Cova de les Campanes
A cave with 800 metres of passage and 70 m of depth in la Morera de Montsant, known as the Cova de les Campanes.
EspeleoWorld
Cova de les Campanes
A cave with 800 metres of passage and 70 m of depth in la Morera de Montsant, known as the Cova de les Campanes.
Morera de Montsant, La · Priorat
Length: 800 m · Depth: 70 m
Updated record
https://espeleoworld.com/en/c/cova-de-les-campanes
Information can change. Always verify coordinates, access, weather, and cave conditions before setting out.
A cave with 800 metres of passage and 70 m of depth in la Morera de Montsant, known as the Cova de les Campanes.
Topographic
Espeleoindex · CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ · Image © its author.
Photos
Espeleoindex · CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ · Image © its author.
Description
Morphology
The small entrance gives way with an easily passable step to the gallery which, obstructed by a large block, descends with a regular slope between blocks down to the sala del Celestino, from which different routes branch off. Climbing back up from the bottom of the chamber, on the right a gallery leads to the cave's first pit, and continuing along the same one, almost at the bottom and on the right, another one branches off parallel, ascending and in the opposite direction (transverse gallery). At the start of this gallery, a pit leads to another gallery that goes in a descending direction until it becomes impassable. Descending the first aforementioned pit, we reach the sala de la Distribució, which is the continuation of the sala del Celestino on a lower level; once here you can continue along four galleries; the galeria directa, is the most obvious, follows the descent with a small 4-metre step until reaching an impassable point where you must continue climbing behind a block and descend another step until obstructed by blocks. Again in the sala de la Distribució and in the opposite direction to the galeria directa, a window appears that gives way by means of an 8-metre pit to the galeria Gominoles, where after passing a large block, there is a descending gallery that connects with the Pastafang, the deepest point of the cave (-70 metres). The Pastafang can also be reached from the sala de la Distribució via the pit on the left of the galeria Directa. Almost all the galleries follow an approximate N-S direction.
Progression
Via the galeria del Passamà, you must rig a rope at the pit of the Pastafang and reach the other side where we find two routes, on the right the Passamà Inferior and on the left the Passamà Superior. The Passamà Inferior descends by a steep slope where it is necessary to rig a rope to reach a chamber that connects with the Passamà Superior by a chimney and ends with a 7-metre pit. Via the Passamà Superior, after a step of about 4 metres you reach a small chamber that continues through a crawlway to a chimney.
History
Around 1917 the building now known as Mas de Soleràs was built; its owner Josep Segura, during one of his stays at the Mas (we do not know how many years later), was told by one of the shepherds that on his lands up on the ridge there was a hole from which smoke came; the intrigued man went to look for it accompanied by a boy from the village, Celestino Tamarit, a rope and carbide lamps. Once the hole was located and descending very carefully they reached a point where there were large flags and on striking them he decided the name of the cave: “This shall be called the Cova de les Campanes”. This cave was almost a reason for pilgrimage at Montsant; every year the quintos went to spend a few days at the Mas and took the opportunity to go up and see it, but the custom was lost and nobody could explain with certainty the location of the cave, only that boy from Soleràs who found it almost fifty years earlier (with this date that they give, it would place the date of the discovery of the cavity around 1945), gave a reliable location and description to the members of the GELL, although it was not visited until they met two boys, Jaume and Carles, who had been there a short time before and offered to accompany them, locating the cova de les Campanes and the Avenc de l'Alba. Three years had passed since the GELL's first search to locate the Cova de les Campanes.
User Comments (0)
No comments yet.
Be the first to share your experience!
Registered Explorations (0)
No explorations registered yet.
Register your visit to this cave!
Bibliography
- Farrús,M.;Satorra,A.;Pérez,Ll.(1999).-Resultats de les campanyes del grup espeleològic lleidatà a la serra del Montsant.” Grallera (5):5-44. GELL-CE Lleida.
- Coordenades i fotografies facilitades per Jordi Navarro, CE Castellar del Vallès.
Nearby caves
Source: Espeleoindex (espeleoindex.com), modified. CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/