andrewmcleod
Well-known member
November 12th 2016.
Daren Cilau. The only cave system with an entrance so arduous it has a item of caving gear named after it. Could our intrepid foursome of EUSS cavers, two of them freshers, tackle this mighty cave and survive?
?Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit.? James Russell Lowell
I had been meaning to go to to Daren for some time to see the Time Machine and the Hard Rock Caf?, and I had been preparing the freshers by insisting it would be a long trip (although the expected time grew from eight to ten to twelve hours in the telling). In the end, a late start and general laziness meant a change of plan to a through trip, still an ambitious task given that none of us had been in the cave before. Would we find our way through and escape, or would we be doomed to walk the halls of Daren forever?
?The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.? ? Mark Twain
After breakfast, we began the pleasantly short walk to the Daren entrance. We were off to a good start as I led us directly to the entrance, having only looked at the map in the hut, by following the subtle trail of cavers? passage to the ominous low crawl at the bottom of the trench. After emptying our bladders in preparation for the horrors ahead, I climbed down to the entrance.
?Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.? ? Edgar Allan Poe
Dragging the tackle bag behind me, we began our crawl into the interminable crawl. Fortunately I am of fairly small proportions, and none of the squeezes presented any real obstacle. However, the Daren drum in my tackle sack is not much skinnier than me and thus required constant consideration. To be fair, the tackle sack was fairly well-behaved on this occasion, and for the most part I was not slowing down the rest of the party behind at any point.
?You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.? ? Robin Williams
At this point I began to really enjoy the crawl, cackling to myself as I raced through the tight tubes and narrow rifts from tiny chamber to tiny chamber. I think I alone became elated each time the passage dropped back to stream level and it was necessary to crawl through water on your elbows (although part of this may have been that dragging the bag through such bits was easy).
?We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.? ? Not Plato
Unfortunately this was also the time when my light decided to die a bit. Heavy use and general cave abuse had taken its toll on the battery leads on my lamp, and the light became to flicker and die. A bit of fiddling got it working again although it did maintain a habit of dying every time you accidentally bumped you head. Good thing the Daren entrance crawl is a high and lofty passage, right?
?Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.? ? Desiderius Erasmus
Eventually, after the somewhat sluggish time of one and a half hours, we emerged out of the crawl. We looked at each other, battered and bruised, left scarred by the entrance crawl in a way that would never show but never heal. Broken men and women, our spirits crushed, our hopes destroyed, our eyes opened to the true horrors of life and madness.
?Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.? ? Yousuf Karsh
Well, actually we quite enjoyed it, but we are good at breeding dark deviant masochists down here in Exeter! It was time to trudge on to Big Chamber Near The Entrance. First we passed through the chamber with the impressive crystal pool at one end. We gazed into the beauty of the crystal pool, shimmering in subtle splendour. Did the pool also look back at us, and see beauty in our mud-stained faces? Well, maybe not.
?Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.? ? Confucius
We then dropped down the choke at the back of the chamber and into the easy walk of Jigsaw Passage and its incongruous squeeze, The Wriggle. Aware of just how much cave was left to go, and wary of alleged navigational difficulties, I tried to encourage a slightly faster walking pace but the tired troops began to lack slightly behind, possibly unaware of the magnitude of the difficulties yet to be faces. Would we coalesce into a single competent team, or would we be driven apart by ambition and tiredness, by darkness and the cold, by desire to push on and need to rest?
?Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.? ? Henry Ford?
Arriving in Big Chamber Near The Entrance we signed the log book and took account of our next steps. Following the description we walked then crawled to the left end of the chamber as the ceiling lowered. A dead end!
?Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.? Henry David Thoreau
Further examination slightly back revealed an opening in the wall upwards into a chamber. Was this the way on? Was any of this necessary? Although I consulted my descriptions and surveys, the truth was I did not know. Nonetheless we continued on. Another junction! This time a long boulder slope up the left and a streamway dropping away to the right. The boulder slope was helpfully indicated with a reflective arrow, so throwing caution and navigational competence to the wind we headed up the slope.
?All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.? J. R. R. Tolkien
Finally we found ourselves trudging down Epocalypse Passage. Thus began the most incredibly delicately decorated cave passages I have seen in my brief caving career. Formations of delicate spiky crystals, outstanding helictites and the purest white flowstone and stalactites littered the passages both here and beyond into the start of Antler Passage. As we proceeded we saw a handline into a passage 2m off the ground, and correctly identified this as the start of Urchin Oxbow; we decided to leave this for another day.
