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As part of the Beardytour 2026, I contacted members of the Speleo Club Jura to arrange access to one of Switzerland's famous caves. We were lucky that Andreas replied and agreed to guide the trip. It took us about 1.5 hours to drive from our base in Ornans. We met Andreas in a field right next to a motorway. After some initial confusion, we all reunited: one car had struggled to find the meeting point, while the rest of the team waited in pouring rain, already dressed in neoprene. In total, we had a party of nine people.

We first opened the gate at the cave exit and then walked for almost an hour to the entrance. Once there, it took about five minutes to open the rusty lock. After entering, we started exploring what used to be a show cave, which soon gave way to a crawling passage. About 20 minutes later, we emerged into a large passage containing the underground river, which we then followed for the next four hours.From there, progress was straightforward and very enjoyable: easy walking through a spacious stream passage, with occasional cascades, ladders and a few neck-deep sections to negotiate. At the end of the trip, we tackled the final 40-metre ladder climb, broken up by several platforms along the way. We finally emerged into beautiful sunshine on the surface.

The only shame was that we hadn't planned a barbecue at the exit, as all the infrastructure there looked very inviting