The weather was quite beautiful, however we needed to wear jumpers or jackets as the temperature where we were going would be a steady 11 degrees C. And we couldn’t take food, drinks, bags or walking poles with us. No photos either! No small children and nobody with mobility issues either.

As the sun shone down on us we negotiated the hairpin bends and narrow road that winds around the mountain to reach a carpark like no other - it was the mouth of a great cave. Our underground adventure was about to begin!

The Real Deal

Nicola had found mention of this very special location on our drive through France, and we’d managed to book onto the only English speaking tour that was happening during our trip. It would be our first chance to see cave art up close. Not re-creations. Not replicas. But the real deal. Grotte de Niaux is the place, here's the link.

We’ve both read accounts of how our distant ancestors used caves in their spiritual lives, and how the paintings they created held special symbolisms over and above art or documentation. We felt very fortunate to be able to venture into the depths and happily made the almost 6 hour round trip soon after we arrived at Pezenas where we would spend our week.

I must admit to being a little nervous. There were no lights down there so we had to navigate the 800 metres into the cave by nothing more than torchlight. And we were told NOT to touch the walls at all. My balance issues can make me wobble in the dark so I was a little concerned.

Entering 'tourist mode'.

We were to join a small group of English speaking tourists and immediately fell into ‘tourist’ mode ourselves, excited to see what we would learn, what would be confirmed for us. Nicola is especially well versed in the history of cave use by pre-historic humans and to be quite honest she knew more about this particular aspect than our well-versed tour leader.

However it was enchanting to be introduced to the paintings, up close, and to have the various details pointed out by our French guide who could speak quite good English. When we eventually reached the Black Room where the painting adorn the walls, deep in the cavern, having negotiated rock strewn slopes, ducked under low passages and marvelled at the thousands of stalactites and other formations, she told us to leave our torches behind and just trust her single torch to illuminate the incredible paintings.

3 - 2 - 1!

First she would get us in position with her torch lighting the floor, then she would plunge us into inky darkness. It was the kind of darkness you can taste and smell - absolute and total. Then, on a count of three she would illuminate a cave painting right by our side. A huge Bison, or a Horse or an Ibex.

To be quite honest the build up, the walk through the dark, the anticipation leading to a dramatic reveal was somewhat overwhelming. Nicola and I both felt tears welling up as we studied the beautiful art that could have been created just yesterday. To think that these were created some 16,000 to 18,000 years ago, and were depictions of shamanic workings in the other realms!

But, I had a problem. I couldn’t tell much of what the guide was telling us. Due to my hearing loss I need to hear clearly, and maybe lipread too. The echoes, her accent and three slightly noisy kids all combined into a singsong of words that sounded beautiful but I didn’t know what many of them meant! Nicola did a stirling job of giving me a brief translation to keep me reasonably up to speed, but my inability to properly listen to the enthralling accounts from the guide changed my experience.

Becoming Pilgrim

I wilfully decided to become something other than a tourist. I would transform into a pilgrim. I would stop trying to make sense of the dialogue and turn my attention to the voice of the cave. I listened through the words and into the black silence that had been listened to by folk for some twenty millenia. What would the cave herself have to say to me?

My attention of late has been very much on my nature connection project Earthlight. This is my mission, my work, my passion and I carried this enquiry now to the cave walls. To the paintings. To the unseen ancestors who we could feel pressing in around us. ‘How can I make Earthlight even better.’

I got my answer. A simple one that will cascade down Earthlight and help me engage with the right people… those who ‘know’, those who are ready for a deeper look into the animistic depths of nature. I was suddenly hit with the realisation that I need to change the tagline on my Earthlight website. Currently it’s ‘for the love of the land’, and this is all well and good for my films but it doesn’t convey how I want to help my audience transform. The cave told me ‘reclaiming relationship with the other-than-human world’.

I love that! And I look forward to weaving this strapline, and the songlines it sings into my work.