When: 29 Sept 2013 15.00 – 17.00 pm.
Where: Swanage Stone Quarrs
Who: Darren T,Rich T, Oz, Rubberduck and Moleman.
Full report to be posted soon.
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Lloyd Hall, Gough's Cave, Cheddar Gorge.
When: 25 Sept 2013 20.00 – 22.00 pm.
Where: Lloyd Hall, Gough's Cave, Cheddar Gorge.
Who: Darren T, C Castle. N Dennis, S Clegg, S Tidey, A Sparrow, R Sparrow, Max and J Durber.
Lloyd Hall is a subterranean river chamber in the depths of Goughs Showcave, not accessible to the general public. We assembled outside and got changed into our gear, some of our group opted to abseil and some were going to climb the rickety fixed ladder to the divers platform in the chamber. Chris went on ahead to do some rigging as we faffed about in the showcave. Andy advised that it would probably be best if we split into to groups as there would be a lot of waiting at the pitch if everyone went at the same time. It so happened that all the girls in the group went off and did the X-tream caving circuit, which is a 1 and a half hour caving taster trip around some of the less accessible parts of the cave http://www.cheddargorge.co.uk/x-treme/adventure-caving.
We then climbed round one of the pools on show and disappeared behind it, over a few boulders and into the bedding plane. Its an uphill crawl with about a foot of room from floor to ceiling, this opens out into a chamber with the rift to the right which is the way down to Lloyd Hall. As Andy Judi and myself were going to traverse along the rift to the ladder we went first. Max and Sean were abseiling down. It was quite good fun traversing along a rift using your feet to push yourself against the wall behind you with a forty foot drop to the water below. Don't think even a stick person could fall down though, as the rift got tighter the further down it went. Once on the ladder it was a longish climb down to the wooden platform that is the divers platform where you would need to put your diving gear on if you want to explore this cave anymore. The water level was very low and you could see the different colour to the rock where the level has sometimes been. This was some 12 feet or so above where we were. The water is from an underground river which resurges outside the entrance to the cave further down the road.
We sat and waited for Sean and Max to abseil down to us. After 3/4 of an hour or so it was time to climb the ladder back to the top. We regrouped and then the girls arrived. They wanted to go down to the chamber so went back to the showcave to do the X-tream caving circuit. The bedding plane was fun sliding down head first into the puddle at the bottom. If you fancy spending £20.00 on an exciting challenge then have a go at the adventure caving in Goughs Cave as its a good introduction to the sport of caving. Thanks to Chris for organising this trip and maybe we can do the Hairy Ring sometime.
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Where: Lloyd Hall, Gough's Cave, Cheddar Gorge.
Who: Darren T, C Castle. N Dennis, S Clegg, S Tidey, A Sparrow, R Sparrow, Max and J Durber.
Lloyd Hall is a subterranean river chamber in the depths of Goughs Showcave, not accessible to the general public. We assembled outside and got changed into our gear, some of our group opted to abseil and some were going to climb the rickety fixed ladder to the divers platform in the chamber. Chris went on ahead to do some rigging as we faffed about in the showcave. Andy advised that it would probably be best if we split into to groups as there would be a lot of waiting at the pitch if everyone went at the same time. It so happened that all the girls in the group went off and did the X-tream caving circuit, which is a 1 and a half hour caving taster trip around some of the less accessible parts of the cave http://www.cheddargorge.co.uk/x-treme/adventure-caving.
We then climbed round one of the pools on show and disappeared behind it, over a few boulders and into the bedding plane. Its an uphill crawl with about a foot of room from floor to ceiling, this opens out into a chamber with the rift to the right which is the way down to Lloyd Hall. As Andy Judi and myself were going to traverse along the rift to the ladder we went first. Max and Sean were abseiling down. It was quite good fun traversing along a rift using your feet to push yourself against the wall behind you with a forty foot drop to the water below. Don't think even a stick person could fall down though, as the rift got tighter the further down it went. Once on the ladder it was a longish climb down to the wooden platform that is the divers platform where you would need to put your diving gear on if you want to explore this cave anymore. The water level was very low and you could see the different colour to the rock where the level has sometimes been. This was some 12 feet or so above where we were. The water is from an underground river which resurges outside the entrance to the cave further down the road.
