Author Archives: Huw Jones

Ogof Draenen, Thursday 17th May 2018

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Gareth Jones, Huw Jones and Dave Gledhill

By Gareth Jones
Photos Huw Jones

So the club have been reminding me of my lack of trip reports, having been on a few cave trips now, and after a gentle Thursday night stroll into Draenen, I feel obliged to write my first.

With my much publicised fear of heights, the plan was to see if I would cry and retreat from the first pitch (“that’s as big as a 4 storey building!”), not far from Cairn junction.

The evening began with Dave picking me up and driving to the car park opposite the Lamb and Fox pub. We started to kit up whilst waiting for Huw to arrive. Huw arrived promptly after us, and together we made our dangerous descent down the steep hill to the gated entrance. On the way Huw told us tales of the initial dig and discovery.

At the entrance, I was lucky to unlock the gate and open the hatch, to be blasted by the incredible draught that departed the unassuming crack in the rock that first drew cavers to dig there.

So, the climb down began. Through a series of flat out crawls, and descents through scaffolded vertical shafts. We emerged into the streamway with much cursing as I received a thorough soaking in the freezing waters. A slot through and under a waterfall brought us down to the initial breakthrough. More tales from Huw about the night the breakthrough occurred. In front of us the ‘Darling Rifts’ continued, while the easy way on was through a crawl in the floor to the right. Of course, Huw wanted us to have the original experience the first discoverers had, so we proceeded through the ‘Darling Rifts’. “Oh darling!”, I was very apprehensive and did not look down, the whole time wondering why we didn’t just go the easy way. At the end of a rift, we climbed down to the left and emerged in a big chamber with a boulder as big as Australia blocking the way on. A climb under the boulder brought us to a huge hole in the floor. The ‘Big Bang Pitch’, the original way on into the cave. After a few more tales, we headed into the Gyracanthus Loop and Psammodus Passage, to see amazing fossils of sharks and Jurassic sea life.

We headed back into the rifts, as I was not feeling the ‘Big Bang Pitch’ tonight (maybe next time…), to emerge back into the entrance series, and continue the ‘easy way’ into the cave. After some more cascades and crawls we emerged on to the top of the 4 storey pitch. To say I was underwhelmed was an understatement. It was a 4m climb down with a knotted hand line. So, I tightened my belt, and followed Dave down the climb, which was no where near as bad as I had scared myself into believing. Feeling like action man at the bottom, I tried not to think about the return climb.

We continued on and headed to the first major chamber, ‘Cairn Junction’, and I signed us into the log book. Job done. Or so I thought.

We decided to explore a bit more of the cave. Continuing downstream, through the ‘Wonderbra’, and ‘Tea Junction’, we headed up ‘Gilwern Passage’. I was struggling to stay on my feet for looking at the amazing passage and formations all around, and not at my feet and the path ahead. We stopped for pictures at the bigger formations and decided to turn back at an impressive inlet flowing in from an aven in the roof.
After we arrived back to the junction, we followed the ‘Beyond a Choke Streamway’ downstream. An impressive streamway, with deep pots, and traverses. After what felt like a few miles, Huw reminded me that we weren’t even a quarter of the way to the end of the streamway. With that, we decided to turn back, as it was getting late, and begin the ascent out the cave.

We arrived promptly back at the log book and signed out. We decided to take the easy way back out the cave, instead of ‘Darling Rifts’. At the foot of the 4m pitch, we climbed up with ease, and made our way back into the wet entrance series. I received another soaking at the slot in the waterfall, with the flow going down my neck into my oversuit. After ascending up the scaffolded shafts and through the flat out crawls, we popped out the hatch into the dark, pleasantly fresh, spring night.

We started the dangerous climb back up the steep mountainside, to get back to the cars and change.
A thoroughly enjoyable trip. Although I kept reminding myself that I had barely scratched the surface in Wales’ longest cave system. My lasting thought about Draenen is that it is like climbing a mountain in reverse. When you summit a mountain, the way home is downhill all the way. When you descend into Draenen, the way home is to climb a mountain.

