The caves of Valkenburg

We waited a few minutes at the entrance of the cave. We waited for the other people. When the tourguide came, we went inside with 10 other people. While we entered the cave, we came across a 'room', that was digged out of the stones. The tourguide told us that long ago, people digged the stones to make buildings. The stones in these caves are called 'Mergel'. In English it is called Marl. Marl is a type of stone. Because they took a lot of marl, they created a big underground maze. Its crazy that long ago people made these corridors. Remember that they didn't had any big machines to do this. 

On top of this cave, is an old castle. Its now a ruin. This was a big castle, and a funfact is that they also build this castle with the marl that they took from the caves below. In 1937 people found secret escape routes in the cave. The people from the castle used these routes to leave the castle, and fight against the enemy. These enemys didn't knew that they escaped the castle. Enough history for now. Let's enter the caves.

The tourguide told us that we needed to stay close, because its a real maze down there. At the beginning of the caves were lights made on the wall, but after walking a little bit deeper in the cave there were no lights anymore. Our tourguide told us that we couldn't use our phone, or any other flashlights. So we listened. The only light we had was a candle, that our tourguide was holding. We followed the guide while she was talking about everything that happened in the caves. It was cold in the caves. Outside it was almost 30 degrees. In the caves, deep under the ground was it 12 degrees. Its always 12 degrees there. In the summer, winter or whenever you want. In that cave it is always 12 degrees. Isnt that cool!? We walked further and came across something big on the wall. It was an animal or something, that was completely taken out of the stone. The bones of this animal were found here long ago, thats why they made this artwork there. Oh they call her "pluisje". No really! They really do.

While walking we came across a lot of different corridors. There were different paths going into different directions. You really needed to stay close to the tourguide. If you get lost there.... you cant get out by yourself. Even the tourguide told us that she didnt know all the paths. Oh and our tourguide really had an emergency button with her! She told us that if she passed away or when something happened, we needed to press that button immediately. 

She stopped walking and told us to stay. She told about how it looked when there was no light. She blew her candle out. The only light we had. And it became dark. Darker than you have ever seen. Really. The only thing you saw was black. Deep inside the caves was it so dark. You can't believe me how dark it was. After one minute she light up the candle. We saw again. (not much, but we saw things haha!)

In total we walked one hour underground. It was so special. We came across big corridors, but also really smal ones. Sometimes we needed to bend our heads, sometimes our whole body. Sometimes we had a corridor that was 5 meters wide, sometimes not even 1 meter. It was a special experience. We also came across a lot of old wall drawings and religious things. It was so cool. At the end of the tour we needed to climb up a really long, and small stairs and we ended outside. Fresh air!

Facts about the Caves:

Around 1050 they started making these corridors for the marl.

The maze in the cave is 5 kilometers long.

The 'roofs' of the corridors are on some points higher than 5 meters!

Some of the caves in Valkenburg are deeper than 40 meters under the ground.

More Photo's.

Here are more photo's of this adventure. 

The Photo's that are made in the caves don't have the best quality. It is really difficult to make photos when its dark.

© 2022 -  Mike's Nature Photo's