We sat and waited for Sean and Max to abseil down to us. After 3/4 of an hour or so it was time to climb the ladder back to the top. We regrouped and then the girls arrived. They wanted to go down to the chamber so went back to the showcave to do the X-tream caving circuit. The bedding plane was fun sliding down head first into the puddle at the bottom. If you fancy spending £20.00 on an exciting challenge then have a go at the adventure caving in Goughs Cave as its a good introduction to the sport of caving. Thanks to Chris for organising this trip and maybe we can do the Hairy Ring sometime.
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Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Monkton Farleigh Quarry (Brown's Folly Mine).
When: 4 Sept 2013 19.30 – 21.15 pm.
Where: Monkton Farleigh Quarry (Brown's Folly Mine).
Who: Darren T, Rich T.
Last minute change of plan as we were supposed to do a photo trip to Hilliers cave to find the Red Room and the infamous Red Stall.
Due to lack of interest from our club members we decided to go to Browns Quarry and have a look at the good work Mr Brian C has been doing to tidy the place up. Its been nearly a year since we were last there as we used this place to get cave fit again after my eight month layoff with a broken foot.
This is the underground Quarry that first got us interested in underground exploration. We will never tire of exploring it as its got over 20 km of passage ways and part of it was used by the MOD to store Ammunition and Explosive Shells during the Second World War. The quarry was known as CAD 3 (Central Ammunition Depot No 3). It was split up into storage districts. Unfortunately you can no longer access most of these parts as they belong to a secure storage company. However every now and then some parts do become available for exploration, but that's another story perhaps not for today!
The old parts are easy to access and so it was to these we went. We parked and got kitted up and walked to the entrance hole, as always its a bit muddy. We decided to follow the main tourist route we wanted to see the work that has been done. The walls etc are now probably in the condition they were when the MOD took it over and evicted the Quarrymen in the 30s, graffiti free apart from the scribbling's laid down by the Quarrymen over the last 150 years or so.
We continued down Longs Passage into Clapham Junction then down Clapham Passage into Prop Chamber. Railway Passage takes you to the Square Well and the Ferret Cage, said to be used to keep ferrets in by a Quarryman as his wife wouldn't have them at home.
We returned to Clapham Junction and took some pictures. Then we went down Clapham Passage the other way and had a look at the three troughs but they were empty of water due to the hot summer. After a while sitting and chatting we made our way out. At the end of a passage we noticed a hole that we had not seen before, I crawled through and followed a passage for some distance not sure where this led as we were close to the old storage districts. I returned and vowed to come back with my survey as this had been left at home as we had not planed to come here tonight.
Where: Monkton Farleigh Quarry (Brown's Folly Mine).
Who: Darren T, Rich T.
Last minute change of plan as we were supposed to do a photo trip to Hilliers cave to find the Red Room and the infamous Red Stall.
Due to lack of interest from our club members we decided to go to Browns Quarry and have a look at the good work Mr Brian C has been doing to tidy the place up. Its been nearly a year since we were last there as we used this place to get cave fit again after my eight month layoff with a broken foot.
This is the underground Quarry that first got us interested in underground exploration. We will never tire of exploring it as its got over 20 km of passage ways and part of it was used by the MOD to store Ammunition and Explosive Shells during the Second World War. The quarry was known as CAD 3 (Central Ammunition Depot No 3). It was split up into storage districts. Unfortunately you can no longer access most of these parts as they belong to a secure storage company. However every now and then some parts do become available for exploration, but that's another story perhaps not for today!
The old parts are easy to access and so it was to these we went. We parked and got kitted up and walked to the entrance hole, as always its a bit muddy. We decided to follow the main tourist route we wanted to see the work that has been done. The walls etc are now probably in the condition they were when the MOD took it over and evicted the Quarrymen in the 30s, graffiti free apart from the scribbling's laid down by the Quarrymen over the last 150 years or so.
