richardg
Active member
A special moment in time.
One evening a couple of weeks ago as Simon and I were walking along a rough track onto the remote moorland on our way to one of our cave projects, rucksacks loaded high and carrying scaffold pole, we momentarily halted to give way to a couple who were bravely driving a car along the same route, stopping alongside us the diver opened the window.
"Where are you going with that lot" and a full conversation followed about the vast cave network, know and postulated within the mountain.
Simon looked at me and politely asked " who is this?" to which I Answered "Professor Tony Waltham"
Wow.... What a fantastic moment in time.... The most eminent cave scientist of our time.
We all shared our passion for caves and their exploration, The professor lamented the fact that we now know so much more about the many many miles of caves beneath these hills and the fact they are awaiting explorers to find a route down into them, but he is curtailed somewhat by his advancing years, though this was offset that he was so pleased to meet a couple of present day "young"explorers.
Later in the evening we were joined by very fit looking Jonny Stodart who had decided to include our location and meet up with us on his mountain running training for the day... Thankfully he had been thoughtful to bring us extra drinks up to our remote location....
A beautiful sunset drew the curtain on a wonderful evening of encounters and cave exploration.
This man has figured mightily in the history of British and international Speleology for at least half a century, I met him many years ago in Bristol at a British Cave Research Association conference, I was sat having a chat and cup of tea with Eric Hesler, an early pioneer of British caving at the start of the century and Tony came over to join us, Our cavers were just beginning to take an interest in the Caves and Karst of China and Tony had given a lecture to share his excitement with the rest of us.... But said maps were scarce, however Eric said he himself had a full set of maps of the areas of interest.... Another moment to witness..... Like in a runners relay race, passing on the baton, in this case.... From one generation of explorers to another......
One evening a couple of weeks ago as Simon and I were walking along a rough track onto the remote moorland on our way to one of our cave projects, rucksacks loaded high and carrying scaffold pole, we momentarily halted to give way to a couple who were bravely driving a car along the same route, stopping alongside us the diver opened the window.
"Where are you going with that lot" and a full conversation followed about the vast cave network, know and postulated within the mountain.
Simon looked at me and politely asked " who is this?" to which I Answered "Professor Tony Waltham"
Wow.... What a fantastic moment in time.... The most eminent cave scientist of our time.
We all shared our passion for caves and their exploration, The professor lamented the fact that we now know so much more about the many many miles of caves beneath these hills and the fact they are awaiting explorers to find a route down into them, but he is curtailed somewhat by his advancing years, though this was offset that he was so pleased to meet a couple of present day "young"explorers.
Later in the evening we were joined by very fit looking Jonny Stodart who had decided to include our location and meet up with us on his mountain running training for the day... Thankfully he had been thoughtful to bring us extra drinks up to our remote location....
A beautiful sunset drew the curtain on a wonderful evening of encounters and cave exploration.
This man has figured mightily in the history of British and international Speleology for at least half a century, I met him many years ago in Bristol at a British Cave Research Association conference, I was sat having a chat and cup of tea with Eric Hesler, an early pioneer of British caving at the start of the century and Tony came over to join us, Our cavers were just beginning to take an interest in the Caves and Karst of China and Tony had given a lecture to share his excitement with the rest of us.... But said maps were scarce, however Eric said he himself had a full set of maps of the areas of interest.... Another moment to witness..... Like in a runners relay race, passing on the baton, in this case.... From one generation of explorers to another......
