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Hereford Caving Club Caving Since 1951 |
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2008 Club Trip Reports |
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A small group arrived at the Nedd valley for this months club trip, with no chance of even finding the Little Neath entrance. So a exciting trip was had by all in Bridge cave where the water was really flowing down the waterfall making for a exhilarating few moments getting to it. Afterwards a visit further down the valley was had to view Pwll Y Rhyd and White Lady’s cave. They then went and explored Cwm Huw Bwb which is a old abandoned dig. A more detailed trip report will be in the next Newsletter. We arrived early at Chepstow, so we popped down to Tintern for a coffee and watched the river which seemed to be very high. Then we headed up to the meeting point, started to get changed when Kingsley and our warden arrived. Then we started our walk down to the cave entrance. Once there we had a bit of a rest and chat as we were still a bit early. It was then time to work our way in through the entrance series which was very muddy but still had some fine formations. Route finding was fairy straightforward as it was a matter of following the electric cables.
Then we got as far as the sump. The eye above the sump was open so we could have swum across and gone through the eye but instead we waited for the sump to clear. Whilst waiting, you could see the water level dropping and the sounds that were being transmitted from various siphons and air locks made a very musical tune. This took about 1/2 hour to drain down enough for us to walk through without getting too wet. Once through we had a few climbs and steps over awkward gaps but it was then into a nice streamway. This was about 12in deep now but had been about 10ft high about 1 hour ago before the sump opened. You could see where the water level had been. From here we continued to follow the stream, climbing boulders and all sorts on route until we came to a area where we could wash ourselves down before starting the climb up to a higher level. Then after about another 1/2 hour of climbing and crawling we arrived at Hall of Thirty where we stopped to have something to eat and drink before we started to explore and take photos. This whole area is pretty from the start with nice clean straws, curtains and formations all over the floor, and the further we continued the better it got with the grand finale at the end with massive stalagmites filling the final chamber. We spent about a hour here just walking around taking it all in before regrouping at the start of this Hall. It was then time to work our way back out and get to the sump before it closes. As it happened we made it in plenty of time as the water levels were very low. Once through we took a more leisurely pace before emerging back out into almost daylight where it was chucking it down with rain. So with the steady walk back up to our vehicles some of the mud did manage to get washed off by the rain. Well this was a very enjoyable trip, and one that we will return to again next year and probably go for an over-tide trip where the sump will fill up behind us. Due to not many people being able to make last weeks club trip, a few of us got together to and organised a little trip into OFD2. As we were in no great rush and Allen and Linda wanted to get to know this cave better, it was left to them to guide the rest of us down to the Trident and Judge which can be very daunting leading a group especially if you have always been following others. Anyway they made steady progress and only made one wrong decision, where upon Kingsley put them right. And it was not too long before we were all at the Trident, here I managed to take a few photographs whilst Kingsley and others went exploring around the Swamp Creek area, Kingsley also managed to find a passage that he had never explored before with some nice formations and it kept going, but as this was not on our planned trip we would have a lot at this another time. So once we had regrouped at the Trident and Linda had finished eating, we started our return trip back out, Allen and Linda had to think about a few of the passages as they do look so much different going in the opposite direction, but they did managed to get us all back out to the surface where the sun was still shining and the heat just hit us as we emerged through the gate. It was then just a pleasant walk back down to our vehicles where we were able to eat our sandwiches in the sun. This was suppose to be Tunnel Cave, but as Kingsley was not able to make this trip, I was not entirely sure of route finding through this cave as it is now a through trip, so once we have entered and pulled the rope down behind us there is no turning back, so instead Pauline and I went into Dan yr Ogof and did the round trip.
