How was your decade??

martinb

martinb

Member
The last decade has been full of ups and downs for me

I started caving seriously (again), a year before the last decade started, joined a club, became secretary, and did a lot of recreational caving with the club. I started doing a lot more cave exploring with a good friend who was also a club member.
Over a couple of years 2010 to 2012, we reopened or discovered a few things: Sunday Mine (actually mostly cave), Sober Connection, and Carlswark/Merlins Connection - All Stoney Middleton.
In 2012 I lost my dad, who was my best friend and drinking buddy, that hit me really hard, and I suffered mentally for nearly 3 years.
In late 2013 I lost my job through my own stupidity, and served time. Luckily my wife of then 30 years stood by me and helped me through, both physically and mentally.
In early 2014, me and my mate discovered the New Series of chambers underneath Treak Cliff Cavern, and kept digging for the next 3 years until he moved away with his job.
I retrained after my enforced absence and took a sewing job, this helped me back on the straight and narrow. My wife and I moved house before deciding to emigrate in early 2018.
We now live in France, I run a thriving gardening business, and we run a gite next door. We breed dachshunds, and we have never been happier together.

Unfortunately, I've not caved in France yet, been too busy and not much limestone in Normandy - although there is an outlier about an hours drive away with caves.....
 
Caver Keith

Caver Keith

Well-known member
It?s been quite an eventful decade for me.

By 1/1/2010 I had been caving for over 20 years but I was completely unknown outside Dudley Caving Club. My YouTube channel was just over a year old and the videos on it had been watched a couple of thousand times.

Over the last decade I?ve had some modest success with my YouTube caving videos. I?ve also done okay with one or two of my videos in the Hidden Earth Video Salon, won the Tom Zannes award at the NSS convention and had the honour of being asked to produce the conference opening video for A Golden Age of Cave Exploration at the RGS in London in December 2017. Along the way I?ve had some clips from my videos featured on The One Show (about 4 seconds worth) and been one of the cavers responsible for introducing both Mark and Jess Burkey to caving (sorry).

Falling down the entrance shaft of Withyhill Cave on 1st November 2015 wasn?t one of my best achievements and the 18 days I spent in hospital weren?t filled with great joy but the morphine (mmm morphine) helped me get through them. However during my enforced 6 month sabbatical from caving I did produce my most watched caving video proving that every cloud does have a silver lining.

Man Down by dcrtuk, on Flickr

IMG_0559 by dcrtuk, on Flickr

In 2017 we moved house so I had to take a sledgehammer to my beloved garden railway.

Untitled by dcrtuk, on Flickr

Signal Box 1 by dcrtuk, on Flickr

P1010736 by dcrtuk, on Flickr

It seems that I do now have now achieved the status of celebrity amongst the caving community. At Hidden Earth 2018 I got a mention in the alternative programme (along wiv me mate Mark Burkley) and last year a caver at SWCC wanted a selfie with me!

fullsizeoutput_8b5 by dcrtuk, on Flickr

Any videos that I may have produced which have any merit have got little to  do with me. Plaudits along with my very sincere thanks for their encouragement, help and support should go to my cavings chums and especially Brendan, Mark, Jess, Ian and Kay. On the other hand the Golden Raspberries are all down to me.

At the end of the decade I too entered a new decade so perhaps it is time to start winding down my caving activities. This will inevitably mean less caving videos so it?s not all bad news. Perhaps I will have the time to begin building a new railway.

Meanwhile here?s my first caving withdrawal hobby. I?ve been told it?s Freudian but it makes a change from inserting myself into dark damp holes. I?ve also been told there?s a connection? Can't see it myself.

Meccano Eiffel Tower by dcrtuk, on Flickr
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Hi Caver Keith, I am so glad that you recovered from your fall. It was the entrance shaft to Fernhill Cave that you fell down. We talked about it during our filming session. I actually felt sick when I thought that you must have hit the pole at the bottom of the pipe. These things happen. We move on hopefully. Our mate G. fell down the old Forty in Swildons. Issues with gear as perhaps yours was. G. had bad pelvic injuries but still caves many years later. I remember the Fernhill trip last year. Everyone was lifelined in case the same thing happened again. Here we are doing just that -

