27 October 2021

Underground with lots of Yorkshiremen

Out of the blue a message from Yorkshire landed in my inbox. The North York Moors Caving Club was coming to North Wales again! That could be a good opportunity to meet up again. They already had a program: doing the local zip wire on Friday, a small underground trip on Saturday, and a big underground trip on Sunday. I couldn't join them for the zipping as I was at work, and the trip seemed a bit long for a weekend in which I had chores to do as well, but the short underground trip on Saturday sounded like a possibility. We made it happen!

We met up on a parking lot. There were many of them! Some twelve, and I only knew some four, but it is always nice to meet new people. And after some obligatory faffing we were on our way. The entrance wasn't far. And then I was underground, unrelated to cave rescue, for the first time in a long while! It was quite nice.

When we got to where the mine started to go in several different directions we spread out. I checked one side passage I never had explored before. And I found out I hadn't quite memorised this place; I had been confusing two different levels. But with three others I went to the furthest place you go. When we got back to the junction, there was no sign of anybody else. We assumed they had gone out! And that was true. But we found them back and we headed back to the cars.
It wasn't very late, but some of the men were quite hungry, so we headed for the High Street before they set off to their accommodation. The chippy and the kebab places were closed, but we still had the deli, and the local shop. The latter was well-stocked with cakes. After the Yorkshireman descended, they were considerably less well-stocked! It was good to see them support the local economy.
When they were revitalised it was time to say goodbye. I suppose they will be back next year! The annual North Wales trip is a bit of a classic…

passage

Graffiti

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