Victoria Bluemel, Huw Jones, Andrew Zerbino and Barry Burn

Photos – Barry Burn except Crystal Photos – Andrew Zerbino

I had a feeling that Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 1 could be addictive as we changed ready for another trip into this system, this time to explore the Waterfall Series.

Group

As before, we made quick progress through the Cyril Powell series past The Cathedral and up The Toast Rack. A small squeezy passage on the right looked inviting to the lover of small places that is Zeb Zerbino and he happily inserted himself into it to see where it went. The rest of us took the sensible option of walking around the corner to watch him come out the other end. Continuing on soon saw us back at The Step and then into the Main Streamway.

Huw in Main Streamway

Huw in Main Streamway

Zeb in Tight Crawl

Zeb and Vicky in Main Streamway

Zeb Avoiding a Pot

The Main Streamway was well behaved as the weather had been settled and we quickly proceeded along it, stopping for a few photos on the way, past Lowe’s Chain where Vicky again told Tom and I off and then to the start of the traverse up into the Waterfall Series. The traverse begins at stream level and gradually ascends up via a fixed wire to a short climb through boulders to bring you out in a high passage that is followed to reach a junction with the Dry Way straight ahead and the Wet Way to the right. We carried on along the Dry Way to reach Idol Junction where a climb up to the West Leg can be taken or another branch followed to the East Leg. Here one wall is covered in a pure white formation that seems to cascade down from the roof high above and I spent a bit of time trying to get a half decent photograph of it while Huw climbed up into the West Leg for a look.

Traverse up to Waterfall Series

Barry Coming Through Boulders at end of Traverse

Vicky Up-Ended

Stal in Waterfall Series

Idol Junction

Huw in West Leg

Helectites1

Helectites2

Helectites3

Helectites4

Helectites5

Helectites6

Helectites7

Helectites8

Carrying on to the start of the East Leg, a passage can be followed to a climb up into Crystal Pool Chamber and The Annex. My back was complaining a bit by this time so I elected to stay behind and photograph the many helictites that were here whilst the others went on to explore. When they returned, we had a further look around with Zeb squeezing into a small passage with an incredible floor mad of crystals and then started to return. On the way back, Zeb and Vicky decided to go via the Wet Way whilst the two sensible members of the party took the easier Dry Way. Back to the top end of the fixed wire and soon we were back in The Main Streamway. Hopefully when my back and neck improve, I shall make a return with a view to exploring some more of the series.

Stal

More Stal

Vicky Looking Into Crystal Passage

Crystals1

Crystals2

Crystals3

Zeb Coming out of Crystal Plassage

Back at stream level, before returning, we carried on around the corner into the impressive, but rather forbidding Boulder Chamber. Here a way on through the boulders by the right hand wall will take you through to the connection with OFD1.5 and the possibility of a through trip to come out via Cwm Dwr or to the top of the hill and the OFD2 entrance. I hung back and waited as my back was definitely twinging by now and the others crawled into the boulder choke to have a look around and then it was back along the streamway when they returned.

Boulder Chamber

This time The Step was passed to continue on to leave the Main Streamway at the passage that leads to Pluto’s Bath, a deep pool that can be traversed across but is probably easier to just accept that you are going to get wet. Zeb made a brilliant show of how not to traverse over it and created a good splash as he hit the water. Luckily, I had the camera on video at the time. It was at this point that I discovered that buying cheap isn’t always the best policy as the fleece undersuit I’d bought to replace the one I shrunk turned out to not be very free-draining and I doubled in weight.

Worms

Emerging back at The Toast Rack, we quickly made our way back to the entrance although the strange sight of a large number of white worms in one of the artificial pools was intriguing. Having a close look, they revealed themselves to be earthworms that had lost their colour. They must have been washed in during recent wet weather to be deposited in the pool. But why they would be ‘bleached’ almost white though?

A quick change and back to drop the key off at Penwyllt and after a chat with the duty warden, Huw had to dash off but Zeb, Vicky and I took the opportunity for a couple of pints in The Ancient Briton to round off another excellent day in OFD1.

Victoria Bluemel, Tom Williams, Andrew Zerbino and Barry Burn

Photos – Barry Burn

Return to Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 1

The Team in the Layby

We returned to OFD1 in much more settled weather to progress beyond The Step in the Main Streamway. An early(ish) start saw us at Penwyllt picking up the key for OFD1 and then back at the layby where we were confronted with our first obstacle, a large coach. Obligingly, the driver moved so we could park and we were changed, posed for a selfie and off down the hill to a now much dryer cave.

