The Doubs – Not a Cave Diving Holiday

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A mixed trip of caving, cave diving and cycling had been planned as the summer holiday for a small party including Andy (Rach please note) Sue, Marcus, Cath, little Peter and Colin. A house was booked that we had used several times before as it is centrally located in the Doubs caving area of France near the Swiss border. The weather reports for the weeks leading up to our departure were far from encouraging but as the weather was no better at home, the water clears quicker and everything was paid for we went ahead. Several target projects had been agreed before the trip and all the gear needed had been sorted tested and packed. Arrangements had been made to meet other divers; two English, one German and one Swiss.

After arriving at various times on the June 23rd with varying experiences of rain on the drive down, the 24th was spent inspecting the main local low altitude resurgences. As expected they were all in flood and more rain was falling. The 25th was spent looking at the higher altitude resurgences and one sink we had as a target dive. The higher level stuff was in flood but would only need three days to clear if it would stop raining – which it hadn’t. High water had turned the sink into resurgence. Water was being forced up 20m to the lip of what is normally a waterfall and back along (up?) the river bed to a junction, joining the main river that normally feeds it. We couldn’t even get close owing to the water level over the stepping stones. We were starting to suspect that the weather wasn’t going to play ball. Continued rain over the next few days resulted in us going touristing in the mornings and entrance hunting in the afternoon. Little Pete was excused from this duty as he can’t walk (an age thing) and Sue and Cath went back to the house to keep him company (they claimed).

As the weekend came into view the weather changed, the afternoon and overnight on the 29th were dry. More followed on the 30th and by the 1st July we were kitting up for two dry trips. At the first cave the water levels had dropped by over a meter so we splashed happily through the clean washed passage on our way to the head of the 11m pitch at the halfway point to the sump. Foam capped water stopped use at what we assumed to be the pitch. Many tree trunks, one was 1m in diameter, were queued up for the descent so we turned on good manners and let them go first. The second cave was on a ridge at high level and had taken several hours to find it on a previous day. The plan was to drop down the 44m entrance pitch and wander about the well decorated chamber at the bottom whilst avoiding the muddy grovely continuation. In the event we failed to drop the pitch owing to stripped bolts about 10m down at the first rebelay. To make something of the day we located and poked around in a third cave nearby. We had rejected it before as it looked like a bit of a dull trip. What we found was a large diameter phreatic tube with stunning formations. We didn’t cover all of it as we knew one section required rigging and we wanted to return to photograph the place anyway.

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By the 2nd we had had three days with no rain so we drove off to the highest level resurgence for our first dive of the trip at the Diablo, located on one of the main roads from France to Switzerland between two blind bends. This means that crossing the road from the parking area is more dangerous than the caving. Sump one looked clear so we jumped in and inspected the boulder choke at its base. Having moved a few rocks and assured ourselves that it was stable we went through to the other end of the sump repairing the flood damaged line on route. The second sump was reached via a short section of stooping passage with a sharp uneven floor and rock fingers sticking out from the walls. In the second sump the visibility dropped to only a few centimetres and three uninspired divers turned and made an exit. As we changed the rain started again.

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On the 3rd we revisited the pretty cave with a camera which didn’t want to work and spent a long time trying to get some pictures with partial success. Rigging the down slope that marked our previous limit allowed us to get at a duck we had brought some diving gear for. Considering the amount of rainfall we had been told by local cavers that it would be sumped. What we found was a 50mm deep puddle in the base of a chimney up. We left the dive gear at this point and continued into the muddy chamber beyond. We then turned the trip on time. That afternoon the heavens opened and with no prospect of any more diving we came home early.

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Two things of note: One. If you are touristing in Besancon the resistance museum in the Citadel is a must see. Two. The French fire service setup a 800m long zip wire across the valley at the Source de Desoubre (sorry no pics) every year from July onwards. Parents are advised to supervise children between 8 and 15. You’ve got to love the French take on health and safety. 😆

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