Karhalzeta Ko Karbia (
After a bastard week at work I got a phone call asking me if I wanted to go
caving the very next day. With an offer like that I just could not refuse!
I was picked up just after 8 am by Le Coq. Real name: Lauren Le Coq, but is
known to everyone as Le Coq. I can not think why but when his name was first
mentioned to me all I could do was laugh. Anyway, Lauren (or should I say Le
Coq) is a fireman at Laq and after picking me up we
went to Jean-Claudes house, another fireman. Next
stop was Pays local fire station where we picked up the caving equipment for
the day. Down in the Pyrenees, and don’t know if its
the same in the
We were finally
on our way with a good one and a half hour journey ahead of us into the
foothills of the Pyrenees and getting on to somewhere near Pierre St.Martin. The sun was sort of out, the view not so clear
and it was quite cold. Earlier I had mentioned that in the Red Rose we never
seemed to make it down a pothole before midday. Things don’t work like that in
Once
changed into our too clean looking caving gear we sat down for a bite to eat
with a load of red wine at the same time. The cave entrance was about ten
minute walk away and by the time we got underground it
was basically midday. True Red Rose style!! I had been tent
a carbide lamp and an enormous helmet as the French don’t seem to like electric
lights. It caused me problems from the start. The entrance is a soily bank which ends with a real low bit that you have to
tie fiat out on your back to pass through. I got slightly stuck because of the
helmet (honest!) but I soon got through. Jean-Claude went ahead to rig the
first pitch of 40m while Le Coq stayed with me to make sure I got everything
right. Having done that we rounded the corner, still on the
rope and onto the next pitch of 75m. After this we walked/crawled along
to the first proper tight squeeze. I thought “No problems” as I am quite small
but I was wrong. I got my head and both arms through without too much
difficulty but then I got stuck due to all the SRT tackle. I felt like a
constipated shit that didn’t want to come out. In the end Le Coq had to pull me
through despite the pain I had in my groin from alt the bits of metal sticking
into me. And out I came - Plop! - and disappeared down
the U-bend, in fact an extremely muddy bank which I slid down. We went on for a
bit longer and through the next tight squeeze which I managed by myself this
time and onto the next pitch.
A couple of pitches later we were near the bottom and it was
time for a well earned fag and Mars bar break
My energy
was starting to go so didn’t go down into the streamway.
Instead we traversed along for a while using a rope for protection, my problem
for being too small! We descended into a chamber where there was
a really nice pools and loads of formations but time was getting on and we had
to go. It had taken around two hours to get there and there was the knackering journey back. As you may know prussiking is not my forte and it took a lot of energy to
get back up those pitches. Also at the top there was the standard situation of
getting off the rope safely and as usual I couldn’t get my chest jammer off.
There was
loads of cursing and swearing coming from me, no surprises. Luckily Jean-Claude
went ahead of me and so gave a hand on the odd occasion. Le Coq came behind derigging as he went. Back we went through the squeezes and
this time I had to be pulled through both due to an extreme lack of energy on
my part. Finally we got up the last pitch and then we were out in the open air
but not before practically all of us had got bits of tackle (oo-er?!?) caught on a piece of rock at the low entrance. It
was most frustrating, daylight 20 metres away and you’re
stuck on some bastard bit of rock.
It was good to be out in the open again but we all came out looking like total
monsters! We got back to the car, took a couple of photos and changed before
driving back to
It had been
an excellent days caving, which although frustrating at times was extremely
enjoyable!
Natalie Carter
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