Ogof Y Ci – Thursday 9th December 2021

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Dai MacDonald and Gareth Farr

By Dai MacDonald

We hadn’t been caving in a while, a couple of weekends is a while for us, I’d been quite busy and been ill, but with a trip planned for Ogof Draenen on the coming Sunday we both thought a short midweek trip as a warm up would work well. I’ve also got a new camera so we wanted a play about with that.

We got to Llwyn Cil Sanws Farm for around 1830, we’d got permission from the owners to park and access the cave prior to turning up, we kitted up and headed down to the entrance. We got in for around 1900 and made good speed to the gun barrel while filming. It’s beyond the gun barrel that this cave starts to show it’s more intricate formations, mainly tucked in side passages, too tight for people, or in the walls of the cave at separate beds. We got to the dig at the end and headed back, but explored the side passages and oxbows on the way. The largest of the side passages, branching off from the main chamber, and has a nice calcite flow stone formation at the entrance. Once up on the calcite flow you can follow the passage for about 30m before a calcified boulder choke with a stream emerging from it is met. It’s a tight wet squeeze, but leads to a small passage with a lot more flow stone, but it quickly closes down again.

We always use the main entrance, but there are three, a resurgence, a small dry entrance just above that and the main one further up the gorge that joins the cave half way through. We’ve never used the lower dry entrance an it looks blocked to be honest. Ogof Y Ci is a great introduction cave, with dry and wet options for most routes, there’s a good bit of crawling once you reach the calcite cascade, and lots of squeezing, but nothing extremely tight.

This was the first time Gareth and I had been to this cave in extremely wet weather, there’s no warnings of flooding in this cave, and the water was definitely a lot deeper throughout the cave, but still not deeper than the top of my wellies, but outside the river was in full flow, which we don’t usually see. The river bed is usually bone dry, but tonight it was a fast flowing river. We got out of the cave for about 2120 and headed back to the farm yard to get changed and head home.

Agen Allwedd – Inner Circle, Saturday 20th November 2021

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Dai MacDonald, Gareth Farr, Dave Gledhill

By Dai MacDonald

Photos Dave Gledhill

We met outside Whitewalls for roughly 9am. It was mine and Gareth’s first trip to the Inner Circle, and our first with Trigger. As we pulled up there was two Shetland pony’s trying to scrounge snacks from anybody that was willing to give up their lunch. We got chatting to another couple of cavers who were off into Aggy as well.


We made it into Aggy for about 10:30, and made good time through the entrance series to Barons Chamber. We all emerged from the First Boulder Choke hot and sweaty, so we stopped for a drink and a quick look at the survey. We carried on along the main passage until we met the streamway junction on the right, and made our way to the 2nd Boulder Choke. We had cooled down a lot by this point and we were making good progress. The traverse was really slick, so we all kept a firm grip of the hand rope. Next we were onto the two short climbs, the first drop down was pretty easy, about 2m, and the second was more of a swing around a corner. After the North West Junction it was onto Turkey Streamway and to Turkey Pool for a good soaking, no surprise it was cold! We were fine though, we still had ground to cover, so we kept moving. The trip was faultless through Hawkins Horror, Sand Caverns and into Selenite Needle Passage. Trigger mentioned that it’s Selenite Needle Passage that left him wandering up and down Sand Caverns before, so I think the entrance is firmly printed in his head now. Once we’d gotten into the Inner Circle Trigger headed off on his own just to double check the route, and Gareth and I used the chance to have a quick drink and snack before Trigger got back, and when he did he was still unsure if we were in the right place, so we headed off together, and it turned out we were in the right place. We followed the Inner Circle anti-clockwise until we got to Swiss Passage, where we stopped for a few photos, then onto the Dome of St. Paul’s. Once back around to the beginning of the Inner Circle, we stopped for some snacks and a drink before heading off again. I felt a little chilly as we started walking again, but soon warmed up.

