Caving and cave-diving
In 2008 the BBC film called ‘Sutherland – the Empty Lands‘ included about 10 minutes of footage of a caving project by a group of amateur cavers and cave-divers who dug out tons of mud and glacial debris to create a new entrance to Scotland’s largest and deepest cave*.
We acknowledge our good fortune and appreciation that Julian Walford, one of the team, agreed to talk to us at Gapfillers about the project! He led this team over many years of caving.
*This is called Uamh an Claonite (also known as Cave of the Sloping Rock), after the loch that feeds into it. You may notice ‘uamh‘ (Scottish Gaelic for ‘cave’) is pronounced with a ‘v’ at the end. Some Gaelic consonants are very mysterious! Before the team’s success in breaking through into the cave, adding some more distance to the cave, it was 2.7km long and 110m high.
1 Did Julian begin the project as a caver or a cave diver?
2 What assumption did they make about the very large cave (uamh an Claonite) and the hole they had discovered?
3 Julian mentions a cave (called the Bone Cave, managed by Historic Scotland). What did he find there?
4 Did one individual decide to excavate Rana Hole?
5 How long did the group expect the excavation to take them to complete?
6 How often did they get together to work on the project?
7 Why did they not work in the winter months?
8 When did the team think of giving up?
9 What did they name the hole after?
10 What did the team have to wear and carry while digging out the hole?
11 Did this project mean the cavers and cave-divers had given up their sport?
12 What had Julian noticed, just before the breakthrough was made, apart from mud, in a hole in the ceiling?
13 How big was the passage he discovered beyond this hole in the rock ceiling?
14 How many of them were there when they got to the end of this newly-discovered passage?
15 What is the phrase used which suggests they had reached the main cave they had been aiming for?
16 Was the large cave as big as they had thought?
17 What was the significance of the first breakthrough they had made?
18 How long did they continue to work before they actually broke through to the cave they were trying to get to?
19 What did they find on the way there?
20 Is that it? (= Was that all, has the expedition / story come to an end?)
21 What does he compare the cave to?
22 When will the general public be able to visit this cave?
23 Who else is interested in the site?
24 Which two organisations are mentioned as being involved in the discovery of the Bone Cave and the new way into the cave?
25 Have you any idea why there is some laughter at the end of the recording?