British Speleo Group visits Napoli Underground and are Astounded!
The wonderful narrative article below is written by David Murphy, a British caver from the Wessex Cave Club in England. He and two of his fellow experienced cave explorers had come to Naples to see for themselves, the amazing "Parallel City" beneath the city streets. After seeing our articles, photos and videos on the NUg website, they took the chance to fly down, rent a car and hook up with our webmaster, Fulvio and fellow NUg explorer and our videographer, Luca for a wild weekend of exploring ancient Greek aqueducts, immense cavities where tuf sandstone was quarried thousands of years ago, and endless tunnels and passageways "down there."
You will enjoy Dave's dry English wit and fine writing as he presents his daily log of their impressions from the group's arrival to their departure. You will want to email this one to your friends because Dave paints a clear and accurate picture of the marvels and true warmth of Naples and its citizens.
Explanation of a couple of terms for non-British readers and non-rappelling cave explorers may be in order. Concerns over the length of a "pitch" refer to the length of the legs of a descent which require sliding down a rope tossed down into dark, seeming bottomless, opening. Dave and his fellow Brit cave explorers have included terrific photos which accompany the article. Also, the Britisn term, "faffing," is not a word with which many might be familiar, but it basically means, delay or tired straggling . . . as in being worn out after a day of demanding rope descents and ascents, working back into 3,000 year old excavations which remain basically untouched even today.
This is a great read, and we hope you enjoy it. There may, indeed, be an invasion of English visitors as a result of Dave and his Wessex Cave Club's visit to the Napoliunderground!
Larry Ray
NUg Translator
CLICK: for Dave's wonderful article!
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