  • Turkey Streamway
    Turkey Streamway
  • Turkey Pool
    Turkey Pool


All in all the trip went really well in and out. We met the other cavers, that we’d spoken to in the morning outside whitewalls, just after coming back through Hawkins Horror, some cheerier than others. We got out of the cave for roughly 1630, so a great 6 hour trip.

  • Selenite Needle Passage
    Selenite Needle Passage
  • Selenite Needle Passage
    Selenite Needle Passage


This trip was really good caving, with no huge amounts of crawling or squeezing, mainly a lot of wide open passages, and although it’s not the most decorated cave, there’s still more than enough to keep you stopping for a look every so often. As well as actual calcite and selenite formations, the scalloping throughout this trip is absolutely gorgeous and not to be forgotten!

  • Swiss Village
    Swiss Village
  • Dome of St. Pauls
    Dome of St. Pauls

Ogof Ffynnon Ddu – Saturday 13th November 2021

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Sam Jones, Pete Jones, Paul Chilcott, Huw Durban, Huw Jones & Clive Westlake

By Pete Jones

Photos Huw Jones

Sam and I arrived to join Paul, Huw J, and Huw D at the SWCC HQ above Penwyllt. It was a damp morning, Y Brennin Llwyd was draped over the hill tops.  After a quick chat, Huw J hatched a plan to enter the cave from the top entrance, have a look around the upper levels and bring back some equipment left in the cave after the rescue from the week before.  Before heading up to the entrance we were joined by a spritely well-spoken old fella.  Turns out he was Clive Westlake, the second person out of OFD top entrance in 1967, cave diver and cave photographer.

The team at the entrance. Clive going back into OFD 54 years later after he first emerged from it

To be honest after entering and moving through Gnome Passage and Salubrious Passage to call on the Trident and Judge, I have no idea of our exact route. To a novice like me it was a maze of passages intersected with chambers, boulder chokes and stream ways. However, the names like Swamp Creek and Shatter Pillar stick in my head. The damp black limestones interrupted by calcite veins make it clear how the cave got its name. The formations are beautiful and the helictites are bonkers. At some point Clive disappeared only to reappear twenty minutes later, a welcome relief to Huw J who thought he’d lost a legend. I’ll give it to Clive, for a gent who must be in his 70’s he doesn’t hang around and glides through the passageways.

  • Sam, Paul and Pete & The Trident
  • Clive Westlake in Swamp Creek

We eventually found some ropes left after the rescue and Huw D managed to palm off all the damp ropes on to another group, leaving us with a token dry rope to carry out.  We emerged from the top entrance after three or four hours, I lose track of time underground.  The sun was sinking into the west and the Bristol channel reflected the late afternoon light back.  

Looking at the cave map back in the HQ, it was apparent we had only traversed a small fraction of the cave, which only increases my appetite to come back and explore the depths of OFD.  A fantastic trip with great company. Thanks to Huw J and Huw D for leading the way.

  • Selenite Tunnel
  • Selenite Tunnel
  • Frozen River Passage
  • Crystal Pool

Ogof Craig A Ffynnon – Wednesday 27th October 2021

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Huw Jones, Gareth Farr and Dai MacDonald

By Dai MacDonald

We met in a layby around 6pm, and planned a trip to “the hall of the mountain kings”
It was Gareth’s, and my first trip into OCAF, and we had been told this cave has everything! The first climb had my heart racing, and I was glad for the safety line, the second boulder choke is one of the best I’ve been through so far, with endless twists, turns and climbs to force you into all sorts of shapes. The formations in this cave are like none I’ve seen before, and many times stopped me in my tracks, from the ceilings filled with straws, stalagmites, stalactites, and helictites, and masses of flow stone, and gour pools, but none as impressive as “the hall of the mountain kings” It is by far the prettiest thing I’ve seen in my life, and I can’t wait to go again! It was a really enjoyable, wet, muddy, crawly evening!