We got to the DYO car park for about 10.00am, got changed into our wetsuits and entered the showcave as soon as it opened, water levels in the lakes were quite low but still cold. Once through we were soon on dry land, this is where Pauline took over leading as she wanted to get to know this cave, anyway we soon got to Boulder Chamber and after a bit of crawling we emerged out into Straw Chamber and in no time at all we were at the Cattle trough and the start of the long crawl which lasted for about 15 minutes as we popped out into Gerard Platten Hall. We had a brief stop at the Crystal Pool for photos before continuing down Grand Canyon to Monk Hall and Clound Chamber which is very nice big area with lovely clusters of straws. Next came the awkward climb to the start of the Green Canal, with Pauline being a bit short she struggled here, but we then found a solution where she could use a sling and lasso the top of a pointed rock and clip the steppy sling onto this sling giving her easy access up this climb. Next came the Green Canal where luckily enough there were loads of buoyancy aids at this end, it was now just a matter of climbing down the Abyss and heading towards Bakerloo straight past the Washing Machine and popping back out by the Crystal Pool. We had now returned back to where we started and headed back towards the Long crawl, before exiting the cave we visited Wigmore Hall which again is very pretty. We both very much enjoyed this trip and look forward to spending more time in this cave. After our last attempt to get to Maytime failed due to navigation problems, this time we were determined to get there. So we met up at the Cattle grid for 10.00am, got kitted up and started our walk up to the entrance. It was 11.00 am as we entered the cave and wrote an estimated time out of 20.00hr. We made good time to Main Chamber (1/2 hour). We then headed down Main Passage until we came to the entrance of Southern Stream Passage. This passage just seemed to go on for ages. We then climbed up into Gothic Passage which then after a while turned into a crawl followed by a T-junction where upon we turned right, and carried on crawling until we came to a large sand filled chamber. We had now entered Maytime, this sand would be with us all the time now as we crawled from chamber to chamber with the occasional walking size passage. As we progressed further, we came across more and more pretty formations and pristine mud formations with crystals growing in all directions. At one point we came across a crystallised river which had been really well protected. Some of the crawling became quite tight in places and we started to
It certainly felt very remote here, with a range of air tanks and diving equipment at the top of the slope. Pete was the only one to explore the stream a bit whilst the rest of us had a rest and something to eat. It was now 3.00pm so we started our return trip. The crawls were now taking quite a bit of effort to get through as we were a lot more tired now, although it was nice to be crawling through soft sand rather than hard rocks and pebbles like Priory Road. After a few hours of this we eventually got back to Southern Stream Passage which was just as bad going back up as it was coming down. This took us another couple of hours to complete. Eventually we popped back out into Main Passage where we stopped for a small rest and to eat the remainder of our supplies knowing that we were almost out at this point. So with our rest completed we set of again. It felt so nice to be able to walk in a upright position along Main Passage. We just had to negotiate the entrance series before emerging back out into a very warm summers evening. We exited the cave at 8.00pm, making this a very fine 9 hour trip, and we all felt like we had been caving for 9 Since the trip to the Nave fell through, Julia, Linda, Allen and Kingsley did a trip to OFD1 streamway to give Linda a taste of a big active streamway. A quick walk down to the entrance on a fine misty morning where we were soon underground passing loads of frogs in the damp entrance.We soon reached the stream which was quite low but sporting enough for Linda who managed very well. We made a leisurely trip to Lowes Chain (rope) and returned down the steamway. Near the entrance I had a look up some of the side passages, including Skeleton Chamber where I had never been before.On reaching daylight the mist had cleared to give sunshine and we were able to sit out at Penwyllt and eat our food. This was the first time we have been into this cave for a while, so this trip was well overdue. Anyway Kingsley, Ann, Pauline and myself met up at the now reduced is size parking area and got kitted up, we then filled in the book with St Davids Hall as our destination. We had a pleasant walk down to the gate, then made our way into the entrance series, the stream had a reasonable flow to it so we got a bit damp climbing down and under the waterfall and we were soon at the first pitch where we set up the ladder, we also noticed that a new rope had been installed here.
