ON SATURDAY morning Stuart Gadd kissed his wife Paula goodbye not knowing it would the last time he saw her alive.

The experienced caver and climber died a few hours later while potholing, plunging 70 feet to her death.

"She kissed me goodbye in her usual raring to go way," said Mr Gadd, of Stanhope Drive, Horsforth. "That was the last time I saw her."

Outdoor sports enthusiast Paula Szajnowska, who taught at Killinghall Primary School, in Undercliffe, loved potholing and had enjoyed the activity for more than 14 years.

But the 34-year-old teacher died of head injuries after she fell to her death from a ledge in the Notts Pot Leck Fell pothole, north of Kirkby Lonsdale in a freak accident on Saturday.

"We both loved climbing and Paula loved cycling and potholing," said Mr Gadd, who teaches at Guiseley School. "She would come back raving about how much mud there was. She was a free spirit and she loved the Dales. It was her spiritual home.

"Since I had known Paula, she had been potholing. She had been doing it a lot more recently - so she knew what she was doing. I am not blaming anyone. It was a pure accident.

"At least she was doing the one thing she absolutely loved."

The couple met 14 years ago on an outdoor pursuits course and were due to celebrate their eighth wedding anniversary in December.

They had travelled across the globe together and just returned from a trip along the Silk Road in China three weeks ago.

"Paula was my world," said Mr Gadd, 38.

"She was fantastic. She was full of life and energy and lived life to the full. She put all her energy into everything she did. She was everything to me.

"She loved animals. We went on honeymoon to Kenya and went on safari. Every holiday we went on was focused on seeing different animals. Paula just loved it. Everyone has very happy memories of her.

"People keep reminding me that we did not put things off."

Mrs Szajnowska had taken part in several runs to raise money for cancer research in the Race for Life.

She had been teaching for seven years and had recently started teaching Year Two children, specialising in PE.

"She ran after-school clubs and got the kids involved in outdoor pursuits, football and gymnastics," said Mr Gadd. "She loved teaching."

Mr Gadd has asked for donations instead of flowers to be made to the Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary in Cornwall where the couple visited last year.

"She had a real thing about donkeys," he said. "She had sponsored a donkey in Leeds and she wanted to go and visit him."