The Cobblers
If you listen hard when it’s wet you
can hear them chatting away to each other but unfortunately we can’t understand
the language. The passage normally only has a small trickle of water and
because it’s quiet they could be overheard so they don’t try to chat. It’s only
when the cave starts flooding and the water pounds down the streamways
do they get a chance to prattle on without us being able to ascertain their
conversations. A low rumble that lets us know there is something underlying the
water’s rush, we’ve all heard it but just ignored it, not knowing what it
really is. They’re plotting their games. Only during floods is it that they get
to play at changing places. Running around the passages and playing tag with
each other while laughing at our inability to notice the game. We’ve seen the
result after a sudden drying up of the flowing water as we wander through the
system. “I’m sure that cobble wasn’t there last time I was here”. Of course it
wasn’t but because it dried up so quickly the cobble couldn’t get back to where
it belonged and we came along so it had to stay put, probably emitting a low
groan as it settled down in its new position.
They do this all the time,
this running around laughing at us, the little ones are less noticeable but
when a big one gets caught out we think it’s because the water moved it and not
that it actually ran around for a while when we weren’t watching. Now that you
know the game they are playing you’ll have much more empathy for what appears
to be simple inanimate objects. They’re NOT, they’re really ‘the cobblers’,
laughing, running and hiding all over every cave in the area and they are even
more active in the streams and rivers of our beloved Dales. We try to build
dams with them and low and behold the next time we come back it’s gone, well
what a surprise! So now you know.
Ray Duffy