France Jack ma · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 115 m.
The real relief above Rancogne Cave, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
115m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
13°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
32m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
13 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 13 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 28 °C at the entrance, 16 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from July to August.
- 8°1°Jan
- 9°1°Feb
- 13°4°Mar
- 17°6°Apr
- 20°10°May
- 25°14°Jun
- 28°15°Jul
- 28°15°Aug
- 24°12°Sep
- 19°9°Oct
- 12°5°Nov
- 8°2°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Cave in France
Rancogne Cave is a cave in France. The entrance is at 115 m. It has an underground river.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- La Rochefoucauldnearest town · 5.0 km in a straight line
- Limoges Airport (LIG)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 63 km in a straight lineCar hire at LIG airport (Limoges/Bellegarde)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
The La Tardoire runs highest from November to May.
The La Tardoire carries about 6.8 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to May.
- 12 m³/sJan
- 9.6 m³/sFeb
- 10 m³/sMar
- 9.3 m³/sApr
- 8.6 m³/sMay
- 5.7 m³/sJun
- 2.7 m³/sJul
- 1.8 m³/sAug
- 1.9 m³/sSep
- 5.5 m³/sOct
- 9.8 m³/sNov
- 12 m³/sDec
From about 1.8 m³/s in the lowest month to 12 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 485 km².
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 22other cave entrances within 3 kmGrottes de Rancogne, Grotte des Rameaux, Grotte des Fées and 19 more
- 1springs within 2 kmPuits des Chaumes
- 1marked hiking routes within 3 km
- 4car parks within 2 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 7bus stops within 2 km
- 3campsites within 8 kmLe Buron, Aire "Les Flots" de La Rochefoucauld - Rivières
- 3hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmLe Coin de Jeammet, Logis de Fornel
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- La Rochefoucauld5.0 km in a straight line
- Saint-Projet5.7 km in a straight line
- Chazelles6.4 km in a straight line
- Rivières7.1 km in a straight line
- Montbron8.1 km in a straight line
- Taponnat9.0 km in a straight line
- Mornac11 km in a straight line
- Touvre12 km in a straight line
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 8 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 20 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 24 | 19 | 12 | 8 |
| Afternoon | 8 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 20 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 24 | 19 | 12 | 8 |
| Night | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 2 |
| Rain (mm) | 79 | 56 | 68 | 71 | 81 | 67 | 52 | 55 | 49 | 70 | 79 | 79 |
| Rainy days | 13 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.5 | 4.1 | 5.3 | 6.4 | 7.1 | 8.7 | 8.9 | 8.1 | 7.2 | 4.9 | 3.1 | 2.6 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8 | 8 | 1 | 79 | 2.5 |
| Feb | 9 | 9 | 1 | 56 | 4.1 |
| Mar | 13 | 13 | 4 | 68 | 5.3 |
| Apr | 17 | 17 | 6 | 71 | 6.4 |
| May | 20 | 20 | 10 | 81 | 7.1 |
| Jun | 25 | 25 | 14 | 67 | 8.7 |
| Jul | 28 | 28 | 15 | 52 | 8.9 |
| Aug | 28 | 28 | 15 | 55 | 8.1 |
| Sep | 24 | 24 | 12 | 49 | 7.2 |
| Oct | 19 | 19 | 9 | 70 | 4.9 |
| Nov | 12 | 12 | 5 | 79 | 3.1 |
| Dec | 8 | 8 | 2 | 79 | 2.6 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (115 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 70% | 86% | 91% | 79% | 74% | 91% | 7% | 64% | 108% | 152% | 24% | 163% |
| 2021 | 103% | 108% | 28% | 28% | 87% | 150% | 75% | 38% | 120% | 38% | 41% | 102% |
| 2022 | 31% | 48% | 41% | 63% | 23% | 124% | 24% | 35% | 78% | 46% | 81% | 52% |
| 2023 | 71% | 34% | 97% | 54% | 49% | 131% | 41% | 57% | 94% | 150% | 145% | 165% |
| 2024 | 60% | 173% | 195% | 91% | 166% | 100% | 45% | 19% | 183% | 122% | 50% | 52% |
| 2025 | 77% | 35% | 29% | 65% | 19% | 36% | 23% | 34% | 62% | 55% | 55% | 30% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Rancogne Cave
France
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 115 mEntrance altitude
- 13 °CInside, all year
Grotte du Visage
France · 2 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 130 mEntrance altitude
- 13 °CInside, all year
Fontéchevade cave
France · 6 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 131 mEntrance altitude
- 13 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q283739) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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