P1140005 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Quite often in caving its the little things that catch us out. Basically lack of care at that precise moment. My worst accidents in the decade were my crushed hand and my broken arm. Both lack of care on my part. Too close to the person in front before they had cleared a climb. In one instance anxious to get a photograph of a bit of action. The broken arm hurt like hell at the time. It was then a long drag out of the cave with arm in a sling climbing the two ladders as well. No repeat of the previous call out fiasco so I did it all on my own with help from the group. ( getting that important photo on the way out looking sick and ill ). Went home for tea then walked a mile to the hospital. It was a long job because the break would not set. I have a nice bit of ironmongery in there now. Oddly enough it never sets the airport sensors off. The hand got back to about %75 but I still drop things now and again.
Most things are learned by our own mistakes. Worse things happened in my 25 years wreck diving. We lost eight of our extended mixed gas wreck diving group. Some were definitely " driver error ". It pays to stop and think for a fraction sometimes but photography and video work sometimes intrudes
I read recently that people in the mid 60's are at their happiest. Of course, that depends on health and circumstances and for me certainly true. I had bad post-traumatic depression after being lost at sea for 16 hours in the previous decade and contemplated suicide twice. My personal life became a complete mess. The last decade saw a reversal to all of that. Somebody once asked me what was of the most value apart from health. His answer was peace of mind and there is some truth in that. I still have a Mindfulness book to hand.
Well best back to caving. Yes, the last decade my best ever. I love the photography but do it my way.My own style. Peter Glanvill calls them " snaps ". True in a way as I like the immediacy of an image. The " moment " that can never be repeated. I bought two Yonguo flashguns and do a little setup stuff now. Highlights with Skyray torches. I learned a lot from the Freems and their approach when filming. To be honest I have never been a fan of cave video and much prefer stills. I do find their films inspiring now though. A lot of thought goes into it but it seems a fluid process and always tells a story which any film surely should do.
The decades digging proved rewarding. The Frozen Deep was astonishing. I kept it together on the trip but burst into tears when I got home. I was always certain of a result on that dig. A bit the same with the next dig at Vurley. A Mendip pothole 150m deep. You get a feel for things I suppose after so many years. We have moved on to another site and dig every week. Slow progress but lots of confusing evidence so this time I am not so sure. The process is " fun " though. This week was amusing. We had a big slab in the roof I called " Mr Trundle's Hanging Knob of Instant Death ". We had to crawl under it to get to the end. My mate, feeling brave, poked it from the other side whilst I waited on the near side. It came down with a crash almost blocking the way out. There was at most a ten-inch gap over the top of it but any movement would have closed that down. My mate had to strip near-naked to get out. The Naked Caver with a sore chest. He could have capped his way out but the bloody drill bit broke. An awkward session for next week. So to the next ten years. I am 73 this year. I refuse to consider myself old. I love my caving. I enjoy taking trips into Reservoir Hole and Fairy Cave Quarry Caves. I love to see new visitors' reactions to The Frozen Deep. They get a little of the feeling that we had when first entering there. I don't see any end to my caving activities in the near future. Mindfulness teaches you to live for the day. The past is history. The future imagination. Experiences to be savoured not rushed. Again " The Moment ". That which can never be repeated. The joy in the experience and the sharing of it. Caving is close to that. Whilst many see it as an alien world fool of dangers I see it as a " home ". A shared experience with lifelong friends. A challenge. My weekly visit to the gym. My little place of calm. Don't concern yourself with age fellow cavers for that often brings wisdom and an ability to accept things as they are. Freedom from work and the responsibilities of home and children. Of course, having a great partner helps. My wife is wonderful. She has no interest in " old men in muddy holes " but somehow appreciates the things that I get out of it. She won't watch the FCQ film as she sees danger and difficulty as some people do. So OK, let's not worry about the next ten years. I shall take it a day at a time but I know that time is borrowed. I will have to submit to age or infirmity one day as will all of us.

 
F

Fulk

Well-known member
I am 73 this year. I refuse to consider myself old. I love my caving. I enjoy taking trips into Reservoir Hole and Fairy Cave Quarry Caves. I love to see new visitors' reactions to The Frozen Deep. They get a little of the feeling that we had when first entering there. I don't see any end to my caving activities in the near future. Mindfulness teaches you to live for the day. The past is history. The future imagination. Experiences to be savoured not rushed. Again " The Moment ". That which can never be repeated. The joy in the experience and the sharing of it. Caving is close to that. Whilst many see it as an alien world fool of dangers I see it as a " home ". A shared experience with lifelong friends. A challenge. My weekly visit to the gym. My little place of calm. Don't concern yourself with age fellow cavers
Click to expand...

Excellent stuff . . . you're never too old until you're dead.
 
Caver Keith

Caver Keith

Well-known member
The Old Ruminator said:
Hi Caver Keith, I am so glad that you recovered from your fall. It was the entrance shaft to Fernhill Cave that you fell down. We talked about it during our filming session. I actually felt sick when I thought that you must have hit the pole at the bottom of the pipe.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I did quite a comprehensive job. Badly fractured pelvis, broken vertebrae, damaged urethra and crushed coccyx  amongst other things, but the NHS did a superb job putting me all back together and I'm still caving.
Pleased to see that you all were life-lined when descending the shaft.
Thanks for sharing your decade. I'm enjoying this thread and I hope more people will join in.
Keith
 
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