Caving team discover 'dream' 10km network under Forest of Dean

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Link: Caving team discover 'dream' 10km network under Forest of Dean - BBC News

 

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An "exploratory urge" led to the discovery of one of the largest cave systems found in Britain in a decade, with cavers saying it was "a dream come true".

 

The network of passages and giant caverns stretching for 10km (6 miles) was found near English Bicknor in the Forest of Dean.

 

The first part of the cave system, Redhouse Lane Swallet, was originally found in the 1990s by Paul Taylor, a caver from Gloucester.

 

Conservation officer and retired physicist Dr Tim Nichols, who was part of a new generation of explorers which discovered the wider network of caverns, said he did not realise the significance of what they had recently found until they saw it.

 

"The first time when we stepped into the new passage when there was just two of us - all of our dreams had come true," Dr Nichols said.

"That exploratory urge to go and find where no person has ever been before is really special.

 

"With each trip it just kept getting better and better."

 

He explained a strong draught in the boulder filled passage at the end of the original network of caves had inspired him to delve deeper...