Shakespear’s Cave, Wednesday 11th April 2018

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“What else could we be doing on a Wednesday eve?”

A short trip into Shakespeare’s Cave – Wed 11th April 2018

Dave Gledhill and Huw Jones

By Dave Gledhill

After conducting a bit of *ahem* husbandry in the local caving area it was decided beforehand that a trip into Shakespeare’s was needed afterwards to make the drive out on a Weds eve worthwhile. It had been a few years since Huw had been in and a first for me, although I had heard of the place to be ‘sporty’ and wet.

We decided the quickest way down into Cwm Pica would be down the old water culverts which proved to be hilarious due to slippy moss and a nice amount of water flowing. The Cwm had an eerie feel with a low cloud base and fog setting in at last light as we made our way down to the cave entrance, slipping and falling into thorn bushes made this trip even more fun!!!…..’’FUN’’ Sarcasm aside, it was a nice walk down in the early spring air and fog and felt more expeditious. We entered the valley floor and jumped into the stream which flows past the entrance. Yet again a few more slips before we arrived at the cave entrance.

Huw posed for a quick photo on my camera which didn’t really come out that well. Camera stowed and in we went, stowing our kit on a mud bank in an old swirl pool to the left as we went .
‘’You lead Dave….can’t get lost’’ Huw said. He was right! There’s no option of where to go really but never mind. Small sharp scallops on the wall indicating some fast flow of water and you could see why, water levels definitely seemed slightly up but not as high as what it had been as when we got to the first duck the foam level from the previous flood was well above the duck level which in turn would have sumped. It was now I started to regret never having a caving wetsuit in my whole caving career. The duck was cold but easily passed but with some heavy panting and a fair amount of expletives from the pair of us which would have made Roy Chubby himself proud.
The going eased off slightly again with a mix of sideways crawling in water to sideways standing but thrutching (why not…it’s Wednesday) until another duck was met, kind of like an ‘S’ bend but with obstructions on the floor which leaves the onlooker to view a hilarious helmet sticking out of the water with lips pouting acting as a snorkel whilst you try a navigate a way through!
Duck passed and back to some more fun stuff. At least the cave is clean hey.

Another duck was met, this time with what can only be described as a tooth of rock sticking down in the water meaning a full submersion is required. Rising out of the water on the other side like a hippo going after a crocodile (albeit colder) I was glad I had stocked up on Clogwyn Gold previously that evening. Further on we found a mud bank to the left which had paw prints…confusing! (Huw managed to find a video later on that night where a family had taken their dog into the cave suitably equipped with protection and buoyancy).

We met a junction, to the left is a tight passage leading to the sump and on the right is a muddy tube bypassing the sump. We chose left initially and I decided to get down and dirty again and thrutched along sideways on my side think to myself with glee ‘’woohoo it’s just like Daren Cilau’’ only to turn round and see Huw walk through the constriction to which he added ‘’I just walked through that one Dave’’…..

The sump was met and the hand line was still in place but I opted out….and I mean opted not chickened *ahem* purely because I didn’t have any neoprene on……I promise. We wriggled back to the junction and took the muddy tube of fun. It really was a bit muddy and crawly with and awkward boulder climb upward which both me and Huw past with the style and grace of drunk giraffes and it was here that Huw decided that he would be going through a nasty duck and out via the sump instead of coming out this way again! And which he did, I waited for him to lip snorkel his way through an awful looking duck until he reached the sump at which point I shuffled round and reversed back through the bypass which was just as lovely as I had remembered 3 minutes previous. Good times.

We established a vocal connection before I heard a deep breath and the splashing/booming noise of Huw swimming the sump. We convened at the junction and made our way out of the cave with all the fun of the previous 25 minutes but in reverse!

