Other members from our club had arrived the day previously as had some of the members from Speleo Club „Puldin„, Plovdiv. The only sign of them was there vehicles and tents. We alljumped into action… The fire was re kindled, tents where erected and the cooking began. We all sat down to eat and enjoy the warmth of an Irish Coffee. It was pitch dark by now and I had my concerns for the others who had still not returned to base camp, it was about 9pm when the headlights of there jeep approached in the distance. To my relief everyone was fine albeit exhausted! We all greeted each other and continued to eat with a couple of little drinks by the campfire late into the night. Day two, breakfast was prepared and delivered by the younger members of the club, it was a delight to see how they contributed and did so without complaint. Shortly after we set off in two vehicles towards the caves. The dirt road was good for the most part as we headed deeper into the mountains but began to worsen until we soon could go no further and had to park up. It was on foot from here! The first part of the walk was level and easy to navigate, we followed a track for maybe 3 or 4 km, at this point we separated into two groups. Three of the experienced guys headed to the right while the rest of us a group of 8 went left. We immediately began to climb upwards, it was a narrow track covered in leaves and soft soil, I’m not sure how far we walked from the lower track but it was difficult in places and ended in a steep slope down to the entrance of the first cave. We’ve arrived! A short rest and then it was time to kit up. The entrance of the cave was on a steep slope only feet away from a vertical cliff. Two of the guys from Plovdiv headed in first, followed by three of the experienced younger members from our own Rakitovo club. It was my turn next, I’ve only tried rope climbing twice before, thankfully both times I had good instructors and felt safe and confident I would manage with the guidance of Stoicho our group leader. I approached the rope and began to connect the descender and other safety devices. I was given instruction as to how to proceed. It started off fairly easy and straightforward, it was at this point I slipped and banged my knee! But I felt confident a carried on, I could see below me a a drop of approx 15 meters into the darkness of the cave, just some lights from the younger members shining up as they watched me descend. After regaining my composure I continued down, first using my feet with the rope and walking down through the narrow entrance, I heard from below one of the kids ( Sorry I couldn’t recognise who ) say to me, ‘Sit into your harness, as there is nowhere to use your legs. It was great advise and the correct advise and it also brought to me a moment of clarity as to how everything I was attached to worked, so I thank you very much for this. I eased myself down and reached the bottom smoothly and effortlessly to a round of applause and congratulations, remember, I’m nearly as old as the three of them put together! 🙂 But hey, we all have to start somewhere! We sat and rested and chatted while we waited for the final two members of the group to join us.
