the history of cave diving, or how caves are formed and they will be completely stumped.
Fairly recently I witnessed a tour, midweek, not crowded...when the guide who was very young, simply said "Oh yeh, they do some diving here" in chamber 9, hit the light show button and walked off to talk about cheese.
The quality of the guides talks and knowledge has noticeably plummeted over the years. Compare it with Clamouse caves in the Herault, where the tour lasts over 2 hours, you get a geology lesson at the start with brilliant graphics and feel like you have earned a degree at the end of it, plus multi-lingual guides who ask your nationalities and then give the same concise spiel in German, English and French....at every turn.
And we paid a mere 6 Euros to get in.
Fairly recently I witnessed a tour, midweek, not crowded...when the guide who was very young, simply said "Oh yeh, they do some diving here" in chamber 9, hit the light show button and walked off to talk about cheese.
The quality of the guides talks and knowledge has noticeably plummeted over the years. Compare it with Clamouse caves in the Herault, where the tour lasts over 2 hours, you get a geology lesson at the start with brilliant graphics and feel like you have earned a degree at the end of it, plus multi-lingual guides who ask your nationalities and then give the same concise spiel in German, English and French....at every turn.
And we paid a mere 6 Euros to get in.
graham
New member
christine said:
A few comments: Firstly studies have shown that for tourist attractions like show caves generally work best (from a commercial point of view) with tours that last between 45 minutes and 75 minutes. Most punters want about that long. And much to my frustration, most of them aren't really interested in the same things that cavers are interested in. Anecdotally, the best example of that happened to us in Belgium, at Han. At one point the tour passes through some lovely phreatic arches, with sandy floors. We loved this, but the tourists rushed on to the next batch of pretties.
On another trip, also in Belgium, a party of almost all cavers (as part of the 1992 European Caving Conference) the guide insisted in giving all her spiel in Flemish, French and English, in full, at every stop. This was our last visit before lunch & by the time she'd finished, the majority of us wanted to kill and eat her, we were very hungry.
Still, even that wasn't the worst. One cave in West Virginia is owned by a young-earth creationist and the stuff they are obliged to spout is atrocious. The guides don't believe it, I know, we talked with them but they have to keep the boss happy. I'm only glad that I learnt about her peculiarities after I'd met her. Had I known then, there might have been some sort of (un)diplomatic incident.
Pitlamp
Well-known member
Speaking as someone who is employed under the ABIS umbrella, as well as being a caver, can I just suggest that you'll get the best out of your guide if you don't try taking the mickey and perhaps try to articulate your questions in a way which helps them to answer, rather than attempting to leave them stumped. You'll also do the caving community in general a great service by not trying to be a clever dick; it'd not paint cavers in a very good light would it?
This isn't Dragons' Den y'now; that guide may well be knackered from a very hard day dealing with difficult people and just trying to do his / her best. They're probably not very well paid either. Just bear that in mind . . . take it easy on your guide Sid.
There are plenty of very good people who interpret show caves for visitors; don't assume you're in for a poor experience. If necessary, just enjoy the cave - after all, Wookey really is something quite special.
This isn't Dragons' Den y'now; that guide may well be knackered from a very hard day dealing with difficult people and just trying to do his / her best. They're probably not very well paid either. Just bear that in mind . . . take it easy on your guide Sid.
There are plenty of very good people who interpret show caves for visitors; don't assume you're in for a poor experience. If necessary, just enjoy the cave - after all, Wookey really is something quite special.
Laurie
Active member
I should have said 'TV broadcast'.Pitlamp said:
I've just found an article in Advanced Diver mag......
On one notable dive Graham Balcombe made the first ever live TV broadcast from inside his brass helmet at Wookey in 1935.
That would have been impossible on television of that period.
The first BBC television broadcasts were in 1936
Maybe they meant radio..........?
christine
Active member
The show cave guides in France earn an equally poor minimum wage (so I was told directly by one of them) but still manage to impart excellent knowledge, lectures and tours, dawn til dusk. I have yet to find a bad one.
When people are paying ?18 per adult in Wookey (yes, really..) I don't think it's unfair to expect a decent guide who can still deliver no matter how 'tired' they are - or what they are paid. The last group deserves the same service as the first.
In France the 'Tips for the guide' tins are usually rammed and we always tip heavily for good guides. We tend not to see that over here and you have to wonder why
I think some (and I emphasise 'some') guides who are just in a holiday job, have very poor knowledge (which is partly their fault, partly the managers - Would you dare go into a job giving tours without at least doing some homework on the place?!) and don't really care therefore whether their tour sends the public away enlightened or not. I think, in reverse, this does caves and caving a great disservice. In contrast, several years ago there were a few guides who were oustanding to the point we often commented on it and praised them for their knowledge. They have all since left :thumbsdown:
I've overheard people coming out of a tour saying "God, imagine them caves all full of dinosaurs - scary!"
But not nearly as annoying as, whilst lugging cylinders in, some woman asked her husband "Look, that girl's going diving in the cave" to which he responded "Huh? Oh, no, she'll just be carrying the gear for him...."
When people are paying ?18 per adult in Wookey (yes, really..) I don't think it's unfair to expect a decent guide who can still deliver no matter how 'tired' they are - or what they are paid. The last group deserves the same service as the first.
In France the 'Tips for the guide' tins are usually rammed and we always tip heavily for good guides. We tend not to see that over here and you have to wonder why
I think some (and I emphasise 'some') guides who are just in a holiday job, have very poor knowledge (which is partly their fault, partly the managers - Would you dare go into a job giving tours without at least doing some homework on the place?!) and don't really care therefore whether their tour sends the public away enlightened or not. I think, in reverse, this does caves and caving a great disservice. In contrast, several years ago there were a few guides who were oustanding to the point we often commented on it and praised them for their knowledge. They have all since left :thumbsdown:
I've overheard people coming out of a tour saying "God, imagine them caves all full of dinosaurs - scary!"
But not nearly as annoying as, whilst lugging cylinders in, some woman asked her husband "Look, that girl's going diving in the cave" to which he responded "Huh? Oh, no, she'll just be carrying the gear for him...."
tony from suffolk
Well-known member
Pitlamp said:
I agree Mr Pitlamp; it's never clever to go out of one's way to humiliate anyone.
Many of the Postojna show cave guides in the late 60s - early 70s were cavers & we had some excellent (non-commercial) trips with them. We used to exchange our Premier carbide lamps for the giant carbide lanterns they used. The guides much preferred the Premiers as they were nice & small.
mrodoc
Well-known member
christine said:Just ask them a genuine question about the history of cave diving, or how caves are formed and they will be completely stumped.
Fairly recently I witnessed a tour, midweek, not crowded...when the guide who was very young, simply said "Oh yeh, they do some diving here" in chamber 9, hit the light show button and walked off to talk about cheese.
The quality of the guides talks and knowledge has noticeably plummeted over the years. Compare it with Clamouse caves in the Herault, where the tour lasts over 2 hours, you get a geology lesson at the start with brilliant graphics and feel like you have earned a degree at the end of it, plus multi-lingual guides who ask your nationalities and then give the same concise spiel in German, English and French....at every turn.
And we paid a mere 6 Euros to get in.
Did they mention the 'oxides de fer'. they always do that!
rhychydwr1
Active member
christine said:
I did not believe it.
But it is true, I just check with their website. Even Goughs charge ?18.50 also that also includes Coxes and a bus trip.I must be living in a different world. :-\