We made it out the cave in just over 10 minutes funnily enough and I posed for a few photos by the entrance before we headed off back up to the old train line to get dry and changed. Opting for a more fun scramble option up an old scree slope (next week Crib Goch)

It sounds like I’ve slagged the place off but for only 35 or so minutes it’s a really fun little cave! I’d probably do it next time in summer after a full trip in the gorge.

Huw at the entrance before going in - Photo-Dave

Huw at the entrance before going in – Photo-Dave

Looking from Cwm Pica into the gorge - Photo-Dave

Looking from Cwm Pica into the gorge – Photo-Dave

Dave looking back into the entrance after the trip - Photo-Huw

Dave looking back into the entrance after the trip – Photo-Huw

Cave Rescue Practice in the Mellte and Nedd Valleys – Saturday 17th March 2018

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Nick De-Gare Pit and Huw Jones

By Huw Jones
Photos – Huw Jones unless otherwise stated, in which case – Tarquin Wilton-Jones

This was to be a search and evacuation exercise, based in the Mellte and Nedd Valleys, with the secondary aim of familiarisation with lesser known sites in the two valleys. On the day, the search and evacuation part was dropped and three groups split up from the Porth yr Ogof car park and visited different areas to look for entrances, checking the accuracy of route description cards and grid references.

Me and Nick joined a group exploring the upper Nedd Valley. Our first cave to find was Pwll-y-Coeden Gnau, somewhere I’d visited many, many years ago with Barry Burn. This took some searching of the rough woodland as the grid reference was a little out but it wasn’t too long before we located the entrance and a more accurate reference was obtained using GPS. A few of us were in caving gear and so had a quick look in the Northern limb of the cave, while the others produced notes to update the route card.



Next we dropped down to the dry riverbed and found the entrance to Ogof Cadno, somewhere else me and Barry had explored all those years ago. I remember Barry as not being particularly impressed with either cave, although there are a few formations and one section of larger passage in this cave. Again three of us had a look inside, while the others had a look at the entrance to Ogof Cas, a diver’s cave with hardly any dry passage.


We then climbed up from the riverbed and headed a long way upstream, first to the enormous collapse feature of Cwm Hew Bwb, which to me looks very much like a fossil resurgence but where four waterfalls now pour over the cliff to sink amongst boulders. Then we dropped back down to river level to visit Ogof Igam Ogam (Zig Zag Cave). This time only two of us had a look in the cave, getting wet in the process as there was a shower bath to crawl under, at one point.


That was the final cave of the day and all that was left, was to walk up to the Bridge Cave car park, where we could cross the river, then walk down the road to where we’d left the cars, before heading back to the Porth yr Ogof car park for the debrief.

All in all, an enjoyable and useful day.

Porth yr Ogof, Sunday 4th February 2018

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Chris Brady, Barry Burn, Gareth Jones, Huw Jones

By Huw Jones
Photos – Barry Burn and Huw Jones

It was a very cold day (2-3 degs) but that didn’t keep us out of the water. Barry even went for a swim in the White Horse Pool!

The river was up a bit and flowing into the Main Entrance. We checked out the White Horse Pool first. Barry spontaneously decided to take a dip, something he regretted going by the look on his face when he came back out!

The Team! Photo – Huw Jones
Main Entrance Photo – Huw Jones
Inside the Main Entrance Photo – Huw Jones
Barry in the White Horse Pool Photo – Huw Jones

Then we headed into the Right Hand Series, where Gareth went through the Letterbox – you can’t really go to Porth for the first time and not do the Letterbox! We made our way to the Great Bedding Cave and admired the deep, clear water in the main canal. Heading downstream, we stopped to admire a seriously large tree trunk that had been washed in and wedged on the right. Then it was through the low (but very wide) bit, which was interesting due to the high water conditions, to the twin large entrances, which are the normal recommended downstream exit points. We were now close to the resurgence pool and me and Gareth tried to reach it for a look but the next section was even lower and after a low crawl on our hands and knees in the river, we could see that the water was up to the roof ahead and so turned back to the others.