Rapid progress was made up Main Passage and along the usual route to The Step. The stream now was now very low and makes for a very pleasant trip through a very fine stream passage through black limestone passing over a few deep pots using the in situ scaffold bars. Moving upstream to The Sump we then continued to Lowe’s Chain that is a short climb up via the rope handline already in place into Lowe’s Passage.

Tom in Streamway

Vicky in Streamway

Tom Climbing Lowes Chain – rope these days

Tom Lowes Chain

Dead Zeb?

Vicky

Barry Strips

Ahh!

Lowes passage is of impressive proportions until it suddenly closes down into a short scramble through boulders into Lowe’s Chamber. A climb up massive boulders was soon reached that took us up into the start of the Rawl Series, named from the initials of the original explorers. I had recently managed to shrink my undersuit on an unintended boil wash and so had bought some Asda thermals to wear but had worn a sweatshirt on top. By now I was starting to seriously overheat so a brief stop was made to allow me to divest myself of a layer. A few photos and we moved off into Roundabout Chamber with the pretty Bees’ Knees formations then into a bedding plane crawl, Roly Poly Passage. Soon after this, the Rawl Series takes on impressive proportions to become a truly large passage where you are scrambling over huge blocks that have fallen from the roof. What is not apparent is that the blocks are actually wedged across the passage halfway up and so the passage is actually of even more impressive size than it appears. It is possible to climb down at one point into The Subway that runs at the bottom of the actual passage until another climb up is found. We continued above the boulders until a scramble down to a narrow ledge at the side takes you past a deep pit where the Subway re-appears, then onwards into Pi Chamber. A number of passages lead off here but we dropped down between boulders in the floor into The Helter Skelter that becomes a short phreatic tube that we slid down until the end of the traverse wire is encountered. We could now hear the roar of the Main Streamway far below so clipped onto the wire and headed down to the Bolt Traverse. This starts off as a wide ledge but soon narrows until the footholds become more wishful thinking and you are glad of the wire for support. Such a high and exposed traverse was a bit of a first for Vicky and Tom but they both acquitted themselves admirably and we were soon at the end of the traverse and into Meander Passage.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Start of Bolt Traverse

Bolt Traverse

Bolt Traverse

Tom – Bolt Traverse

Tom in Streamway

Looking up to Airy Fairy

Formations

Formations

After crossing Bolt Traverse, we could have followed the escape route via The Dugout but had decided to continue with another traverse that can be reached by doubling back on yourself, Airy Fairy. This traverse is even more exposed than Bolt Traverse and at one point the footholds give out completely and you progress by bracing yourself off of the fixed wire; cows tails are a good idea here. Again Vicky and Tom coped very well and I think after this we should arrange an Upper Oxbow Series or OFDIII trip.

After Airy Fairy, it is possible to climb down to the Main Streamway which we did and while Vicky and Zeb moved off back downstream, Tom and I took a quick detour back upstream to have a look at Airy Fairy from below from where it doesn’t look nearly so bad.

So back to The Step (I think we should go via Pluto’s Bath next time) and back the way we came to the entrance ladder.

Another thoroughly enjoyable trip with everything you could want, from huge passages, beautiful and delicate formations to the adrenalin rush of an exposed traverse. In a word, awesome. I did manage to take a fair few photos and would have taken more if I hadn’t faced a small rebellion where I was threatened with having my camera removed from my possession. Oh well, maybe I’ll be able to get some more next time.

Andrew Zerbino, Michael Bergerac Young, Tom Williams, Vicky Blumel and Huw Jones

Photos – Huw Jones

After a false start where there were no SWCC members around to sort us out with a key, we had a pleasant introductory trip into OFD 2. The passages and sights included Gnome, Salubrious, Trident, Judge, Swamp Creek, Selenite, Shatter Pillar, Cross Rift etc. Headed upto entrance with a group from Cambridge Uni and bumped into two different groups from Morgannwg CC, underground.

Afterwards, we called into the Ancient Britton for a pint and to celebrate Vicky’s birthday with the cupcakes she brought along. One of the landlords (at least I think he was!) kindly lent us a candle! A short while later, we were joined by the Morgannwg lot.

