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WHAT ARE WE DOING?
IN BELGIUM:
 Of
course our main activity is caving. EVERY weekend, for as long as
we exist, we organise at least one, but often 2 or 3 caving activities.
Most of the time one team goes "classic caving", whilst another team goes
"digging" or exploring. In general, these activities are held in the Southern
part of Belgium, the Ardennes.
What can we say about classic caving... every caver begins it's career
with it. In our club, classic caving is especially done by the "junior"
members. The "seniors" only go on a classic trip if it is something special:
access to a closed cave, a recent discovery etc. The rest of the time, they
dig...
2/3 of our members prefer exploration above classic caving. We
are one of the rare Belgian clubs who, systematically en frequently, go
digging, prospecting, surveying, studying our Belgian karst. We have a long
experience in these matters and most of our digs are paying! One of our
strong points is that we don't get discouraged fast, and that every dig,
how difficult it may be, is finished 'till the bitter end. Of course, in
some cases, we find out (after 15 weekends of digging), that we have wasted
our time. We then start a new dig... that's all.
IN OTHER COUNTRIES:
 As
soon as we have the possibility (long weekends or holidays) we go caving
in foreign countries. Favorites are France (Doubs, Vercors, Causses, Pyrenee?
enz.) and the United Kingdom (Yorkshire, Wales). Also Spain, Austria or
Switzerland are sometimes chosen. Normally we go "classic caving", but since
1997 we have started exploring in Spain. Generally, in May, we go caving
in the South of France for 1 week; in November in the U.K. for 1 week, and
in july-august in France or Spain for 2-3 weeks.
Long weekends are often spend in France, in the "Doubs" or "Jura".
As mentioned, the summer holiday, since 1997, is used to go exploring
in the French-Spanish mountains of the Pierre-St-Martin area. We already
have explored some very nice caves there... click
here if you want to know more about it.
Some of our members participate regularly in exploration expeditions
in countries such as: Spain (Picos de Europa), Austria, Switzerland, China,
Vietnam or Jamaica.
We sometimes go caving with other clubs. Since a couple of years, a very
good collaboration between SC AVALON and Speleo CUEVA (Zolder) was realized..
OTHER ACTIVITIES:
 Camping
is to most cavers a "normal" thin g,
and we also prefer camping above any other way of staying. If possible we'll
camp in nature or, in France, "?la Ferme". We avoid crowded 4-star campsites
as much as possible. In general, we take the family along, so a bunch of
kids is always present to cheer camplife up.
Hiking around is also done often. Usually as 2-day trips.
Of course, we keep an eye on every "suspect" karst phenomenon. As a result,
such hiking trips often end up in digging in holes...
From time to time we go canyoning. When descending canyons,
normal caving techniques are used; in fact canyoning is more like caving
than any other outdoor sport: only the cave roof is missing.
Of course we like nice landscapes and/or tourist attractions, so now
and then we act like normal tourists!
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