Gareth in Right Hand Series Photo – Barry Burn
Gareth in The Letterbox Photo – Huw Jones
Gareth in The Letterbox Photo – Huw Jones
Gareth in The Letterbox Photo – Barry Burn
Chris in The Great Bedding Cave Photo – Huw Jones
Chris and Huw downstream Photo – Barry Burn

We went out of one of the nearby entrances and walked down to the resurgence to have a look from outside. On the bench overlooking the resurgence is an entrance that none of us had been in before so we checked it out. A very short hands and knees crawl leads to a decorated walking passage that, in one direction, connects into the main cave via a very low, muddy and wet section. No one was going through there in today’s high water conditions so we made our way overland back to the Main Entrance, checking out the various other entrances on the way.

Barry in an entrance near the resurgence Photo – Huw Jones
Walking back to the Main Entrance Photo – Huw Jones

In the Main Entrance again and back into the Right Hand Series, we took a different passage into the Great Bedding Cave and then turned up The Creak, where we took a detour to check out Hewyl’s Grotto, where we encountered more refreshingly freezing cold water to crawl through! Returning, we made our way further along The Creak and after a quick look in The Maze, made our way back to the Main Entrance. We crossed over and took the longest of the passages that connect to the Upper Stream Passage. Somehow, one of Chris’ elbow pads fell off here and must have been washed away before any of us spotted it as we could find no sign of it after a good search! Chris and Barry returned to the Main Entrance, while me and Gareth went a little way downstream and then made our way back upstream via the oxbow, which had a very strong flow of water, and then out of the Tradesmans’ Entrance.

Checking the survey Photo – Barry Burn
Chris near Great Bedding Cave Photo – Barry Burn
Gareth in Hewyl’s Grotto Photo – Huw Jones
Gareth in Hewyl’s Grotto Photo – Huw Jones
Gareth in Hewyl’s Grotto Photo – Huw Jones
Chris returning from Hewyl’s Grotto Photo – Barry Burn

By this time the car park was very busy so we took advantage of the screens to get changed behind. A pint was decided on and we drove to Ystradfellte and went to the New Inn, which we’d heard had been taken over and was better than it used to be. It was obvious as soon as we entered that it was now very much a food pub and we were there at Sunday lunchtime! There are only a few tables and we ended up sitting around a tiny table by the door. Everytime someone opened the door, an icy blast froze Chris and Barry, who were sitting on that side!

An enjoyable trip, Gareth did really well on only his second caving trip, not seeming to mind the cold water or crawling around with no knee pads! Thanks to Chris for driving.

Agen Allwedd, Thursday 25th January 2018

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A joint trip with Bristol and District Caving Club

Thomas Williams, Huw Jones, Dave, Nigel and Tich (BDCC), Jennie (CSS)

An evening trip along Main Passage with Bristol and District C C and Jennie from Chelsea S S. We met up at Whitewalls and it was nice to get changed inside as it was very, very cold! It was Nigel’s first trip in Aggy and Tich’s first caving trip of any kind as he normally sticks to exploring mines!

We had a steady trip in through the entrance series, where there were lots and lots of bats. After a break in Baron’s Chamber for photos, we carried on along Main Passage, where Jennie and Dave checked out a small side passage on the left. We split up here and Nigel, Tich and myself carried on along the impressive passage, admiring the mudbanks and selenite crystals. We passed the entrances to Southern Stream Passage and Trident Passage and carried on to the Music Room. There were more bats, all along the passage. Returning, we met the others at the Southern Stream junction and all started out as a group. Further along, another small side passage was spotted and this was checked out by Jennie and Tom, while the rest of us waited in the Main Passage. When they returned a short time later we carried on out, where it was now even colder!