Barry Burn, Dai Williams, Vicky Blumel and Andrew “Zeb” Zerbino.

Photos – Barry Burn

Although having been caving in the South Wales caving region since 1994, with trips into most of the major cave systems, I had never ventured into OFD1. This was rectified with a trip with three other BCC members, for two of whom, this would also be a first visit. The recent weather had been predominantly torrential rain and so we doubted that the Main Streamway would be accessible and so we decided to content ourselves with a potter around the passages that lead up to The Step where the streamway is usually entered. I also wanted to see what my Christmas present; an Olympus Tough TG4 camera was capable of, so had packed it as well as a tripod for the trip in expectation of encountering some very photogenic cave passages.

The rain had left off on the Sunday morning and we arrived at SWCC headquarters at a reasonable time and filled in our ticket and received our key for OFD1. Jumping back in the car, we drove down to the lay-by to change and proceeded to the entrance. The cave is entered via a ladder that takes you down to a heavy steel door, that when opened allows a huge draught to flow, that gives some expectation of the size of the cave to be found within. A second ladder then drops down you into the cave itself.

Vicky at The Font

The Column

We first decided to have a look at Gothic Sump so followed Gothic Passage to arrive at a most dismal looking sump. Foam marks on the walls indicated the depth to which the water had risen, which showed that the sump had backed up to a considerable height in Gothic Passage itself. Back at the ladder, a short section of stooping passage took us to Main Passage in the Cyril Powell series. The first evidence of an attempt to open the cave up as a show cave is found here with the stream running down the right hand side of the passage in a man-made channel. A junction is soon reached with a large passage to the right being the main way on but we elected to have a look at the smaller passage straight ahead first and find Skeleton Chamber. A quick stop for some photos of a formation and an attempt to photograph some water splashes (I need to work on this) and Skeleton Chamber was soon reached. This is entered by dropping down through a hole into a chamber that runs perpendicular to and back under the passage we entered from. It was here that the original explorers found a human skeleton, hence the name of the chamber. There is a tale of an itinerant castrator that visited the cave by some lost entrance. He walked off into the darkness with a burning torch, blowing a bugle never to be seen again. One theory is that the skeleton belonged to this man but it could also be a Bronze Age burial. Whoever he was, his bones now reside in a cardboard box in Cardiff museum. Turning our lights off for a brief “Derek Acorah” moment produced the expected result of absolutely nothing happening and we then climbed back out of the chamber and proceeded to Pearl Chamber for a couple of photographs before returning to the junction.

Following the other passage from the junction took us past the Cathedral and the Font to Flood Passage and on to The Toast Rack. Above The Toast Rack, more fine passage was followed that took us back to a roaring Main Streamway and then Traverse Passage. A quick crawl around the passages at the top of Traverse Passage and then we headed back down towards The Step which is the usual point of entry into the Main Streamway. Here the amount of water in the stream and the sound was quite staggering and it was obvious that any attempt to enter it would not be sensible so we went back a short distance to the short climb up to Column Passage, another fine passage that leads to a small chamber containing a pool and a large column formation, The Column. The description of this place on the virtual tour at Ogof.Net says that the pool has delicate calcite plates growing on the surface and that the pool should not be entered. Sadly, there was no evidence of these.

Main Streamway in Flood

Vicky in Skeleton Chamber

Zeb and Waterfall

The Toastrack

Dai coming up the Toastrack

We went back to the step and took a few more photographs before exiting the cave after a thoroughly enjoyable trip. We didn’t cover a huge amount of ground but to me, these are often the more enjoyable trips, where you get to take your time and really look at everything rather than speeding past on the way to some other goal. OFD is a very complex cave system that offers a lot and I feel it will repay you greatly if you take the time to explore a small part of the system before later moving on to trips further into the cave.

The weather had taken a turn for the worse after we exited and so a rapid change in the lay-by was required although I missed a great photo opportunity when Zeb stripped off and ran to the passenger door of the car where his dry clothes had been left, only to find the door still locked. A naked Andrew Zerbino hopping about covering his modesty is not a pretty sight. I suppose I could have been quicker with unlocking the door but we were all giggling too much. A couple of pints in the Ancient Briton in time-honoured fashion rounded off a very enjoyable first trip into OFD1.