We continued down Longs Passage into Clapham Junction then down Clapham Passage into Prop Chamber. Railway Passage takes you to the Square Well and the Ferret Cage, said to be used to keep ferrets in by a Quarryman as his wife wouldn't have them at home.
We returned to Clapham Junction and took some pictures. Then we went down Clapham Passage the other way and had a look at the three troughs but they were empty of water due to the hot summer. After a while sitting and chatting we made our way out. At the end of a passage we noticed a hole that we had not seen before, I crawled through and followed a passage for some distance not sure where this led as we were close to the old storage districts. I returned and vowed to come back with my survey as this had been left at home as we had not planed to come here tonight.
Clapham Junction.
Clapham Junction.
Three Water Troughs.
Square Well.
WW2 Ammo Cases and other bit and pieces.
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Wednesday, 31 July 2013
Compton Martin Ochre Mine, Mendip.
When: 31 July 2013 19.30 – 21.15 pm.
Where: Compton Martin Ochre Mine, Mendip.
Who: Darren T, Rich T. B Hanley and S Tidey.
Compton Martin Ochre mine is at the back of opencast workings in a bed of red ochre. The mine was dug by using the pillar and stall method.
There was once two openings into the mine but sadly one collapsed and the remaining one was looking very precarious but thanks to two bodies of like minded enthusiasts it has been shawled up with wooden beams and a concrete pipe so should be ok for a while longer. However once inside it is a different matter as a lot of the original wooden supports have rotted away and the roof is looking very unstable in places. Its a small mine with a maze of passages and falls. Some of the supports have fungi growing out of them and some have disintegrated altogether. Its a very interesting mine but you wouldn't want to spend too long exploring it.
Where: Compton Martin Ochre Mine, Mendip.
Who: Darren T, Rich T. B Hanley and S Tidey.
Compton Martin Ochre mine is at the back of opencast workings in a bed of red ochre. The mine was dug by using the pillar and stall method.
There was once two openings into the mine but sadly one collapsed and the remaining one was looking very precarious but thanks to two bodies of like minded enthusiasts it has been shawled up with wooden beams and a concrete pipe so should be ok for a while longer. However once inside it is a different matter as a lot of the original wooden supports have rotted away and the roof is looking very unstable in places. Its a small mine with a maze of passages and falls. Some of the supports have fungi growing out of them and some have disintegrated altogether. Its a very interesting mine but you wouldn't want to spend too long exploring it.
Damp and rotten roof support.
Fungi growing on roof support.
Passage with roof supports.
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Wednesday, 17 July 2013
Sludge Pit Hole, Priddy, Mendip.
When: 17 July 2013 19.00 – 21.15 pm.
Where: Sludge Pit Hole, Priddy, Mendip.
Who: Darren T, Rich T. A Sparrow, C Castle, N Denis, T Denning-Kendle and S Tidey.
This was the first time most of us had visited this cave as there has been no access for the past twenty odd years. Andy and Chris have been down before as they have been caving for donkeys years. There has been a number of access restrictions placed on the cave, such as an admission fee and peoples names put in a visitor book. This is all done just inside the entrance. Once we had signed ourselves in and paid our dues we rigged the pitch with a ladder and lifeline and descended to the bottom. We assembled in Fault passage and headed down towards I think Shale series then down Tributary passage, left at the end into four pots rift. Most of the team went through this but Chris, Trish and myself opted for the easier option through the Maze into the area past Triple Arch. After a short rest we backtracked through the Maze and into the main rift. We then went to the end and had a look at the dig by the sump. On the way out some of us went through Aragonite rift and Strike chamber. We were soon all ascending the ladder and back to the surface. This is a short but very sporting cave (very tight in places).
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Where: Sludge Pit Hole, Priddy, Mendip.
Who: Darren T, Rich T. A Sparrow, C Castle, N Denis, T Denning-Kendle and S Tidey.
