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December 19, 2005
Lost underground
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
This is all very well, but it’s not always easy to recognise the less travelled path. It’s not always as straightforward as noticing the overgrown brambles, the long grass and the low branches.
During my time in France I did a lot of caving – sclathing around in dark muddy holes underground. Often you would be confronted by a choice of routes, two passages, or a passage branching off. Often one of the passages would be a dead end after a short distance.
You might think you could look at the floor and see where the most muddy footprints went. But if you think about it there are just as many footprints going down each passage: the dead end has as many coming back as going in, as does the through passage. So you always have to go find out.
Sometimes there aren’t any footprints:
Mr Dixon negotiating the underground river in the Goule de Foussoubie system, South of France.
Posted by john at December 19, 2005 01:27 AM