Long Churn - 19 Oct 2008

Sunday October 19th 2008

Members present: Adrian Turner,  Anna Barnard,  Ben Wilmott,  Chad B,  Charlie Dixon,  Chuck Holder,  Debbie Flowers,  Gary Douthwaite,  George Bunyan,  Imogen Shepherd,  Jaydene Halliday,  Kevin Francis,  Laura Bennett,  Louise Bell,  Mark Sims,  Matt Ewles,  Matt Gosling,  Max Spicer,  Mike Emra ,  Nick Wright,  Nicola Gover,  Oli Roberts,  Richard Gover,  Simon Herrod,  Thomas Blakey,  Victoria Binns

A great intro to caving!

This was my first venture into a cave! What a great time I had... Suppose it was already going to be a laugh after what Chuck said in the car (see gossip pages for that classic!... no one need worry about any stiffs). So after arriving in the Dales after a Bernie's breakfast it was onto changing into the caving gear, an interesting experience... I noticed an isolated house close by; I bet they must have a right laugh seeing a group of cavers turning up.

So off we trooped led by Gary and as we went past Alum pot we encountered a group of ramblers who after seeing us pointing to the water and said ‘I’ll leave all that to you nutters!’ There was a lot of water but this turned the trip into a fun water slide! This was especially the case when entering the cave via Dr Banisters, the flow of water here was really strong; I told myself to just keep holding onto the rope... all round the best advice. But I managed it down, a bit like being on a rollercoaster, and of course I wanted to go round for another try. Then the run around jolly through the cave began, via some fairly deep pools, by this point I was soaked anyway so why not have a splash. I really enjoyed the clambering around and managed to use muscles I never realised I had! The really amusing section was the Cheese Press... glided through that one. At least if nothing else I can say that I’ve done something that Matt G couldn’t (sorry Matt! :p ). Then it was off out the cave to a cold and drizzly day... that’s when I did get cold, even more so during the change, but I had a smile on my face. :)

Great fun! Would love to do more, suppose I’d better get in the training sessions. 8)