This was the first time most of us had visited this cave as there has been no access for the past twenty odd years. Andy and Chris have been down before as they have been caving for donkeys years. There has been a number of access restrictions placed on the cave, such as an admission fee and peoples names put in a visitor book. This is all done just inside the entrance. Once we had signed ourselves in and paid our dues we rigged the pitch with a ladder and lifeline and descended to the bottom. We assembled in Fault passage and headed down towards I think Shale series then down Tributary passage, left at the end into four pots rift. Most of the team went through this but Chris, Trish and myself opted for the easier option through the Maze into the area past Triple Arch. After a short rest we backtracked through the Maze and into the main rift. We then went to the end and had a look at the dig by the sump. On the way out some of us went through Aragonite rift and Strike chamber. We were soon all ascending the ladder and back to the surface. This is a short but very sporting cave (very tight in places).
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Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Sally's Rift Cave,
When: 3 July 2013 19.30 – 10.00 pm.
Where: Sally's Rift Cave, Bathford.
Who: Darren T, Rich T. A Sparrow, B Handley and C Castle.
This was our second trip to this cave and almost exactly two years since we last went. (See report June 2011). This time we went with Cheddar caving club. We met at the layby and got changed. I had the GPS coordinates on my phone for the entrance and after 15 minutes or so we found the hole. This time we free climbed down the pitch which last time we climbed over. Its easily doable as its not very steep. At the bottom we went along the main passage until a sort of crossroads and turned right into a rift passage, at the end of this it comes to another passage which runs parallel with the main passage. Turn left and continue until there is a turning on the right. Continue left then right and this brings you to the bottom of the climb with the bar at the top. You are now in the boulder chamber with a decorated rift to the left. Through a hole in the side you go down a tight 5 meter pitch. The ladder was rigged for this to make it easier on the exit. This is where it starts to get fun as some of the rifts and passages are quite tight and awkward. Climb up and over a coffin shaped slab and you will soon come to the boulder rift, this is where it gets very tight. Andy could not get through and was very disappointed as 30 odd years ago when he last came here he could get through into the last section of the cave. We reversed our route and soon were free climbing out to the exit.
We decided that we would return another day with a hammer or some caps and enlarge the hole slightly so we could all fit through and make it to the end.
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Where: Sally's Rift Cave, Bathford.
Who: Darren T, Rich T. A Sparrow, B Handley and C Castle.
This was our second trip to this cave and almost exactly two years since we last went. (See report June 2011). This time we went with Cheddar caving club. We met at the layby and got changed. I had the GPS coordinates on my phone for the entrance and after 15 minutes or so we found the hole. This time we free climbed down the pitch which last time we climbed over. Its easily doable as its not very steep. At the bottom we went along the main passage until a sort of crossroads and turned right into a rift passage, at the end of this it comes to another passage which runs parallel with the main passage. Turn left and continue until there is a turning on the right. Continue left then right and this brings you to the bottom of the climb with the bar at the top. You are now in the boulder chamber with a decorated rift to the left. Through a hole in the side you go down a tight 5 meter pitch. The ladder was rigged for this to make it easier on the exit. This is where it starts to get fun as some of the rifts and passages are quite tight and awkward. Climb up and over a coffin shaped slab and you will soon come to the boulder rift, this is where it gets very tight. Andy could not get through and was very disappointed as 30 odd years ago when he last came here he could get through into the last section of the cave. We reversed our route and soon were free climbing out to the exit.
We decided that we would return another day with a hammer or some caps and enlarge the hole slightly so we could all fit through and make it to the end.
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Saturday, 22 June 2013
Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, the Cave of the Black Spring. South Wales.
When: 21, 22, 23 June 2013.
Where: Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, the Cave of the Black Spring. South Wales.
Who: Darren T, Rich T, A Sparrow, R Sparrow, K Passant, J Durber, E Waters, H Clark.
Cheddar Caving Club trip to OFD
OFD 1: Toast Rack, Dug out, wire traverses, Rawl Series, Lowes Chain,
OFD 1 and a half: The Connection, Diver's Pitch,
Cwm Dwr: Piccadilly, Nether Rawl, The Smithy, Cwm Dwr Jama, Dim Dwr (crawl) and out.
