When I told mum that we were going to do a more challenging cave, I didn’t get the reply I’d expected. “Isn’t that the muddy one? Can’t we do a nice clean one?” I explained that whilst technically it was muddy, it wasn’t in the way she was imagining.
This was going to be Mum and Ash’s first Easegill trip so as we walked across the moor, I pointed out landmarks. We scrambled the entrance climb, pushed onwards and were soon in the big walking passage beyond.
As we stopped for a mandatory picnic, mum said “it’s nowhere near as muddy as you lead me to believe”. I nodded and smiled, knowing precisely what was around the corner
40 minutes later, returning the way we’d come, two distinctly less clean looking cavers followed me through the big walking passages. “That was amazing!”, “I think this is my favourite cave”, “This is just so silly” – words floated past my ears.
One of the weird things about caving, is that the bits that sound fun before you do them, and the bits that are fun – almost never match up.
Me and mum know this about introducing people to easy caves – but I don’t think mum realised it also applied to her in more intermediate/beginner caves!
Mistal/Hall of the Mountain king is one of those beautifully special places that most noncavers never get to visit. There’s nothing quite like it and describing it fails to meaningfully capture the experience. 5/5 would recommend.
Originally posted on this post on Instagram
