There were
three Red Rose members on this trip, Jim Newton, Phil Luff, and Dick Wade. The
major discovery is dealt with by Phil. Getting to
Having
escaped Turkish goal we passed back to Antalyia for R&R, sampling the
sybaritic delights of the Peace Pension. Here one member made his mark, in a
typical lager loutish fashion by spewing all over, and maybe in a German
tourists rucksack. This after being guided to the towns only pub. Next day we
set off for
Back to
Antalyia, an overnight stay and then off to Pinagodzu cave, an old stamping
ground of Jim’s. This journey over a hundred miles inland was enlivened by its
last leg. It being market day we used a local bus to the nearest point to the
cave. This turned out to be crammed to the roof, and above, with humanity,
livestock, alive and dead, and implements. It made your average how many bodies
can you stuff into a telephone booth look a bit sick. The last bit of the
journey was made in the same bus, an
experience, as it traversed right angled bends and such like, bordered by
healthy drops to the side.
When we
arrived at the cave we found that a French party was well entrenched. They had
set up a camp, tents and gas stoves and things like that. We showed them how it
should be done, bags strewn on the ground, and a good open fire for cooking. Strangely
enough we found out later that we were eating a far better diet.
The cave is guarded by a duck, and a hurricane force wind blowing through it.
The passage. then continues with several cascades, sporting. It continues with
a higher level passage to a pitch, past which the French were pushing the
system. There is one side area spotting crystal ‘starbursts’.
The second
time I went into the cave it was to find and photograph these. It was not to
be. first on the way I climbed one of the cascades, only to be washed straight
down it again, as my companion carried on blissfully unaware. Later he was
having trouble with his lamp, so we dropped down to the stream and repairs were
made. I have never seen a carbide light explode before, but that was the end of
that trip.
We noticed that the entrance to Pinagodzu had been drilled, could be that entry
to this system will be barred in the future.
Next day we
returned to — guess where. Then, within the next day or so Jim returned home,
the shaft was descended by some of the party, and thereafter a weeks tourism
began. the party scattered, East and West.
Although only
two shafts were found on this trip there must be many more caves to be found in
the vast areas of limestone. Perhaps a better time to visit the country in
search of caves would be in the wet season when the behavior of water running
off the mountains could be observed.
Dick
Wade.
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