On the way you can see up into the hills. What is usually a small brook was a raging torrent and our party of seasoned cavers went quiet. We pressed on down the hill and the sun came out and soon the mood lifted to thoughts of the adventure ahead. We stopped for a quick group photo at the entrance to the cave. Where the sun had come out so had the midges and we were being eaten alive so we quickly entered the cave, down the rickety old iron ladder we went and regrouped at the bottom. We followed the passageway to the foot of a small climb which leads to the Toast rack, so called because it is a rock feature that looks like a toast rack set into the floor. The passage carries on to the main stream way. We could hear the water raging through on its way to the resurgence. Andy, Ed etc went and had a look to see how high it was. Rich and myself went up the toast rack and had a look from above, the water was moving very fast and from above you can see why its called the black spring. The rock is very dark and makes the water appear black. The rest of the group caught us up and we set off again in search of part of the cave system called Dug out. After a right turn we ended up going down a few tightish wet crawls and nobody recognised where we were so we backtracked and went left. This was the right way and we soon arrived at the wire traverses. One traverse is called the Airy Fairy. We continued on a bit to another 30m traverse with a drop below into the stream way, at the end you have to unclip yourself and stand on a iron bar and climb over a big bolder to continue. We all safely negotiated this and soon found ourselves in the Rawl series. After this there is a bedding plane crawl called roly poly passage. On a bit farther we arrived at Lowes Chain, which is about a 12ft drop into the stream way. There used to be a chain to aid the climb down but bits easier to use a rope and abseil down. Once we were all down we followed the stream way called Upper Flood Passage to the Boulder Chamber, on through Starlight Chamber to the connection with OFD 1 1/2. The next obstacle is the Letterbox. This is a letterboxed shaped hole about 12" high by 24" wide in the rock about 20ft up the side of a chamber. Andy took the end of the rope and free climbed the pitch and posted himself through the hole. One by one we followed. very difficult to try and go through the hole as its best to go through feet first hanging from a silly piece of rope which isn't long enough to get your legs out straight enough to go through. The lifeline Andy is holding is there to stop you falling to the bottom not to use to pull yourself through. Having said that its good fun to go through. I would like to come the other way. We all regrouped at the bottom of a passage and waited for Ed and Rich to find the way on to a ledge which is partway down the Divers Pitch. This is a 12 meter Pitch to the passage below. After much faffing we concluded that it was nowhere to be found and we would have to abseil the full length of the pitch. All hail that man who suggested bringing the 30m rope as the 20 would have been far to short. As it is the 30 is not long enough for the last person down to do a pull through with the rope. This is where you abseil down the bolted side of the rope and once at the bottom pull the loose end and the rope comes through the bolt to the ground. Not sure how Andy did it but with the aid of a sling he managed, probably best not to dwell on that one.
The bottom of the Divers Pitch signifies you are now in the cave called Cwm Dwr. It was time to get a jog on if we were to avoid the embarrassment of cave rescue coming to meet us as our call out time was beginning to creep ever closer and we were only two thirds into the trip. Through Piccadilly and The Nether Rawl series. Next comes the part of the cave called the Smithy and then Cwm Dwr Choke. This is a part of the cave where the roof has collapsed and you have to crawl, climb and wriggle through, over and under lots of boulders. Some very interesting body positions have to be got into to complete this. We should have bought the game Twister when the kids were small. Next we actually go under the SWCC hut far above on the surface. After a few short climbs we are in Cwm Dwr Jamma where there is lots of white calcite. Next is the Dim Dwr which signifies we are nearly home. This is the part a few of us were dreading. It is a long (about 500ft) crawl through a passage which closes down to about 10" high by 16" wide. Its very confined but you have to go through it unless you want to go all the way back the way you have just come. Its not as bad as it sounds as the thought of getting to the surface at the end gets you through it. After this there is a climb up some concrete tubes to the gate on the surface. We finally exited at 18.45, 15 minutes before callout. Andy was first then Rich then me. Judie was next and she found us sat in the rain talking about the last seven hours lol. She said it would probably be a good idea for someone to go to the SWCC hut and tell them we were out. I think we agreed with her but carried on sitting there. In the end Judie went on ahead to the hut. Back at the hut we all showered and changed and met up in the common room for tea.