We were all very grateful to Jennie for the hot tea back at Whitewalls and didn’t say no when she offered around some Tennessee Honey (of the Jack Daniel’s variety!)

It was a great trip and it’s always nice to cave with people from other clubs. Many thanks go to Jennie for her hospitality! Hopefully there’ll be more joint trips to come.

In Whitewalls before the trip

In Whitewalls before the trip

In Baron’s Chamber
In Baron’s Chamber
Fire Power in Baron’s Chamber
Nigel and Tich in the Music Room

Ogof Clogwyn, Saturday 13th January 2018

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Huw Durban, Dave Gledhil, Gareth Jones, Huw Jones, Nick De-Gare Pitt, Thomas WIlliams, Andrew Zerbino, Xavier Zerbino

By Huw Jones

This was Gareth’s first trip with the club and his second ever, after doing a small outdoor pursuits trip whilst at school. We met up at the car park by Llanelly Quarry as that’s where Dave and Tom were supposed to be going but they decided that wasn’t extreme enough and came to Clogwyn with the rest of us instead! We walked up the railway line, through the tunnel and then dropped down the path to the cave. In to the sump then we back tracked to climb up into the high level, where we were joined by Zeb and Xavier. Gareth coped with the crawl and wet bits fine. Most of us made our way out of the main entrance but Tom, Xavier and Zeb decided to take the hard way and go through one of the other, really tight entrances instead! A group photo at the entrance then it was back up the steep path to the railway line and through the tunnel again to the cars.

It was an enjoyable trip and Gareth did great.

Everyone at the entrance

Everyone at the entrance

The path down to the cave
Gareth climbing into the entrance
Gareth in the streamway
The streamway
Gareth in the streamway
Chatting!
Tom exits the hard way!
Checking out the roadworks

Checking out the roadworks

Ogof Draenen – Fault Chambers Bolt Climb – 2nd Trip – Saturday 7th Oct 2017

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Tom Williams, Dave Gledhill and Huw Jones

By Huw Jones
Photos – Tom Williams (Taken on his old phone!)

Dave, Tom and I, have been back to complete the climb in the tall but short rift passage, leading off from the southern end of Fault Chambers in Ogof Draenen, after our first trip there in June.

Tea Junction

Tea Junction

Just upstream of Tea Junction

Just upstream of Tea Junction

In the time between the trips, we had decided to start again and try to climb to the lower window in the hope that the rock here was better and that there was a passable way up into the higher window, that we had tried to reach last time.

The rock was mostly good and 7 bolts, plus 1 that seemed to go into some sort of pocket in the rock so wasn’t used, saw me gingerly pulling over the edge into the window, on a boulder that was lying on a slope of loose rock. The window was roughly 2 metres wide by 1 metre high but the rift behind it, that I was now standing in, was longer and about 4-5 metres high. To the South was a narrow rift that rose up and turned a corner so that I couldn’t see to a definite end. At the northern end, was a good sized but short rift, rising steeply up to the other window so there was a passable connection between the windows, after all.

I placed another bolt, nice and high in the back wall of the rift, opposite the window, to rig the ladder from so that the other two could join me. The ladder could then also be used to gain the rift rising to the upper window. This turned out to be the final bolt as the drill died as I was placing it! I rigged the lifeline from the bolt and a natural thread off to one side. The 10m ladder turned out to be too short when rigged directly from the bolt so I had to extend the belay with a long sling.

