a friendly bypasser at porth yr ogof

[hartfield_estate]

Yesterday I took my very dear non-caver friend to Porth Yr Ogof. We had just come out the tradesman's entrance and were sat outside the main cave sharing some coffee from my thermos before going back in to explore, when an older gentleman approached us and asked us if we had just been caving; turns out, some decades ago, he had been a student caver himself with Loughborough Uni Speleological Team, a uni he chose for its caving club after a high-school teacher took his PE class caving. We had a lovely chat: he was rather surprised to discover that we do in fact still cave on ladders sometimes, and he very fondly recalled a number of Yorkshire trips, expressing the desire to one day revisit to do Simpsons to Valley. When his friends wandered over, he very excitedly told them he "had met a proper caver" and when my parting words to him were that he should certainly reach out as people would be very happy to take him into Kingsdale, he told them "they've invited me back!"

Afterwards, my mate turned to me in awe, and said she really understood now why I love caving so much. How lovely it must be, she said, to be able to go anywhere and find community like that. I have become used to interactions like these, with cavers and ex-cavers alike- but really, it's a pretty special thing and I felt particularly grateful for it yesterday! (also, my friend loved the actual caving, so hopefully soon 'non-caver friend' will no longer describe her )

 

[mrodoc]

i regularly give talks to non cavers often near my age. I now ask people to put their hands up if they have been caving. It is rare not for one or two to go up. Often they have interesting tales to tell. Then there's the chap who ran the taxi from the ferry to Cape Wrath and had assisted Sid Perou filming many years before, my cousin's father in law helped put the hydrogen balloon up to measure the height of GB main chamber. On one occasion I met the granddaughter of Gough of Gough's Cave. Many more encounters over the years as well with former cavers. I am sure you all must have experiences like that.