Dordogne/Lot Trip Aug 06
Having just got back from France, I thought I’d let you read about our fun.
The trip started off with a long journey from Glasgow – Wallesey – Stratford – Dover – Boulogne – Fressynet; over1400miles in total.
We arrived at the CDC to be met by Lynne who quickly showed us to our static caravan. Normally divers accommodate the challets just up the hill, but due to some debates between the owner and the CDC, Lynne has come to an alternative agreement with the local campsite owner just down the road, which in my opinion offers a better arrangement than the dated challets.
Onto the diving…
Day 1
Both myself and Andy Woodside arrived at Cabouy to find the water level pretty low and the apparent visability much the same, but we had the cave to ourselves. The heavens had opened the night before and were still depositing a much needed rainfall on the region, not much needed by us however!
Cabouy
We decided to kit up and have a look anyway. Having swam through the duckweed and scum to the downpipe we discovered vis This was Andy’s first cave dive outside of training and without the comfort factor of having CLM in the cave he was a little anxious, which I think is always healthy to have as it keeps complacency away.
We dropped down the steep gravel slope to 30m where the cave really opens up and displays it’s light limestone walls and scalloped floors littered with erosion bowls.
I dived this cave twice before on Cave 1 but didn’t really get a chance to look around as we were doing lost buddy and lost line scenarios, so I really enjoyed this dive.
Turning the dive on 6ths we returned to the base of the slope to begin our min-deco ascent.
We both surfaced with huge grins and began the debrief during our S.I
Dive 2 was much the same with added skills drills at the 6m stop. We then decided to hook up with John Kendal for a couple of dives in Ressel in the afternoon as previously arranged.
Having arrived at Ressel to find no cars other than that of John Kendal who had brought along his better half Rachael, we again had the cave to ourselves, albeit the rain was still falling quite hard.
After kitting up we entered the water and began the short swim to the entrance of the cave. We fully expected there to be quite a flow on in the river due to the rains but visibility looked great and the cave entrance could easily be seen from the surface.
Having completed our pre-dive drills we dropped down with Andy as Captain, me as #2 and John in the armchair. The dive went smooth and again I found myself noticing more of the cave than ever before.I believe this to be down to two reasons; firstly we used a staggered formation normally used in Haloclines but this seemed to make best use of our 3 HID’s to light up the oncoming cave and secondly using a little height from the line so that your seeing a little more of the cave giving better perspective than staring at your team mates crotch-strap!
We soon reached the first T and chose to take the shallow route having dropped our cookies and made it to within a few metres of where the cave floor opens to meet the 2nd T, before I called the dive on gas.
We returned to the entrance to find rays of sunlight streaming into the cave through that comforting green hue. Having completed our deco we surfaced to find the sun shining, blue dragonflies dancing on the water and the church bells from the local town of Marciallac ringing…..all that was missing were pixies and cherubs playing hide and seek on the river banks….Perfect!
St George
Rachael had decided to take a swim in the river (13deg C) and met us on our drift back to the entry point…brave gal! John & Rachael decided to leave us to it on dive 2 as they both had a prior arranged fete to attend.Having re-calculated 6ths, myself and Andy re-entered the cave with the deep route in mind. We hit the drop at 22m before we hit our agreed turn time and headed out of the cave. With Andy as captain again we made an efficient exit when suddenly “the light was no more” from my primary. I quickly deployed my Heser to find Andy facing me and realising my failure he backed off the line as I moved into position 1 and we made on with our exit.
This is the first time I have used my Heser in anger and must say that it’s a whole lot nicer to exit with than a scout.
We surfaced without any more issues and exited the water. I checked over my light to find the bulb had somehow worked loose from the slug slightly; so rectifying the issue we packed up and headed for some food.
We decided to take a drive to Cajarc to re-acquaint ourselves with a local attraction and grab some food and a well deserved beer!
Having returned to CDC to fill our tins for the next day we retired to the comforts of the caravan at gone 0100hrs.
Day 2
We woke up the next day when we woke (no rush) and after breakfast we took a leisurely drive to some of the caves to check the conditions and show Andy a few of the sites. We arranged to meet John again at Ressel in the afternoon with the 18’s for a longer penetration.
We dropped in after our checks and again chose the shallow route in hope that we hit the 2nd T. We set off well and again had a really enjoyable entry with good vis and before we knew it we hit the 2nd T. It’s always really cool when you see new cave and ressel really changes a lot the further you get in.
Truffe
We all dropped our 2nd cookies just for the hell of it then retrieved them and called the dive although we all had plenty of gas left. We made our way back to open water without drama and completed min-deco.Although we all had enough gas to do a 2nd dive and would have loved to reach the 2nd T on the deep route; we decided that the dive was a great high to finish the day on with a view to getting back to the CDC to blend our gasses and pack up in preparation for a quick departure on Sunday for our return ferry on Monday morning.
John and his family who have a holiday home (conveniently) very close to Pont De Rhodes kindly invited us both to dinner that evening, which we quickly agreed to and spent a night gabbing, schoffing and quaffing some of the local delights.
Day 3
We arrived at Lantouy to meet a certain Christophe Le Maillot who had agreed to join us on a pleasure dive before we shot off back to the UK. We also met Tom Karsch whom I have had a lot of correspondence with previously but never actually met. We also saw 3 unsuspecting female Cave 1 students who would soon discover CLM’s darkside! 
It was great to meet the man again and we all had a good chat before heading off to Ressel again. 
Ressel The roadside was full of French cavers and the waterside very busy with families and photographers.
We kitted up in the normal manner and were soon joined by John again. Having ran through our pre-dive brief and drills we soon tied in our first and secondary tie-offs and set off into the cave.Visability was zero and you could hardly see your gauge, not an ideal environment to be in!The French cavers had made a real mess of the entrance to the cave and we all moved into touch contact on the line and progressed with our penetration.
Having made our way through the unfamiliar obstacles of Ressel such as aqua-zep scooters, people tangled in mainline & crawling along the floor and all manner of sillyness we arrived through the zero vis and into the cave.
We had agreed to do the deep route and had reached the top of the 14m drop when John called the dive. On turning the dive, I got a signal from Andy who was #3 who was stuck to the roof of the cave after experiencing a power inflator issue.
We resolved the issue and moved him into #2 and carried on with the exit.Arriving back at the zero vis was like watching a circus with zeps here, there and everywhere, with all manner of people all over the place we decided to hold position and allow them to exit un-hindered!
We all moved into touch contact and began our exit, which was rather slow due to the mess of our line and vis. We eventually surfaced together with CLM on the reel behind me.
This really illustrated the importance of “good” first and secondary tie-offs! The vis was so bad the only way out was to follow your line to your primary tie then ascend in touch, straight up.
So, once de-kitted and debriefed myself and Andy said our goodbyes and made for Boulogne. Although I look forward to seeing him again shortly for further training.All in all; 2738miles later…..a long tiring 3 days but it was well worth it!For those contemplating a trip be aware water levels are pretty low:-
Landenouse, undividable showing dry rock with dead rats in the entrance and access blocked by the land owner.
St George, the river bed is dry and the overhang is 2m proud of the water
Ressel, little flow in the river and good vis inside the cave
Truffe is said to be side-mount and shovel only due to sand in the entrance
Cabouy, near zero vis in the pool but clears up nicely as you descend
But vis is generally good all round, so enjoy
Cheers
Rick