Dave joined me and waited in the narrow rift to the South, while Tom climbed up. I then suggested, that as he was already on the lifeline, he carry on up to the upper window. The ladder was re-rigged directly from the bolt and after a word of protest as he struggled slightly to leave the top of the ladder and establish himself in the rift, he was up in no time. The news from above wasn’t great. The window / ledge up there was larger than the lower one but there was only one small passage going off, which closed down completely after just 4 metres. Tom took a few photos on his phone(!) (I’d left my camera at the bottom of the climb) and then came back down to where Dave and I were waiting. While Tom had been exploring above, Dave had checked out the small rift to the South, which unfortunately went nowhere. I had a quick look at the upper window as well but where I thought I had seen a tube last time, heading upwards from the northern end, there was nothing! I was glad that we had decided to switch windows, as there was a huge amount of small, loose rock, lying at a precarious angle, that would have had to have been climbed over, to gain the upper window directly.

The ladder was re-rigged again from the sling and Tom climbed down. Dave decided he wanted to abseil so borrowed my Stop (to save weight, I was the only one who had brought an SRT kit) and used the lifeline rope. I pulled up the rope, which had my Stop clipped on the end, then carefully de-rigged everything, lowering it all back down on the lifeline rope, before doubling the rope through the ring hanger on the bolt. Only one bolt I know but it was bomber. I then abbed down, retrieving all the gear used on the climb as I went. When we tried to pull the rope down from the bottom, it snagged. Luckily Dave could still reach the other end and pulled it back a little, to try to release it. We tried this a couple of times before myself and Tom ended up sat on our arses, when the rope suddenly released with a stronger pull!

Derigging the rope from the previous climb

Derigging the rope from the previous climb

While Dave and Tom started packing stuff away, I prusiked up the rope we had left on the other climb last time, to de-rig it, leaving behind another hanger and bolt at our high point. Thankfully the rope was retrieved with no problem, this time. All that was left was to make our way out, carrying a very heavy bag each!

Battery change for Tom and Huw on way out

Battery change for Tom and Huw on way out

So no big discoveries! If you include the windows in the total of what we found at the top of the climb, then the passage amounts to about 15m. If you don’t include the windows, as they are open to the main, big rift passage, then you can halve that! Oh well, on to the next lead! We may take a look down a pitch next but there are also some avens and chokes to check out.

Ogof Draenen – Fault Chambers Bolt Climb – 1st Trip – Sunday 25th June 2017

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Dave Gledhill, Tom Williams and Huw Jones

By Huw Jones
Photos – Huw and Tom

As we headed out from our trip when we finally dropped the Boulder Rodeo pitch in Fault Rifts, back in March 2016, I spotted a window, high up in the Eastern wall of the tall rift passage, at the southern end of Fault Chambers. It was above the top of a large boulder pile and I remembered that we’d spotted a window high up on this wall, when I’d first visited Fault Chambers back in 1994, on the day we first climbed up into and explored Fault Rifts. For some reason, the window wasn’t exactly as I’d remembered it from back then. I thought we’d finished with this area of the cave but now we were going to have to return, to see if the window led anywhere.

I returned with the two new tigers of the club, Tom and Dave. We’d decided to make an early start as Dave and myself both needed to be home by early evening. We’d arranged to meet at Pwll Du at 8am but a message from Tom said that neither his alarm clock nor his young son had managed to wake him and he was going to be late! When Tom arrived, we quickly got underground and headed to the climb, which took about two hours. We had a quick look around and Tom spotted a second window, in the same wall. This window was lower down but as it was above the base of a steep slope and the higher one above the top of the slope, the height of the climb to either was similar. A tube, visible in the roof of the lower window, looked to be heading towards the upper window so it was decided to try to reach the upper one as there was no way of knowing if the tube was passable. Also there was a ledge below the upper window, which looked like it could be reached by free climbing, to hopefully save time and bolts. I recognised the lower window as the one I’d seen back in 1994.

Tom at the start of the traverse to the ledge

Tom at the start of the traverse to the ledge –
Photo Huw

Being short on time, we got the kit sorted straight away and made a start. A bolt was placed for protection on the rising traverse to the ledge and Tom started the climb, with Dave life-lining. Unfortunately, when Tom got there, the rock above and around the ledge turned out to be so poor that it was almost funny! Tom came back down and we discussed options, whether to try for the lower window and hope there was a passable connection to the upper or to persevere where we were. It was decided to carry on above the first bolt, placed originally for protection, as the rock seemed to be more sound here. That could mean having to traverse across slightly, at a higher level though.

