My Try Caving Experience
We drove down to the caving hut on Saturday morning. When we got to the hut we had been organised into groups. All the groups had a capable leader and some helpers who would be in charge of us. When I was getting ready to go down the cave I was very excited. I was wearing a t-shirt, thermal top, fleecy under suit, tracksuit bottoms, thick socks, an over-suit and wellies. I was also given a helmet with a very powerful light attached to it. When everyone was ready we drove very close to the cave but we then had to walk a short distance to the entrance. The entrance basically looked like a hole in the ground; I would never have even known it was the entrance if I hadn’t been told. When we were stood outside the cave and Martin was giving us a briefing I was feeling very nervous. When everyone knew how to work their lights we entered the cave. As soon as we entered I realised my wellies had holes in them. But, it didn’t really matter as the water was knee height anyway. The cave smelt of damp but it was warmer than what I thought it would have been. When we got deeper into the cave we saw some stalactites and stalagmites. Later we were told to turn our lights off to see how dark it would be without our lights. It was dark. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. After exploring inside the first cave we went to a second. This one was more challenging and a lot colder. Firstly we had to crawl on our stomachs about 15 metres, sandwiched between two pieces of rock and with water and mud all around us. We climbed over rocks and waded through water but we couldn’t explore the whole cave as the further in we got the more the water level rose and Martin decided it would be unsafe to continue further into the cave. As we didn’t fully explore that cave we had time for a third. On the way to the third cave I was very cold. But, people had brought hot Ribena (which is surprisingly nice) and Mars Bars. This tasted like heaven. When we got to the cave it was a lot of fun inside and I soon forgot about how cold I was. We squeezed through gaps and climbed up steep rocks. We saw the most beautiful waterfall. When we were out of the cave we went back to the hut and got warm and dry. Later that night there was a firework display (which was slightly crazy because I don’t think the adults had heard of the firework code) and some delicious food. Afterwards we went to the pub for a while. The next morning it was cold and all of my body was aching. We put all our gear on and went down another cave. This was a great cave it even had a water slide! I had a great time at the try caving weekend and I am definitely going to become a member! Alice Mason 13| < Prev | Next > |
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