Go Below underground zip adventure· Page 3

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dwarrowdelf
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

10 years ago

#41

"RAMPAGE" wrote:

Cwmorthin will never be a theme park. The toll of the old men will always be respected to the highest degree, it's an honour to work in such an environment and also to be able to show it to other people. The more people (both explorers and our visitors) can see of it the better. It'll always have to be aimed at the more adventurous rather than kids etc, it's just the nature of the environment and I'm not interested in ruining it with smooth floors, gantries and safety barriers just to process more business through the door.

People don't really come to appreciate the mining environment, they are buying a fun day's adventure. But I make sure they all come away knowing plenty about the Victorian slate industry.

Cwmorthin is a very, very *real* place. Just last week I was in there with a group, and after doing some traverses, I got the group to switch their lights off and I lit an old abandoned tallow candle (I know where there are still piles of them!).

Took a minute to burn off the 120 years of damp since it was last lit, but it took. I squished it into a clay ball and got a woman to drill a 1" diameter shot hole in the face with a star-drill and copper mallet, to the pitifully dim glow and the faint aroma of Victorian bacon fat.

She told me nothing she'd ever read, seen on telly or in a museum came close to that experience of what a quarryman or miner really did, how it actually was. Especially when I told her that her shot hole had to be five foot deep by snap time :)

It's amazing for me and certainly the best part of the job, witnessing people really getting into it and taking something away from the day far more than they were expecting.

:thumbsup:

Will be back in a couple of months for some Cwm trips. Can't wait 🙂

'I wonder how many breakfasts, and other meals we have missed inside that nasty clockless, timeless hole?'

'The Hobbit'
J R R Tolkien.

TheBogieman
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

10 years ago

#42

Was good to see you again at the bottom of the corkscrew on Saturday afternoon Miles. Our party of 10 had another brilliant day in Cwm - some of the more experienced (A-N Thursday Nighters as you saw) plus 2 of my work colleagues tried out your new Tyroleans and had a ball whilst I took the less experienced newbies elsewhere - including looking over the wall at the Goliath(!!!) :o:o

Hope the security issues can be sorted soon as it's an even more awesome place to visit and we don't want it sealed off for good after all your efforts.

Explorans ad inferos

derrickhand
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

10 years ago

#43

"sinker" wrote:

"RAMPAGE" wrote:

"Ty Gwyn" wrote:
What`s the reasoning with the Copper Mallet for striking the drill?

Spark? Unsure. I just use one for my drilling and splitting demos. They were probably more commonly Iron back in the day.

Suppression of noise, vibration and spark...... But not really an issue when you have a tallow candle buning 6 inches away from the hole. ;)

I'd assume that it was to prevent eye injury from flying steel splinters from the hardened face of a steel hammer.

plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose

ragl
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

10 years ago

#44

The Sunday Times Travel Section has an enthusiastic write-up on Zip Below Xtreme in today's edition; Miles gets a namecheck too.

skimble
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

10 years ago

#45

"ragl" wrote:
The Sunday Times Travel Section has an enthusiastic write-up on Zip Below Xtreme in today's edition

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/travel/Holidays/Adventure/article1527247.ece?shareToken=084944ec5c2eef732caca513932e4fe2

staffordshirechina
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

10 years ago

#46

I'd agree with that.
A fair article.

RAMPAGE
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

10 years ago

#47

"ragl" wrote:
The Sunday Times Travel Section has an enthusiastic write-up on Zip Below Xtreme in today's edition; Miles gets a namecheck too.

I was really pleased to read that, it's a great article eh? I bought a couple of copies of the paper. Nice they've had the backbone to use the proper trip name, something the local papers wouldn't do.

As far as I'm aware we're also in the Guardian later in the week, and also ITV's "Coast and Country", on Friday I think.

:thumbup:

Beneath my steely exterior beats the heart of a dashing hero