Huw on the climb

Huw on the climb – Photo Tom

I took over climbing duties, with Dave again life-lining and placed a few more bolts, gaining a view into the window. Unfortunately it wasn’t the start of a large passage going off but part of a small tube, which seems to be running diagonally down and parallel to the wall. The windows seem to be where the chamber has intersected the winding tube. There looked to be a part of the tube heading down towards the lower window and another part of it heading upwards. There are no windows visible higher up the wall so it needs checking out but unfortunately we had run out of time. I put a second stainless steel bolt in at the high point and rigged a length of rope directly to a couple of stainless ring hangers. Unfortunately we’d reached poor rock again so we’ll have to think carefully on how to proceed from here.

Dave with the rope left hanging from our high point

Dave with the rope left hanging from our high point – Photo Huw

Ogof Draenen – Rifleman’s Chamber, 18th March 2017 by Dave ‘Trig’ Gledhill

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Huw Jones, Dave ‘Trig’ Gledhill, Adrian Burton & Julian Carter (SWCC/MCC)

Streamway photos & Huw in dig – Julian Carter
Rifleman’s Chamber photos – Huw Jones

So there I was, kicked out the front door by the wife with a darren drum full of sarnies and assorted snacks ready once again for a trip into Draenen. This cave really does fascinate me, the sheer size of it is overwhelming and the feeling of being rather insignificant is certainly a feeling I love with caving in the larger systems.

Pulling up at Pwll Du I realised we are not the only ones going under today as a mixed crowd of MCC and SWCC were already kitting up and assessing wind direction in the car park for the chilly change out of kit in a few hours! Giving a friendly nod and a quick conversation, I bade them farewell for the day as Huw, Adrian and Jules turned up.

Fully kitted up and armed with a crowbar, we headed down to the cave. Worth noting is that with any Draenen trip, this is the most dangerous part as soon most of us had already gone head over heels on the slippery, muddy slope to the entrance. This doesn’t matter because soon the ‘sporting’ entrance series will wash our suits off.

Trigger on a traverse in the streamway.

Trigger on a traverse in the streamway.

Adrian in the streamway below Agent Blorenge.

Adrian in the streamway below Agent Blorenge.

Entering the cave is a flat out crawl through a dig with an interesting tight ‘slit’ to slide down, which larger cavers will discover they will get momentarily lodged in, whilst a torrent of water from a diverted drain pipe, enters the rear of your suit! It’s quite arduous but you have gravity in your favour (bare in mind for way out!) and it usually only takes 20 minutes to enter the cave. We are in luck today as we have Huw who played a massive part in digging and breaking through in this caves so it was epic to have a commentary on how it all happened.

After a small pitch with rope in situ, the logbook was reached at Cairn Junction and I signed us all in with my finest hand writing…… Turning right here we continued boulder to boulder (common theme for Draenen) until we arrived at Wonder Bra Bypass, which is a nice (well I think it’s nice) slippery, muddy crawl and easily passed. Turning left and popping out underneath an interesting, wedged slab and made our way to Tea Junction, where Huw reminded us it’s Tea, as in beverage, not T in shape. Bit more boulder hopping and then Jules dropped off his sample pot for groundwater crustacea in the stream, which he was going to collect on exit. We admired the turning for Gilwern Passage but turned left, downstream.

Adrian & Trigger in the streamway.

Adrian & Trigger in the streamway.

Trigger in a deep bit!

Trigger in a deep bit!

