Sybil Taylor and Jill Smith tell reporter Ray Kershaw about their caving stories, and how sharing this perilous pursuit cemented their friendship...

Sybil Taylor

Sybil Taylor and Jill Smith became friends through sharing a hobby - potholing, or caving. It made them underground inseparables, sharing dangers and helping each other. They're now 55, members of the Red Rose Pothole Club, and rarely go caving without each other.

Sybil admits that she was quite nervous before going down her first cave. It was a fairly easy cave, but the entrance was quite daunting and involved slithering under the rock face and then through water. She was reassured by the fact that there were people ahead and behind her, so she just kept her head down and followed those in front.

When she eventually came out she was very excited at just having done it, and was very keen to do more. "Some of the caves we have been in are very pretty - lots of stalactites and stalagmites. I was absolutely hooked after the first trip".

Jill starting caving about 10 years ago, aged 45. She first met Sybil at a diving club. Sybil had been diving for some time and was in a different league from Jill who was a rather tentative diver. They were originally all friends within a group, but Sybil and Jill really cemented their friendship when they went underground together. "Going underground together reveals each other's strengths and weaknesses. Sharing dangers with caving changes the way that you feel towards each other. We put ourselves into awkward situations and have survived, and that has affected other aspects of our life".

When Sybil and Jill are underground they tend to stay together, and help each other. They talk through the best way of tackling situations.

Given the perils of caving it's perhaps surprising that Jill describes herself as a very nervous person. She usually doesn't sleep very well the night before a caving trip, or the night afterwards either when she is running the events of the day through her head. "Once I'm underground, once I'm inside the cave, because it's so dangerous at the time if you haven't got the adrenaline running then you're not doing it correctly".

Sybil and Jill

Sybil feels great confidence in Jill. "I have every confidence that I'll be safe and I'll get out of this cave safely". If there's a traverse - a channel running between two rocks - which has to be crossed by shuffling along with your bottom on one side and feet on the other, Sybil can feel quite hesitant because having short legs as she does is a definite disadvantage. She is always pleased to have Jill's support behind her, pointing out hand-holds or offering encouragement. Jill laughingly points out that it's actually an advantage to have short legs sometimes, and that Sybil doesn't have to bend over double sometimes when Jill, who's tall, does.

There was one particular cave which Sybil remembers worrying about all week. She knew it was going to be difficult, though not dangerous. It was full of z-bends where you have to get your body positioned just right to get round. When she finally got into the cave she found in fact that because she was small she was able to just slip round the curves, and it was almost an anti-climax.

Each time Jill goes caving she has a feeling that she can't do it, and she has to force herself. "When I've been through it and I think about the things that I've done, I feel as though I've actually achieved something and I feel as though I'm alive".

Of course the best part of caving is getting out, and looking forward to the fish and chips and pint of beer at the end. The two friends go through the events of the day, what they've seen and of course plan their next trip.