That evening we went to the village and had a very nice hot meal in the pub and talked about the trip.
Later on back at the hut we decided that as most of us were tired and bruised from the days antics we would decide in the morning what to do on Sunday. As it was we were all to knackered to do anything so we slowly packed our kit together and departed for home.
What a great weekend. Thanks to all that made it so good, we WILL return to OFD.
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Where: Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, the Cave of the Black Spring. South Wales.
Who: Darren T, Rich T, A Sparrow, R Sparrow, K Passant, J Durber, E Waters, H Clark.
Cheddar Caving Club trip to OFD
OFD 1: Toast Rack, Dug out, wire traverses, Rawl Series, Lowes Chain,
OFD 1 and a half: The Connection, Diver's Pitch,
Cwm Dwr: Piccadilly, Nether Rawl, The Smithy, Cwm Dwr Jama, Dim Dwr (crawl) and out.
Rich and myself left Salisbury on Friday afternoon and arrived at the SWCC hut at about 5.30pm. We checked in and started to erect the tent. The forecast was wet. We had the option of staying in the bunkhouse or using Richards old tent. Rich was all for tenting it but I was having reservations as the clouds were getting blacker. We soon had the tent up and I was putting my sleeping bag inside it when I noticed two holes in the roof. That's it I thought I'm in the bunkhouse. When I pointed out the holes to Rich he agreed and we moved our kit into the bunkhouse. We took the tent down and put it in the bin lol. The rest of our team weren't due to arrive for a few hours so we had something to eat and had a wander round. The South Wales Caving Club bunkhouse is a converted terrace of 10 small cottages at Penwyllt. Penwyllt is in the
upper Swansea Valley, on the southern edge of the Black Mountain. Directly beneath the cottages is part of one of the deepest and longest caves in
Britain, Ogof Ffynnon Ddu. There are three
entrances to this system within walking distance of the cottages - - the OFD I or bottom entrance, the Cwm Dwr entrance and the OFD II or top
entrance. By 9.30pm everyone had arrived, Andy and Rachel opted to spend the night in their new tent and everyone else slept in the bunkhouse. We all met up in the common room to discuss plans for the weekend, the original plan was to do the OFD 1 to OFD 2 through trip on Saturday and Dan-yr-Ogof on Sunday. Rich and myself were going to find some mines to explore on Sunday as party sizes are limited for DYO and you are advised to wear full wetsuits etc. Ed advised us all that due to the recent rain and the forecast for more that the DYO trip could not happen. We were all getting a bit concerned that OFD trip was not looking good either, so we revised our plan that we would probably do OFD 1 to Cwm Dwr depending on the weather Saturday. After a few hours of tea and beer drinking and hearing about Kens strange aversion to puppies and underpants we went our separate ways to our bunks. We awoke Saturday morning to more rain and after breakfast assembled in the common room again to plan the day. Andy had driven down the road to look at the resurgence where the river exits the hillside as this can give an indication as to what the streamway will be like in the cave, the stream was more like a river pouring out with some force. After more tea drinking and faffing we decided we would do OFD 1 to Cwm Dwr missing out most of the streamway by criss crossing over it in places. We got the key to the cave from the warden and filled out the permits. Our start time was 11.30 am and return time 19.00 hours. This was our callout time, should we be delayed then the warden would assemble cave rescue and they would come and rescue us. We got changed and decided to take a 20m rope and slings rather than our SRT harnesses with a selection of crabs. We were sorting out who was carrying which bags when someone suggested taking the 30m rope instead. After more faffing it was time to go and off we went down the hill to the entrance.On the way you can see up into the hills. What is usually a small brook was a raging torrent and our party of seasoned cavers went quiet. We pressed on down the hill and the sun came out and soon the mood lifted to thoughts of the adventure ahead. We stopped for a quick group photo at the entrance to the cave. Where the sun had come out so had the midges and we were being eaten alive so we quickly entered the cave, down the rickety old iron ladder we went and regrouped at the bottom. We followed the passageway to the foot of a small climb which leads to the Toast rack, so called because it is a rock feature that looks like a toast rack set into the floor. The passage carries on to the main stream way. We could hear the water raging through on its way to the resurgence. Andy, Ed etc went and had a look to see how high it was. Rich and myself went up the toast