I also prefer natural systems to old mines which are creepy, unstable underground tips.

Do you know the origin of the word nicked?  

Above : Le Gournier - near Grenoble, France

What to do if you want to try caving/pot-holing.

1/ Don't get a piece of rope and disappear down the nearest hole; you are likely to finish up on 999 rescue program. Join a club and go caving with people that know what they are doing. There isn't that much to learn but it's dangerous if you don't know the basics.

2/ If you live in the N Staffs, Cheshire area go to the Crewe Climbing and Potholing Club. Meets first Monday of the month in the Bleeding Wolf, Scholar Green. A34, 4 miles south of Congleton. We organize regular club trips, surface training, booze ups etc. Cost is minimal, equipment can be hired for a few pounds per trip if you don't have your own.

3/ In Ingleton, N. York's, there are a number of places in the village which do novice caving trips. There are some beautiful systems in the Yorkshire area.

Pot-hollers versus Climbers - the essential differences.

Caving sounds a bit like rock climbing in the dark but it's really very different.

1/ Pot-holing is much less scary than rock climbing, mainly because you can,t see the floor. It's the floors not the height that kill you.

2/ There is no point in being dress conscious covered in mud in the dark. Climbers wear brightly colored fancy gear. Cavers use mud colored pre-scratched equipment.

3/ Climbers use dynamic - stretchy - rope and expect to fall on it. Cavers use static - low stretch - rope rated to survive a single "fall factor one". 14 stone falling on 1 meter of rope from 1 metre above its fixing point. If this happens you throw the rope away which is expensive so we don't fall on it. We use the rope to absale into the shaft and prussic (climb) back up to get out. Not to catch us when we fall.

4/ A Cavers objective is to get to the bottom of the hole and back out safely. If we come across a ladder we will use it. Climbers will avoid it like the plague and climb around it.Crazy!!

Above : Somewhere under Yorkshire with my daughter Vicki.

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