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The Smugglers Cave of Ben Rodeen
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The sea was like glass up on the Causeway Coast yesterday so I dared the waters again in my £40 dinghy from Lidl and paddled round into an inaccessible cove on the hunt for sea caves. I had read an old obscure reference to a cave in this cove which was once used by smugglers.
After paddling round to the cove from Port Moon, I saw the cave entrance higher up the cliff. It looked quite small from outside but as I descended down into it it opened up into a hall about 50 foot high and about 100 yards deep, rising towards the back. This huge vault would have hidden an entire ships cargo of contraband. There was no sign of a hole in the roof into a second chamber as the old story told, but there appeared to have been some collapse of the cave near the back.
At the entrance was a curious little wall, built by the smugglers, who knows how long ago. This cave would certainly have made a spacious hideout. I’m sure it has some stories to tell.
I included myself in the shot on a timed release to give an idea of scale.
very impressive scale, and another very nice shot, always like the bit of narrative you give with your shots.
Good shot again Andy and a great find. Including you in the shot really shows how big these caves are. I can imagine this place has a very illustrious history and lots of tales of swash buckling :-)
Dee
Anotehr fascinating story, Andy.
Cave is huge! As you say, I’m sure there’s many a story could be told.
Brilliant story and picture Andy for all the things mentioned above. You should change your name to Blackbeard or something like it (don’t know any smugglers names :oops: )
You are a brave man won’t even go in the picky pool in Bangor :lol:
Soda
Thanks folks,
I’m trying to dig out some more history on this one, but there are very few references to be found on it.
The book I have suggests that there was once a dangerous path called the Ben Rodeen that the smugglers used to get their wares to the clifftop. I have to say that the only possible route I could see looked suicidal and there was certainly no longer any sign of a trodden route.
I got some funny looks when I was paddling round the cliff when two kayakers came speeding round the corner to be greeted by me moving at roughly 0.5 knots in my highly burstable toy dinghy. Then they saw that my dinghy was a legendary Lidl Oasis with only one patch and their bemusement was replaced with a knowing nod of admiration. My biggest fear was bursting the bottom of my dinghy on sharp rocks as I approached the landing point in the cove. That would have involved a highly embarrasing rescue call. As would drifting out to sea on a an unexpected offshore current I suspect.
Very good Andy – cave looks huge. is that an extreme wide angle lens which accentuates the size?
Tell me, how do you make sure your equipment is safe and dry in such a fine vessel.
Gary
Gary,
Good questions. I took my 14mm lens this time which is my tried and tested lens for cave photography. It usually wide enough for almost any cave although on rare occasions I have needed a fisheye.
I don’t really have room on board for excess baggage so firstly my paddle goes in and this is attached to my dinghy using a long lanyard. Then in goes my tripod follwed by my small dry bag for my camera, lens, headtorch and a puncture repair kit. Then I get in wearing a pair of old trainers, shorts and and flotation vest.
I did cart 300 yards of static 4mm line into Portmoon just in case I felt I needed to be continually tethered to the shoreline. But the water really was like glass so I took a chance and floated free, therby reducing the hastle of paying out line and potential fankles.
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