?I'd rather live in a cave with a view of a palace than live in a palace with a view of a cave.? ? Karl Pilkington
We passed the Pagoda, a multi-tiered stalagmite and across the stream in the Kitchen. We took a left into (what we thought was) Antler Passage. This smaller passage ramped up the prettiness level even further. Aragonite crystals and formations lined the walls; this was a delicate but beautiful place and I was lucky to have ever seen it.
?I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.? ? Og Mandino
A short while later we encountered? the handline we had rejected earlier. I then realised we had just emerged from Urchin Oxbow, having looped back on ourselves, although all agreed that it had been a worthwhile diversion. We quickly descended the handline and went back past the Pagoda, through the kitchen and onwards into Antler Passage.
Antler Passage began similarly stunningly well-decorated. Finally the decorations faded as the passage went on. And on. And on.
And on.
And on.
I cannot begin to emphasise how long Antler Passage took. Although it is large passage, it is full of various obstacles. Firstly, most of the passage is full of breakdown which can be slow going anyway, but in many places this has piled up to a great height, meaning it must be climbed and then descended to proceed. I counted four sturdy chain ladders, the longest of which we lifelined. Traversing over the rift immediately after that ladder was probably the scariest part of the whole trip, although it wasn?t that hard. It is also the part of the trip I had the least information on; the descriptions were shortest and the survey poor.
?To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.? ? Friedrich Nietzsche
Did I mention it took ages? Doubts began to gnaw at us. We had been going this way for so long? Was it an hour? Hours? Days? Would civilization have moved on, or ended, while we burrowed for ever more deep, deep underground?
?Stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as the life age of the earth.? ? Gandalf
We consulted the description again, and again. ?Continuing up Antler Passage several climbs are encountered until the boulder chokes that lead into Busman's Holiday are reached.? Surely this was not enough words for the passage we were in? To read that phrase at an appropriate rate for our travel would have meant reading a single word about every three to six minutes. Only examination of the scale on a survey, showing this passage to be about 600m long, gave some hope that the end would ever come. Also I really needed a wee.
Then, lo! The corner at the end of the passage! At this point, we knew we would eventually escape the cave?s dark grasp. We were filled with hope and rejoicing, for we knew Busman?s Holiday would soon be upon us.
?The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.? ? Pliny the Elder
We had a much better survey from this point to the exit. Squeezing through the chokes, we emerged in Busman?s Holiday and (after I lengthily urinated in the stream in the choke) climbed the ladder and headed rapidly down the passage until we arrived in the magnificent Price?s Prophecy, a large stalactite filled chamber. This chamber also contains not one but two signs to the start of Ogof Cnwc and our exit from the cave, despite the whole chamber being taped which makes the junction rather obvious.
?Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.? ? Helen Keller
Ogof Cnwc itself, being recently dug, is still small and gravelly. After our lengthy exertions, no more than a hundred metres separated us from the cold light of the moon outside, but first we had to squeeze and crawl through tight tubes; turn tight corners, and climb down an impressive scaffolded shaft. We felt the breeze! Entering the final chamber, we knew our time in Daren had nearly come to an end, and surely enough the gate appeared and we launched ourselves out into the cold night airs.
?For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's futures. And we are all mortal.? ? John F. Kennedy
We had done it ? but were we the same people who went into the cave seven and a half hours ago? What had changed within us in that time? What strange desires led us here in the first place ? what called us from the darkness? We were changed ? we had grown, as individuals and as a team. We had faced Daren and lived. We had done nothing so trivial as ?beaten? it, but it would be with us now, and always. We had taken yet another step in our paths as cavers. Now was the time to return to the caving hut and share with the customs and traditions of the community we had chosen to be a part of.
?It is the hour to be drunken! to escape being the martyred slaves of time, be ceaselessly drunk. On wine, on poetry, or on virtue, as you wish.? ? Charles Baudelaire
But before we headed back home to Exeter, we had another challenge to face ? albeit somewhat easier. The next day we entered the great system of Agen Allwedd and proceeded in a large group to the pleasant hall of the Music Room. But that is another story for another day...
?Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.? ? Winston Churchill
Notes:
The cave, particularly the latter stage of this trip, was full of bats. We didn?t really have much choice at the time, and tried our best to not disturb any, but I was concerned that we were at the start of the hibernation period. It did make me uneasy; there are remarkably few caves shut over the winter due to bats and I do wonder sometimes if there should be more. But then I am not, and do not claim to be, a bat expert?
Also this was a standard EUSS trip with no alumni! Although I am sort of reverse Alumni as I am an actual student this year, but joined the club and started caving last year when I was a staff member rather than a student at Exeter...
