Soplao

Carmen, Jamie and I went canoeing yesterday down the River Deva with Cora, Pascal and Frank. Beautiful weather, and the river was perfect as well, much higher water levels than in late August and September, so we didn't get stuck on the bottom as much (or maybe that had something to do with my 14 kg less weight...)

This morning we visited the new caves that have just opened here - Soplao. These feature the biggest collection of 'eccentric stalactites' in the world - stalactites that don't simply hang downwards vertically but shoot off in every direction. These are jaw-droppingly spectacular - the photos below give just a taste of what they're like in the flesh. Some of the formations also looked like waving flags or curtains, where drips had run along a sloping ceiling for thousands of years, slowly building up a horizontal line of mineral deposit.

As you can see from the photos, a lot of them look more like icicles or melting snow than mineral formations.

The tour was a bit short, only about 45 minutes, but they mentioned that a more adventurous tour lasting 3 hours and requiring helmets and wellies to be worn would be starting in October.