Once all down it was onwards to Cairn Junction where we turned right and continued through the crawls until we popped out in White Arch Passage. From here we bolder hopped our way down to Lamb and Fox Chamber and then along Indiana Highway, over the roped traverses and onto the start of Megadrive, whilst going down Megadrive Kingsley noticed a few areas of crystals very similar to the ones located in Aggy Main Passage, these only seemed to be in one area on top of large boulders. Eventually we got to Perseverance 2, once through this we headed towards our normal drinking and resting stop near the Rift Chambers, After our rest we returned back and headed to the Balcony Pitch, where we descended the fixed ladder with life-line and then went exploring the St Davids Hall area, after a while of exploring and taking photos we started our return trip back out, where we met up with another caver in the Megadrive area. We were back out into daylight within a few hours feeling rather tired. A good trip that we all enjoyed. With the weather forecasts informing us of heavy snow and genially rough weather for today, this must of put a few people off, but as it happened we had very little snow, no wind and the sun was out. So once we had all kitted up, we started our walk over to the entrance on the moor. Once there we rigged the entrance pitch with ladder and lifeline, some of the group just abseiled down on the rope whilst others used the ladder itself.
At the bottom we all de-kitted, then went upstream to visit the waterfall which was flowing well, then we started our trip downstream where we stopped quite often as Paul was making a film on this trip, lighting was provided by Jan and Pauline who kept swapping between them, anyway we made it through the boulder chokes and then headed up into Straw chamber where more filming was done. From here we had the descent back down into the stream and onwards to Sabre Junction then on again to the third boulder choke (more filming here with the stream and formations) we then emerged out into the Great Hall. From here we turned left down towards the Fire Hydrant which could be heard for some distance before we got to it, more filming was done around here. It was at this point that we turned around and started our way back out, but we did make a slight detour to visit the Vestry for filming, we had just finished filming here as the main lighting unit battery failed, so no more filming until we got back to the entrance pitch where there was some natural light, getting everybody out and de-rigging the pitch took about half a hour. The wind had picked up a bit, but it was still pleasant in the sun for our return walk back to the vehicles. Ogof Ffynnon Ddu — 6th January As we had not been able to get a key for Craig y Ffynnon by Saturday 5th, we had to make a change of venue for our January club trip. As only a couple of people had contacted Jan by Saturday afternoon about attending we catered a trip for those, so we headed down to OFD2. We met up for 10.30am and awaiting the arrival of Julia who was delayed due to poor road conditions. We then made our way up to the entrance. Once inside it certainly felt a lot warmer getting away from that cold wind. We then headed up into the White Arch Series and Mini Columns area where Barry spent quite a bit of time setting up and taking photos while the others spent their time exploring just about every crack and hole in this area.
They found some very nice little grottos and various other bits that are just missed whenever we do a normal trip up and around this area. So although we did not go deep into this cave (in fact, we were never no more than about 15 minutes from the entrance at any point during the day). We all enjoyed what we did and it was certainly an easy relaxed trip. The weather was not very promising for this trip with strong winds and snow forecasted, but as it happened we just had the cold strong wind. Anyway we all met up at the normal Llygad parking area and got changed, as we made our way across the field, on route we met a group of walkers heading towards us who said that the water looked high. At the entrance we could see that the water was emerging quite well so we knew that the water levels inside would be higher than normal. I was the first one up into the entrance hole, where I was then able to tie off a rope and set up the steppy slings which would make life easier for the rest of the group.
Once all inside we then made our way towards the first water chamber, here I set up a line across the fast flowing river so that it could be crossed safely, only some of us crossed as others did not want to get too wet (river up to waist height). I spent quite a bit of time here playing with camera and flashguns while the rest of the team went exploring the other river chambers, I then continued onwards and caught up with them again at the final chamber, quite a bit of time was spent exploring different routes and finding all of the various chambers, eventually we all met up again, before working our way back towards the entrance where again we set up the rope as a hand line to help us back out and down to ground level. Once outside Rupert went body surfing down the river (one way of washing off your caving kit). On the walk back to the vehicles we really noticed the cold wind. This trip had to be abandoned at the entrance of this cave due to the fact that we were issued with the incorrect key. Some of the group then went exploring the Clydach Gorge. All Material contained on this website is copyright ©Hereford Caving Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
