The cave was visited by Dr Samuel Johnson.
Reynard’s Hall is a cave very high in the rock; it goes backward several yards, perhaps eight. To the left is a small opening, through which I crept, and found another cavern, perhaps four yards square; at the back was a breach yet smaller, which I could not easily have entered, and, wanting light, did not inspect.
I was in a cave yet higher, called Reynard’s Kitchen. There is a rock called the Church, in which I saw no resemblance that could justify the name.
From A diary of a journey into North Wales, in the year 1774.
Reynard's Cave, Derbyshire, North Wales? Or is the book North Wales and a few day trips :)
Yeah he starts his journey in Streatham, up to Dunstable, next stop Litchfield, popped into Chatsworth, Matlock, Macclesfield, Chester... I mean if you're going on holiday you might as well enjoy yourself, he was gone from July to September. He couldn't just hop on the 3.15 Euston to Bangor, they'd not invented British Rail yet.
He was born in 1709 so he was no spring chicken when he was grubbing about in the cave? He looks quite portly as well, in the famous painting by Joshua Reynolds, and that was painted in 1772.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson
The description of the approach to the caves in "Derbyshire Cavemen" by Stephen Cliffe suggests he may have been fitter than he looked!
"Looking up through trees to the left, you will see a well-worn scree slope of broken rock, and, high above, a spectacular natural arch of limestone rock. This is quite a scramble for the unfit and becomes steeper towards the top as you pas beneath the arch, where it is necessary to go hand over hand, clinging to well-worn boulder, and sliding on the clayey ground." is to the first cave then
"Scramble a bit higher [..] to the top of the clayey boulder strewn slope you have just traversed. This cave has walls liberally coated in green slime, and a climb in the roof of interest to cavers. If you manage to get inside, the author takes no responsibility for readers who break their necks, or a limb, on the way out!"