Now this is the meat of the trip and it’s worth noting that this stream is long…very long but far from mundane as it tends to change underfoot from ankle twisting worn away limestone to easy going sand and has many a formation, precariously perched rocks and a boulder choke or two. Halfway down we passed the left turn for Agent Blorenge, which is where you pop out after the classic round trip. After this turning Huw pointed up to the left, to Fallout Passage, named because he literally fell out of it and woke up (a slight exageration on Trig’s part!) in the streamway! Now from here on, I remember it getting deep, (See pics!) before it literally felt like it just ended and a muddy slope, with rope out of the stream, is encountered to land you in Rifleman’s Chamber. Moving further up the muddy slope, two muddy climbs, with ladders in place, took us up into Upper Rifleman’s Chamber and the dig.

It’s been a while since it’s been actively dug but the dig itself is still very much established, even with a bottle of red wine ready and waiting. With sarnies guzzled down, Huw and Jules descended the scaffolding to inspect the dig and also release some canned smoke. Then we swapped over so I could have a look in the dig. Very impressive and it seems a fair few hours have been put into this place and let’s hope a fair few more to come….how big can this place actually be or has it only had its surface scratched, with more activity underneath or beyond.

Trig & Adrian at the top of the dig.
Adrian, Jules & Trig in Upper Rifleman’s Chamber.
Huw near the end of the dig.
Essential equipment at Rifleman’s!

Couple of photos and we were off on our way out, back the way we came, to get wet again and Jules positioned to get the best shots at the wet or sporting sections (see pics). Whilst Jules retrieved his samples from the steam, myself, Huw and Adrian had a quick poke around in Gilwern Passage, a lovely decorated passage.

It was after here and even with strict instructions to follow upstream, that I decided to lead us down the wrong passage momentarily (obviously just checking how well Huw knew the cave….honest). Then we began the exit through the ‘sporting’ entrance series, which is always pleasant but was over fairly quickly in 30 minutes and onwards to tackle the muddy slope back to the cars, with me going via a thorn bush.

Apologies if this is a bit of an essay but I’m definitely looking forward to returning to this cave as it’s truly spectacular.
Time underground 6-7 hours.

‘Trig’

OFD II Rescue Practice – 3rd December 2016 by Huw Jones

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Tom Williams and Huw Jones

With thanks to Helen Stewart of Morgannwg C C for the photos.

Myself and Tom attended South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team’s annual Big OFD Practice. Apparently it was big to, as the organisers hadn’t seen as many people at a practice before. Apart from the local people like us, there were representatives from the Gloucestershire, North Wales and Irish cave rescue teams.

As there were so many people, two scenarios were run. Both myself and Tom decided to join the A Team! Actually, this was the beginners team, for people new to cave rescue or who hadn’t been to a practice for a while. That suited me as this was my first practice for over 15 years!

Our scenario was that someone had fallen off the slippery climb at the start of Edward’s Shortcut and sustained a lower leg injury. The casualty, Claire, (who had volunteered!) was to be assessed, her leg splinted, then ‘packaged’ into a stretcher, hauled up the climb (which was treated as a small pitch) and carried out of the cave, where she would be loaded into the team’s land rover and driven down to Penwyllt. Also, communications needed to be established, both to the surface, where a person was stationed to relay messages to and from control at Penwyllt via radio and to the B Team involved with the second, more challenging, scenario.

The B Team were at the far end of Edward’s Shortcut and were to carry their, much heavier casualty, along the narrow winding passage and over the exposed traverse. In the end they brought their casualty all the way to the surface.

For underground communication, the team were using the new Cave Link system, which sends text rather than speech and which worked superbly.

Everything seemed to go well and I’m sure a lot was learned by everyone taking part.

Assessing the casualty. She's just out of shot on the right.

Assessing the casualty. She’s just out of shot on the right.

Carrying the casualty along Gnome Passage

Carrying the casualty along Gnome Passage

The team, with the casualty still in the stretcher, after successfully bringing her to the surface

The team, with the casualty still in the stretcher, after successfully bringing her to the surface