Sistema Hundidero -
Present,
Cavers -
Richard Sutton Amy Sutton
Thursday 3rd
Fly out from Manchester to Malaga after a delay because the British air traffic control
system computers had crashed (that'll teach em to use windows.) On arrival Paul’s
rucksack is missing, luckily his caving gear is in his suitcase -
Click on caving photos to
drove up to the white village of Montejaque where we would be staying to find that the house we had rented was an amazing villa with a private swimming pool.
Having made ourselves at home it was time to find a bar in the village for some wine
and tapas -
Friday 4th
Predictably the early start did not materialise. By 10:30 wed dropped a car off at
the exit and been driven to the entrance by Marjorie. After the long walk down to
the cave and Paul disappearing to inspect the worlds most useless dam (potential
dam builders take note -
apparently leading into thin air? We opted for the obvious scramble which inevitably led To a sump. Whilst inspecting this to ascertain if it really was a sump or just a duck one of Paul's wellies came off never to be seen again. “Shit this is getting serious we’re about a fifth of the way through the cave and now Paul's only got one welly” was one of the more printable thoughts that crossed our minds. From about half way back up the scramble it was obvious that the way on was a high level bypass accessed by the traverse.
Eventually after several more pitches and lakes the character of the cave changed
abruptly to being predominantly horizontal but still BLOODY HUGE with the “Plaza del Torros” so big that you could only just see all four walls at once and where was the roof? The cave was now decorated with the most spectacular formations we had
ever seen including “El Gran Estalagmita” and the “Sala de las Gours.” We were now moving at a snails pace accompanied by a string of expletives as Paul stubbed his toe every thirty seconds. All the way through the cave was evidence of decaying aerial walkways installed by the electricity company as they tried unsuccessfully to plug the leaks from the dam.
After a lot more swimming (up to 150m long) and wading through lakes we eventually
emerged to daylight after an 8½ hour trip to be met by some bemused locals who use
the pools by Cueva del Gato as a bathing spot and could barely stifle a giggle at
the English idiots -
Back at the car we had some welcome beers waiting in a cool bag (have you spotted a pattern yet?) then it was back to the house to be greeted by some
borrachitas who had spent the day on what could best be described as a bar
crawl. After some sandwiches and some more beer it was off out into the village
to a restaurant for Marjories birthday (21?)
Saturday 5th
Time for a bit of sightseeing, in the morning off to the village of Yunquera for a
quick look round then back to Ronda for a bit of lunch and some shoe shopping for
Emelda Amy. Then after a quick trip to the supermarket to stock up on “essential
supplies” it was back to the house for an afternoon spent lazing around the pool and a much overdue haircut for Sooty thanks to Cathy.
In the evening it was time for a barbecue during which Paul entertained us all with an acrobatic display which involved doing a forward somersault with half twist over the wall whilst trying to pick almonds from the trees. He was unanimously scored 6.0 by the judges.
This is what happens to your foot if you go caving with only one welly.
Sunday 6th
Unfortunately it was time to leave, but with everyones selective memories firmly set in, all were agreed to return for a repeat, (may be Tim will get a pass out next year?).
Mugs recommends lace up ankle boots and water wings for this cave.
THE END Richard Sutton
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