Daren Cilau. The only cave system with an entrance so arduous it has a item of caving gear named after it. Could our intrepid foursome of EUSS cavers, two of them freshers, tackle this mighty cave and survive?
?Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit.? James Russell Lowell
I had been meaning to go to to Daren for some time to see the Time Machine and the Hard Rock Caf?, and I had been preparing the freshers by insisting it would be a long trip (although the expected time grew from eight to ten to twelve hours in the telling). In the end, a late start and general laziness meant a change of plan to a through trip, still an ambitious task given that none of us had been in the cave before. Would we find our way through and escape, or would we be doomed to walk the halls of Daren forever?
?The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.? ? Mark Twain
After breakfast, we began the pleasantly short walk to the Daren entrance. We were off to a good start as I led us directly to the entrance, having only looked at the map in the hut, by following the subtle trail of cavers? passage to the ominous low crawl at the bottom of the trench. After emptying our bladders in preparation for the horrors ahead, I climbed down to the entrance.
?Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.? ? Edgar Allan Poe
Dragging the tackle bag behind me, we began our crawl into the interminable crawl. Fortunately I am of fairly small proportions, and none of the squeezes presented any real obstacle. However, the Daren drum in my tackle sack is not much skinnier than me and thus required constant consideration. To be fair, the tackle sack was fairly well-behaved on this occasion, and for the most part I was not slowing down the rest of the party behind at any point.
?You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.? ? Robin Williams
At this point I began to really enjoy the crawl, cackling to myself as I raced through the tight tubes and narrow rifts from tiny chamber to tiny chamber. I think I alone became elated each time the passage dropped back to stream level and it was necessary to crawl through water on your elbows (although part of this may have been that dragging the bag through such bits was easy).
?We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.? ? Not Plato
Unfortunately this was also the time when my light decided to die a bit. Heavy use and general cave abuse had taken its toll on the battery leads on my lamp, and the light became to flicker and die. A bit of fiddling got it working again although it did maintain a habit of dying every time you accidentally bumped you head. Good thing the Daren entrance crawl is a high and lofty passage, right?
?Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.? ? Desiderius Erasmus
Eventually, after the somewhat sluggish time of one and a half hours, we emerged out of the crawl. We looked at each other, battered and bruised, left scarred by the entrance crawl in a way that would never show but never heal. Broken men and women, our spirits crushed, our hopes destroyed, our eyes opened to the true horrors of life and madness.
?Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.? ? Yousuf Karsh
Well, actually we quite enjoyed it, but we are good at breeding dark deviant masochists down here in Exeter! It was time to trudge on to Big Chamber Near The Entrance. First we passed through the chamber with the impressive crystal pool at one end. We gazed into the beauty of the crystal pool, shimmering in subtle splendour. Did the pool also look back at us, and see beauty in our mud-stained faces? Well, maybe not.
?Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.? ? Confucius
We then dropped down the choke at the back of the chamber and into the easy walk of Jigsaw Passage and its incongruous squeeze, The Wriggle. Aware of just how much cave was left to go, and wary of alleged navigational difficulties, I tried to encourage a slightly faster walking pace but the tired troops began to lack slightly behind, possibly unaware of the magnitude of the difficulties yet to be faces. Would we coalesce into a single competent team, or would we be driven apart by ambition and tiredness, by darkness and the cold, by desire to push on and need to rest?
?Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.? ? Henry Ford?
Arriving in Big Chamber Near The Entrance we signed the log book and took account of our next steps. Following the description we walked then crawled to the left end of the chamber as the ceiling lowered. A dead end!
?Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.? Henry David Thoreau
Further examination slightly back revealed an opening in the wall upwards into a chamber. Was this the way on? Was any of this necessary? Although I consulted my descriptions and surveys, the truth was I did not know. Nonetheless we continued on. Another junction! This time a long boulder slope up the left and a streamway dropping away to the right. The boulder slope was helpfully indicated with a reflective arrow, so throwing caution and navigational competence to the wind we headed up the slope.
?All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.? J. R. R. Tolkien
Finally we found ourselves trudging down Epocalypse Passage. Thus began the most incredibly delicately decorated cave passages I have seen in my brief caving career. Formations of delicate spiky crystals, outstanding helictites and the purest white flowstone and stalactites littered the passages both here and beyond into the start of Antler Passage. As we proceeded we saw a handline into a passage 2m off the ground, and correctly identified this as the start of Urchin Oxbow; we decided to leave this for another day.