rack and had a look from above, the water was moving very fast and from above you can see why its called the black spring. The rock is very dark and makes the water appear black. The rest of the group caught us up and we set off again in search of part of the cave system called Dug out. After a right turn we ended up going down a few tightish wet crawls and nobody recognised where we were so we backtracked and went left. This was the right way and we soon arrived at the wire traverses. One traverse is called the Airy Fairy. We continued on a bit to another 30m traverse with a drop below into the stream way, at the end you have to unclip yourself and stand on a iron bar and climb over a big bolder to continue. We all safely negotiated this and soon found ourselves in the Rawl series. After this there is a bedding plane crawl called roly poly passage. On a bit farther we arrived at Lowes Chain, which is about a 12ft drop into the stream way. There used to be a chain to aid the climb down but bits easier to use a rope and abseil down. Once we were all down we followed the stream way called Upper Flood Passage to the Boulder Chamber, on through Starlight Chamber to the connection with OFD 1 1/2. The next obstacle is the Letterbox. This is a letterboxed shaped hole about 12" high by 24" wide in the rock about 20ft up the side of a chamber. Andy took the end of the rope and free climbed the pitch and posted himself through the hole. One by one we followed. very difficult to try and go through the hole as its best to go through feet first hanging from a silly piece of rope which isn't long enough to get your legs out straight enough to go through. The lifeline Andy is holding is there to stop you falling to the bottom not to use to pull yourself through. Having said that its good fun to go through. I would like to come the other way. We all regrouped at the bottom of a passage and waited for Ed and Rich to find the way on to a ledge which is partway down the Divers Pitch. This is a 12 meter Pitch to the passage below. After much faffing we concluded that it was nowhere to be found and we would have to abseil the full length of the pitch. All hail that man who suggested bringing the 30m rope as the 20 would have been far to short. As it is the 30 is not long enough for the last person down to do a pull through with the rope. This is where you abseil down the bolted side of the rope and once at the bottom pull the loose end and the rope comes through the bolt to the ground. Not sure how Andy did it but with the aid of a sling he managed, probably best not to dwell on that one.
The bottom of the Divers Pitch signifies you are now in the cave called Cwm Dwr. It was time to get a jog on if we were to avoid the embarrassment of cave rescue coming to meet us as our call out time was beginning to creep ever closer and we were only two thirds into the trip. Through Piccadilly and The Nether Rawl series. Next comes the part of the cave called the Smithy and then Cwm Dwr Choke. This is a part of the cave where the roof has collapsed and you have to crawl, climb and wriggle through, over and under lots of boulders. Some very interesting body positions have to be got into to complete this. We should have bought the game Twister when the kids were small. Next we actually go under the SWCC hut far above on the surface. After a few short climbs we are in Cwm Dwr Jamma where there is lots of white calcite. Next is the Dim Dwr which signifies we are nearly home. This is the part a few of us were dreading. It is a long (about 500ft) crawl through a passage which closes down to about 10" high by 16" wide. Its very confined but you have to go through it unless you want to go all the way back the way you have just come. Its not as bad as it sounds as the thought of getting to the surface at the end gets you through it. After this there is a climb up some concrete tubes to the gate on the surface. We finally exited at 18.45, 15 minutes before callout. Andy was first then Rich then me. Judie was next and she found us sat in the rain talking about the last seven hours lol. She said it would probably be a good idea for someone to go to the SWCC hut and tell them we were out. I think we agreed with her but carried on sitting there. In the end Judie went on ahead to the hut. Back at the hut we all showered and changed and met up in the common room for tea.
That evening we went to the village and had a very nice hot meal in the pub and talked about the trip.
Later on back at the hut we decided that as most of us were tired and bruised from the days antics we would decide in the morning what to do on Sunday. As it was we were all to knackered to do anything so we slowly packed our kit together and departed for home.
What a great weekend. Thanks to all that made it so good, we WILL return to OFD.
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