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Cliff hanger: Meet the Indiana Jones of the Yorkshire Dales
AFTER a lifetime of high adventure, Yorkshire's own Indiana Jones is living quietly in a tiny Dales village. Only the vintage Jaguar gives him away.
Barry Cliff's exploits across three continents include flying diamond prospectors on risky missions, battling 18ft crocodiles, diving into a piranha-infested river when his plane caught fire and using one of the world's highest waterfalls as a runway.
An old boy of Aireborough Grammar School, his thirst for adventure began as a teenager when he became fascinated by rock climbing.
He began in the school gym, climbed local crags and later became a member of Leeds University Climbing Club.
After graduating from Cambridge University the British Colonial Service offered him a job as an agricultural officer in the fading days of Empire but his sense of adventure knew no bounds.
In 1964 in Kenya aged 31 with a younger friend, Rusty Baillie, they became the first men in history to stand on the summits of Africa's two highest mountains within 24 hours – a record which still stands.
Later he gained a private pilot flying licence and began "bush flying" – picking up patients for a doctor and using unprepared landing strips.
He relished the experience and it came in useful when Kenya gained independence and he found himself looking for work - spraying crops in the Southampton area.
What might have seemed a dull assignment proved anything but when his plane crashed one day nearly killing him and breaking his back. A colleague memorably described the scene to his unit's director: "It's a write-off and Barry is in more or less the same state.''
Undeterred, he recovered and was offered a job in Guyana, South America, and when this proved abortive he began flying diamond prospectors into clearings in the tropical forests.
A spectacular trip would see him board tourists from a jetty on the Demerara River onto a float-plane and use the Potaro River as a runway to fly them over the 800ft high Kaieteur Falls.
A thrilling journey, it proved almost disastrous on one occasion when the plane suddenly lost power and it nearly fell over the lip of the fall.
In true Indiana Jones-style he kept the engine going and as the plane fell picked up enough speed to get airborne.
Another time a female passenger started screaming hysterically as the plane approached the edge of the falls but by then it was too late to stop and she eventually calmed down.
Strong nerves were needed too when a radio controller demanded he return to base immediately with a passenger called Cowboy for the police's urgent attention.
Unfortunately, Cowboy who possessed diamond-studded teeth, overheard the message and pulled out a gun leaving him with no choice but to pretend he had not understood the request and continue the journey.
Ten years from 1976-1986 saw him run the aerial operations of the World Health Organisation's River Blindness campaign in West Africa – a highly successful programme which saw millions of people protected from this devastating disease.
In 1987 he retired and returned to the UK to help care for his elderly parents.
Following his father's death he decided to buy an ocean-going boat which he named Batian after the highest peak of Mt Kenya and embarked on a whole new series of adventures.
These included a plan to travel across the Atlantic using only the sun, moon and stars to guide him and his crew.
During this time he bought a cottage in Litton, near Grassington, where he wrote A Passion for Mountain Sail and Flight which has just been published.
Yesterday, the 76-year-old, who has never married, said: "I have had a wonderful life and I have enjoyed nearly all of it apart from the accident when I broke my back. That crash transformed my life in seconds.
"Some people used to call me fearless though I prefer 'senseless' – the fear was never there. I just handled any tricky situation as it cropped up. I was good at sensing danger and knew how to deal with it long before others did.''
Anyone wanting to buy the book, which costs 12.50, should write to him at Elbeck Cottage, BD23 5QJ. He is also contactable on 01756 770207.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
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Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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