Posted 02 March 2009 - 01:02 AM
Hi,
DotCom.. Sandstone can come in all sorts of colours. The famous one around here is the 'Old Red' as seen in the railway tunnels around Liverpool. Where I'm from, (Nottm) the 'Bunter Sandstone' is predominant. It is mostly a very soft, honey coloured stone, but without too much stratification, so it doesn't split easily like the stone at the caverns. Any sedimentary rock created by the laying down of successive layers of sand is a sandstone. Now. I'm not all that knowledgeable, so, technically it might be officially known as a shale, but I doubt it. What it isn't, is limestone, which is the only rock which forms solution cavities deep underground. ( Well, actually, I believe chalk can form small caves occasionally, but that's rare, as chalk, although chemically the same as limestone, is porous.) Hope that helps.
daystate: All I meant was a long tape measure of the type used by surveyors. Used to come on a reel about 6" diameter. You could do a very simple survey by taking notes like:
" fifty feet straight ahead in 6 foot square passage to right turn into larger passage, continued for 300 feet to low exit on left" etc. Also note if passages sloping down, going level etc.
If you've never been caving before, I'm not surprised you were warm. You were using up a lot of calories creeping about. Also, if this system has no lower exits, there is no real air circulation, so the whole place is like being inside a giant storage radiator there is heat in all the surrounding rocks.
Please be very careful. These are man made holes and therefore not to be trusted. Don't hang about under anything which looks remotely unstable. It takes a surprisingly small lump of rock to crush the life out of you.
If you've never been in a cave without lights, you've never experienced real darkness. We are used to the fact that if you look for long enough in the dark, you'll see something. This does not apply underground. If you lose your light you are stuffed.
Take a good torch, or ideally a headlamp. If you're not in water, a walker's headlamp should be fine. Take spare batteries AND bulbs. Or take a wind up torch for back-up. I used to use an Oldham miner's re chargeable battery lamp, backed up by a light and portable carbide lamp, plus a few candles. (ie, back up, for back up, for back up. ) Lighters can be very unreliable, especially in damp/wet conditions, so use matches. Get some ordinary matches (ie, not the brown safety matches, but the red or blue 'strike anywhere' matches. They can be waterproofed by dipping the heads in melted candle wax. Keep them in a small cylindrical screw top plastic bottle like the ones used for some tablets, or a plastic film canister. You can glue a bit of sandpaper inside the lid for striking.
And wear a hard hat! At the very least it will save a few bumps and bruises... and it might save your life.
I must admit I'm getting very tempted to get my old boots and hard hat and come along for a look..
It is possible to post pictures direct to the site as attachments, but it is easier to do it by posting them to a photo hosting web site first. It nearly drove me mad last year till I got it. Try this.
1. Go to www.flickr.com and create an account, it's free.
In your homepage click 'upload photos'
Ignore the rest of the stuff on the page and go to where it says. 'psst.. looking for our basic uploader?' at the bottom and click on this.
Click 'browse' in one of the little windows and find the photo you want in your computer. You can do this up to about 5/6 times per session.
When you've identified the pics, click 'upload' and wait while your pics upload to flickr. This can take a few minutes. Once they appear in flickr, click save.
Then double click on any of your pics. It will open up, with lots of options above it. You can edit it if you want. Otherwise just click 'all sizes.'
From here, select whether you want to upload small, medium or large images. TIP. The large tend to be a bit too large for posting to web sites, so try the medium first. As you get more used to it, you can resize images etc., in the 'Edit' function, to get exactly what you want.
When you've selected a size, scroll down the page and where it says 'grab the URL', copy the URL of your pic. (highlight, right click, 'copy')
Go to your post in Connect and click the image button This is in the little row of icons just above your posting window. If you hover over it it's the one that says, 'Insert Image'. Click on it and a little ldialogue box opens. It usually already has 'HTTP' in there, so delete that because it's already in the link you copied earlier.
Paste your link, click OK and your done!! You can now add normal text above or below your picture.
It sounds far worse than it is. Once you get the hang of it, it is second nature. I do it all the time now.
2
daystate, on Mar 1 2009, 11:43 PM, said:
sorry . 
how do i show me pics????????
