Win a Rab Ascent 500 Down Sleeping Bag - RRP £300!
- Thread starter Pegasus
- Start date
While driving across Europe to get too caving expeditions, have regular stopped too catch some sleep at various service stations, road sides etc the top tier being a French "aires".
On a particularly wet night I spent an hour looking for a suitable spot on Google street view before finding a gravel track under a railway bridge. We were not disturbed by viechles or the rain and had an excellent night sleep well rested for the continued journey.
aricooperdavis
Moderator
Hahah, that's disturbingly familiar - Europe in the summer must be plagued by British cavers trying to find somewhere to sleep! I think the worst night of my life was had when three of us shared a hammock in a hedge by the side of a dual-carriageway on the outskirts of Bruges on the way back from Slovenia. We arrived at 1am and didn't realise quite how public it was until we woke up!
Alex
Well-known member
Not certain if this count's as at no point were we actually asleep but anywho...
Now people who don't know me, but I really don't like Brexit (yes this is relevant) so on the day that became reality me and my husband John did not want to watch the celebrations and the smugness of the leave side, with we won get over it crap. I mean what did they win 5% less economic output more migrants anyway....
So we decided the only way to get away from it all was to not simply turn the TV off as we would hear the fireworks but to completely escape from it. So we decided to spend the night underground.
As I saw it we had two options Sand cavern in GG (Not officially allowed, and required faff of SRT etc) or a much shorter cave near greenfield "Fairy holes".
Entrance to fairy holes, uninspring?
We had been down there before, so we knew it was flat. John convinced me this was the better option, a lot less faff, we could just "walk" in. Well it involved a climb and lowering gear down. What we did not know was despite this cave being in gritstone the cave responded to rain, not dramatically, but enough to become very drippy and unpleasant. We tried to sleep here, but after 2 hours or so with sleeping bags becoming soaked we had to call it a night. We did not even manage the primary objective of escaping the celebrations as it was pub emptying time and several people tried to make us beep for brexit, they got something else instead!
miserable conditions...
Trying to get warm...
I'm not bitter, really I am not.
Now people who don't know me, but I really don't like Brexit (yes this is relevant) so on the day that became reality me and my husband John did not want to watch the celebrations and the smugness of the leave side, with we won get over it crap. I mean what did they win 5% less economic output more migrants anyway....
So we decided the only way to get away from it all was to not simply turn the TV off as we would hear the fireworks but to completely escape from it. So we decided to spend the night underground.
As I saw it we had two options Sand cavern in GG (Not officially allowed, and required faff of SRT etc) or a much shorter cave near greenfield "Fairy holes".
Entrance to fairy holes, uninspring?
We had been down there before, so we knew it was flat. John convinced me this was the better option, a lot less faff, we could just "walk" in. Well it involved a climb and lowering gear down. What we did not know was despite this cave being in gritstone the cave responded to rain, not dramatically, but enough to become very drippy and unpleasant. We tried to sleep here, but after 2 hours or so with sleeping bags becoming soaked we had to call it a night. We did not even manage the primary objective of escaping the celebrations as it was pub emptying time and several people tried to make us beep for brexit, they got something else instead!
miserable conditions...
Trying to get warm...
I'm not bitter, really I am not.
Rhys
Moderator
In the summer of 2003, I did my first trip into Otter Hole. I was attending a cave rescue conference at Penwyllt and we were called out for a rescue in Otter. After travelling across south Wales in the team Land Rover, I entered the cave with a fairly small group (possibly 8 of us) some time in the evening. We passed through the tidal sump knowing that it would close behind us and there would be no reinforcements coming until the morning. We duly reached the casualty in the thrutchy section of cave before the Hall of the Thirty (so we missed the pretties). When the casualty was stabilised and loaded on the the stretcher, we set about making a slow extraction, working through the night as a tiny but well gelled team. We had no other options or things to do; just get on with it! By the early hours of the morning, when the doctor (the late Tony Boycott) was assessing the casualty or at other rest points, I sat down and shut my eyes, possibly even putting my head on the stretcher. Delicious moments of uncomfortable dozing were grabbed before the call came to move on again. It was a relief to finally hand over to a new team just before the tidal sump and unpleasant entrance series. Back at the car park, in the mid morning, I lay down on the dusty ground in my clothes to sleep alongside the Land Rover (my lift back). It wasn't comfortable, but I was knackered! My later-to-be girlfriend and wife Mandie took pity on me. She gave me a Thermarest and threw a blanket or sleeping bag over me before she went into the cave to do a doctor shift underground - that certainly improved the sleeping experience!
Sorry BAdlad - great entry, however you are disqualified for being married to the judgeWhen the going gets tough. The tough have a snooze.Deadmans handshake legend Geoff Yeadon on Dowlass Moss.View attachment 23025
Lankyman
Well-known member
'Hey, cat, you know that lovely Rab sleeping bag you were looking forward to checking out? Well, I hate to break it to you but ... 'Also a special mention to Lankyman, a fab post
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Aw, feel terrible now - sorry cat
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