The art of walking in a stream through a cave

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Another day, another cave. We joined a huge group (12 guests and 3 guides) to go to a very newly explored cave. In John's book there is a story about when they first found the cave and thought there was a bear living in the entrance. No bears this time. 4km of stream until a rock fall has blocked the path, but this makes for a bunch of fun climbing and scrambling up to ledges and to try and find chambers. So here is what I learnt from this trip - cave stream walking is definitely an art form; there is no set of rules to learn in order to get it right and not split your calf open! The stream is half ankle high, half swimming. The swimming parts are fine because you can go so slow and gentle that you feel rocks in plenty of time, but walking takes concentration. If you can see something, walk on that. If you can't see anything, try walking in the middle. Unless it seems to be particularly rocky, in which case try bum first. If it's too deep for sitting/sliding move really slow. If you encounter a rock, this information must be passed down the line "rock here" or "yin tee nee". If all this seems too relaxing, wear shoes with half the sole unattached, making them like flippers. This means that as well as trying not to bash into a rock, you need to double think every foot placement so you don't slip.



Phew. End of lesson. I didn't split my leg open.

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