?I'd rather live in a cave with a view of a palace than live in a palace with a view of a cave.? ? Karl Pilkington
We passed the Pagoda, a multi-tiered stalagmite and across the stream in the Kitchen. We took a left into (what we thought was) Antler Passage. This smaller passage ramped up the prettiness level even further. Aragonite crystals and formations lined the walls; this was a delicate but beautiful place and I was lucky to have ever seen it.
?I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.? ? Og Mandino
A short while later we encountered? the handline we had rejected earlier. I then realised we had just emerged from Urchin Oxbow, having looped back on ourselves, although all agreed that it had been a worthwhile diversion. We quickly descended the handline and went back past the Pagoda, through the kitchen and onwards into Antler Passage.
Antler Passage began similarly stunningly well-decorated. Finally the decorations faded as the passage went on. And on. And on.
And on.
And on.
I cannot begin to emphasise how long Antler Passage took. Although it is large passage, it is full of various obstacles. Firstly, most of the passage is full of breakdown which can be slow going anyway, but in many places this has piled up to a great height, meaning it must be climbed and then descended to proceed. I counted four sturdy chain ladders, the longest of which we lifelined. Traversing over the rift immediately after that ladder was probably the scariest part of the whole trip, although it wasn?t that hard. It is also the part of the trip I had the least information on; the descriptions were shortest and the survey poor.
?To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.? ? Friedrich Nietzsche
Did I mention it took ages? Doubts began to gnaw at us. We had been going this way for so long? Was it an hour? Hours? Days? Would civilization have moved on, or ended, while we burrowed for ever more deep, deep underground?
?Stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as the life age of the earth.? ? Gandalf
We consulted the description again, and again. ?Continuing up Antler Passage several climbs are encountered until the boulder chokes that lead into Busman's Holiday are reached.? Surely this was not enough words for the passage we were in? To read that phrase at an appropriate rate for our travel would have meant reading a single word about every three to six minutes. Only examination of the scale on a survey, showing this passage to be about 600m long, gave some hope that the end would ever come. Also I really needed a wee.
Then, lo! The corner at the end of the passage! At this point, we knew we would eventually escape the cave?s dark grasp. We were filled with hope and rejoicing, for we knew Busman?s Holiday would soon be upon us.
?The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.? ? Pliny the Elder
We had a much better survey from this point to the exit. Squeezing through the chokes, we emerged in Busman?s Holiday and (after I lengthily urinated in the stream in the choke) climbed the ladder and headed rapidly down the passage until we arrived in the magnificent Price?s Prophecy, a large stalactite filled chamber. This chamber also contains not one but two signs to the start of Ogof Cnwc and our exit from the cave, despite the whole chamber being taped which makes the junction rather obvious.
?Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.? ? Helen Keller
Ogof Cnwc itself, being recently dug, is still small and gravelly. After our lengthy exertions, no more than a hundred metres separated us from the cold light of the moon outside, but first we had to squeeze and crawl through tight tubes; turn tight corners, and climb down an impressive scaffolded shaft. We felt the breeze! Entering the final chamber, we knew our time in Daren had nearly come to an end, and surely enough the gate appeared and we launched ourselves out into the cold night airs.
?For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's futures. And we are all mortal.? ? John F. Kennedy
We had done it ? but were we the same people who went into the cave seven and a half hours ago? What had changed within us in that time? What strange desires led us here in the first place ? what called us from the darkness? We were changed ? we had grown, as individuals and as a team. We had faced Daren and lived. We had done nothing so trivial as ?beaten? it, but it would be with us now, and always. We had taken yet another step in our paths as cavers. Now was the time to return to the caving hut and share with the customs and traditions of the community we had chosen to be a part of.
?It is the hour to be drunken! to escape being the martyred slaves of time, be ceaselessly drunk. On wine, on poetry, or on virtue, as you wish.? ? Charles Baudelaire
But before we headed back home to Exeter, we had another challenge to face ? albeit somewhat easier. The next day we entered the great system of Agen Allwedd and proceeded in a large group to the pleasant hall of the Music Room. But that is another story for another day...
?Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.? ? Winston Churchill
Notes:
The cave, particularly the latter stage of this trip, was full of bats. We didn?t really have much choice at the time, and tried our best to not disturb any, but I was concerned that we were at the start of the hibernation period. It did make me uneasy; there are remarkably few caves shut over the winter due to bats and I do wonder sometimes if there should be more. But then I am not, and do not claim to be, a bat expert?
Also this was a standard EUSS trip with no alumni! Although I am sort of reverse Alumni as I am an actual student this year, but joined the club and started caving last year when I was a staff member rather than a student at Exeter...
Trip to Whitewalls next term for a Time Machine trip and a Grand Circle trip? 
