Cor – I have been chipping away at trying to get a trip to this neck of the woods to go caving for a long, long time. Finally managed to push it through will all manner of trimmings that you’ll see posted up. So we pulled upto a barn near Settle on the edge of the Dales and Dave greeted us and got us kitted out and up this nasty little wobbly twisty ladder in a matter of moments. Faintly concerned about a recent fracture I had to put that to the back of my mind as it was too late now (and probably one of the worst things I could be doing if it hadn’t healed!)….then we were off. With over 1500 caves under the Dales it must be hollow. And down we want through a gash in the ground. It being Easter weekend there were a couple of fellow groups splintering off in different directions. Amazing – I think I would probably be only slightly less surprised to see the monsters in The Descent than other PEOPLE down there. I def wouldn’t have battered an eyelid to see a Tesco thats for sure. I was glad we were a small group because there’s a degree of hanging around while you rope up. Dave wasn’t one for cutting corners. So down down down we were winched. Almost abseiling but different. We did it all – crawling, groveling, tunneling – even swimming. This isn’t a winter sport thats for sure. And we even emerged out to a mini audience. I was finally that person crawling out of a hole in the middle of nowhere. Living the dream.
