TLDR: I was a climber and I turned to the dark side.
I like to tell people that caving is in the family, as my Grandmother was a caver, but in truth, caving skipped a generation and I was left to discover it again for myself.
I must start with a credit to my physics teacher, Dr Lungley, who got to the point of leaving me excluded from class until everyone else was settled down, before I was even allowed to enter and make my way to the naughty corner. I went on to get 100% in one of my A-level physics modules and I blame my disruptive behaviour on boredom; nevertheless, I was a disruptive little sh!t and 'Lungers' had every reason to hate me.
Now one day, I happened to notice Lungers rummaging in the boot of his car, and I happened to notice that the boot of his car was full of ropes and harnesses and helmets. I asked if they were for the climbing wall on the end of one of the gym buildings and he said yes. I asked if I could have a go and he should rightfully have told me to piss off, but he said yes.
With the support of Lungers, Dr Chalk, and Mr (or was it Dr) Shaw (who occasionally posts on this forum), we managed to set up a climbing club on a Thursday afternoon, so that a bunch of us could avoid getting shouted at to run up and down a rugby pitch. And there began my love of outdoor recreation.
Fast forward a few years and by then a keen climber, my mother paid for me and a friend to do the 'Adventure Caving Experience' at Cheddar Caves for my 15th birthday. It wasn't climbing, but I loved it and was extremely keen to go again, so when I saw the caving club at Durham University freshers fair, I signed up straight away, but my time was yet to come...
The weekly emails from DUSA went something like this:
Training at the gym, 7pm tomorrow. Disappointment Pot this weekend. Speak to little Chris if you want to go.
The idea of weight training before a day outdoors seemed alien to me. "Disappointment" sounded, well, disappointing and anyway, I didn't know who little Chris was anyway, so I stuck to climbing and days walking in Northumberland or the Lakes, pleased to be in such a wild part of the country.
One Sunday evening, I was late back to college for dinner after a day in the hills and sat next to the only person still there and got chatting to Ian, who'd just got back from caving.
Having discovered that it was
SRT training, not weight training at the gym, I turned up the next week and never looked back!