andrewmcleod
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A round 100 is far too good a number to miss anyway 
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Cardiff University Darenthon
- Thread starter Standard Unit of Tom
- Start date
Standard Unit of Tom
Well-known member
Will post an update in the morning when not shattered!
Standard Unit of Tom
Well-known member
We had a very late start due to people faffing and not turning up to the kitstore at the agreed upon time of 9am, but eventually was set up at the entrance to Daren ready to go at midday. A tent, some roll mats and the france phone base station made up the surface area and we was preparing to take in snacks, water, emergency shelters and the handsets with us to box 8
The first group entered the crawl and did a quick test of the comms line at box 1, just past the vice before continuing onwards. Steady progress was made through to the end of the crawl where we setup our underground station at box 8 and established communication with the surface.
We made our way towards box 10 at the start of jigsaw passage as the daren diggers had kindly moved the rubbish bags from the logbook to there and this was the point we needed to reach in order to complete one "lap".
We then formed a chain through the boulder choke in order to pass all the bags up and out, very effectively manoeuvring them through and back to our underground setup at box 8. Where we spent a great deal of time very awkwardly trying to stuff them into the tacklesacks we'd brought in for taking stuff out.
After a break for some snacks and chatting we began to reenter the crawl, this time geared up with our bags of rubbish and relatively high morale (which would fall for some) as the sacks inside would begin to pop and the contents become satured with water and unbearably heavy. For a good portion of the group this was their first ever time in Daren and carrying soaking wet sleeping bags definitely made it a memorable one
But eventually everyone made it out once again and all the rubbish was piled up outside for us to admire the conservation work that we had done at the end of the night, but for now it was time to start again for our second lap and begin the series of challenges set by our donation goals!
Firstly I had been set a personal challenge of attempting to do the crawl only by candlelight, the first struggle was to simply light the candle outside... as the strong draught emanating kept blowing it out immediately, so I had to bend the rules of my challenge a little and cave past the first corner to begin with. Once at the the SSSI sign I lit the candle and made my way, making it through the vice purely by candlelight and all the way to almost box 2 before it went out again, spending a great deal of time trying to use the stormproof matches i had brought with me for this to little effect. Even they seemed to not like the moist and muddy environment and refused to light till eventually it sparked up once more. I made a little more progress before it went out again... then again... then again till I eventually ran out of matches and my striking pad was basically obliterated for the abuse I'd put it through. I had to abandon the candle and turn my torch back on to finish my lap. The challenge may be possible but I'd definitely need a better candle or better matches!
Another one of the challenges was to take an egg through unbroken by hand, a team of 3 was assembled to tackle this task as they worked together to pass it back and forth between them through obstacles in order to safely navigate its way through, snapping pictures at box 3, 8 and finally at 10, it successfully made its way through completely intact with not a single crack in sight!
By this point we had almost all completed two full laps of the entrance series and it was getting quite late/the surface was getting quite chilly and there was concerns of hypothermia. So we decided in the best interest of not having all the money we just raised be spent on rescuing us, that it would be best to pack up and return another day to complete the challenge. (Having completed 54 of our required 83 times yesterday) I will arrange for this to happen soon and it will be finished!!!
Altogether we have raised £1,501 through the Facebook donations page as well as other direct donations to SMWCRT that i have been made aware of! Thank you to everyone that donated, it is much appreciated! And thank you to all those that came and partook! Especially for those who's first experience of daren was this!
The first group entered the crawl and did a quick test of the comms line at box 1, just past the vice before continuing onwards. Steady progress was made through to the end of the crawl where we setup our underground station at box 8 and established communication with the surface.
We made our way towards box 10 at the start of jigsaw passage as the daren diggers had kindly moved the rubbish bags from the logbook to there and this was the point we needed to reach in order to complete one "lap".
We then formed a chain through the boulder choke in order to pass all the bags up and out, very effectively manoeuvring them through and back to our underground setup at box 8. Where we spent a great deal of time very awkwardly trying to stuff them into the tacklesacks we'd brought in for taking stuff out.
After a break for some snacks and chatting we began to reenter the crawl, this time geared up with our bags of rubbish and relatively high morale (which would fall for some) as the sacks inside would begin to pop and the contents become satured with water and unbearably heavy. For a good portion of the group this was their first ever time in Daren and carrying soaking wet sleeping bags definitely made it a memorable one
But eventually everyone made it out once again and all the rubbish was piled up outside for us to admire the conservation work that we had done at the end of the night, but for now it was time to start again for our second lap and begin the series of challenges set by our donation goals!
Firstly I had been set a personal challenge of attempting to do the crawl only by candlelight, the first struggle was to simply light the candle outside... as the strong draught emanating kept blowing it out immediately, so I had to bend the rules of my challenge a little and cave past the first corner to begin with. Once at the the SSSI sign I lit the candle and made my way, making it through the vice purely by candlelight and all the way to almost box 2 before it went out again, spending a great deal of time trying to use the stormproof matches i had brought with me for this to little effect. Even they seemed to not like the moist and muddy environment and refused to light till eventually it sparked up once more. I made a little more progress before it went out again... then again... then again till I eventually ran out of matches and my striking pad was basically obliterated for the abuse I'd put it through. I had to abandon the candle and turn my torch back on to finish my lap. The challenge may be possible but I'd definitely need a better candle or better matches!
Another one of the challenges was to take an egg through unbroken by hand, a team of 3 was assembled to tackle this task as they worked together to pass it back and forth between them through obstacles in order to safely navigate its way through, snapping pictures at box 3, 8 and finally at 10, it successfully made its way through completely intact with not a single crack in sight!
By this point we had almost all completed two full laps of the entrance series and it was getting quite late/the surface was getting quite chilly and there was concerns of hypothermia. So we decided in the best interest of not having all the money we just raised be spent on rescuing us
, that it would be best to pack up and return another day to complete the challenge. (Having completed 54 of our required 83 times yesterday) I will arrange for this to happen soon and it will be finished!!!Altogether we have raised £1,501 through the Facebook donations page as well as other direct donations to SMWCRT that i have been made aware of! Thank you to everyone that donated, it is much appreciated! And thank you to all those that came and partook! Especially for those who's first experience of daren was this
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asheshouse
Member
Very well done getting all those bags of rubbish out.
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