The Ancient Briton

Huw Jones and Steve Atkins

Photos – Steve Atkins

My first trip to OFD started well. After driving to the quarry at the top of the hill that leads to the South Wales Caving Club, the fog was that thick, I promptly turned around and went looking for the club elsewhere. Fifteen minutes later a phone call confirmed I was now a couple of miles from the club. If I’d driven 30 metres further in the fog, I would have arrived on time as planned.

When I arrived at the club, I was surprised to find two cavers of screen and still photograph fame – Brendan Marris and Mark Burkey. It was nice to meet these two after watching all their videos and admiring the fantastic photographs they’ve produced over the last year or so that I’ve been caving.

The entrance to OFD 2 is something to behold for an amateur caver like me. Alice in wonderland springs to mind, with the door being just over knee high. Once inside, the cave opens up and for the next 4 hours I’m sure Huw wished he had brought ear plugs with him, as all you could hear was me saying wow, that’s awesome, amazing and other such things, as with each step you take, more of the caves formations were revealed to us.

Near the Entrance

Gnome Passage

Wedding Cake

The first thing to see was Gnome Passage with its small calcite formations and the trickle of water in the background that makes them talk. This set the tone for the rest of the trip, as I do like to take a photograph or two hundred and Huw set off with his Japanese tourists in tow, complete with multiple cameras strung around neck.

Having not caved for just over four months, I found some of the clambering hard going and Huw had said there were a few high sections that I was not looking forward to, due to me not being a fan of anything over stepladder height.

Off we went to the next formation, the Wedding Cake. Pause for photos and a few ooohs and aaahs, then we carried on to the start of Chasm Passage and down through the Corkscrew. This is a little exposed at one point and I was trying not to look down at Huw who seemed to be 30ft below. Then it was on to Salubrious Passage, with its fine formations and the climb and traverse. We rounded a bend and there before us was the magnificent Trident. Pause for photos. I was drooling at this point. Huw then asked me to lead the next stretch. After assurances that the water was not to deep, off I went and there was the Judge. Awesome was the only word that I could mutter before I started snapping away and admiring the wonderful colours. There then followed a small streamway to Swamp Creek and more formations and you guessed it more photos.

Huw in Salubrious Passage

The Trident

The Trident

The Judge

Steve in Swamp Creek

We then headed back to Salubrious and Huw showed me the way to Maypole Inlet, which is the route to the Streamway. Then we backtracked to President’s Leap traverse and into Selenite Passage and it was time for another photo shoot. We then went onto Cross Rift, along to Midnight passage, to the bottom of Skyhook Pitch. I couldn’t remember much of this part of the trip as Huw had promised another traverse which was playing on my mind.

Selenite Passage

Selenite Passage

Cross Rift

So we went back to Cross Rift and up to Shatter Pillar, were we stopped and refiled the batteries in the cameras and had a quick chocolate bar to replace some energy. We then moved onto Edward’s Shortcut via the crystal pool and the ladder and then I’m sure we got a little lost (only a little Huw). We then faced the dreaded traverse which Huw flew across and I followed with the grace and speed of a 70 year old tortoise. I was glad to pass this without falling down the hole and with great relief it was onto the next obstacle, which Huw called the Slippery Climb which, after studying Huw’s struggle to the top, I decided to try a different approach and got to the top with the minimum of trouble and was quite pleased with the achievement.

Crustal Pool

Formations in Edward’s Shortcut

Big Chamber Near The Entrance

We were then coming to the end of our trip and headed through the Brickyard with its slippery rocks and onto the Big Chamber Near the Entrance, where we paused for a few more photos. We then headed out, passing a group of students on their way in.

Walking Back

Thanks to Huw for guiding me on my first, but not my last, visit to this awesome system.

Huw Durban, Taylor Durban, Morgan Specht, Huw Jones

We met at 9am at an almost deserted SWCC. There wasn’t a duty officer that weekend but one of the two SWCC members that were around sorted us out with a key.

We got changed and walked up to Top Entrance. It was a chilly morning and I was glad I’d brought hat and gloves. Morgan lead us to Gnome Passage, with a loop via the Big Chamber Near The Entrance. To start with I couldn’t see much as I could only get the two dimmest settings on my lamp plus a bit of flicker if I tried for a higher setting. When we got to Gnome, I decided I needed to do something about it and took the batteries out and then reinserted them. Sorted!

This was as far as Morgan had been in this area of the cave before. It was Taylor’s first time in OFD and Huw D said he hadn’t been in OFD2 for 25 years! We dropped down to the lovely Salubrious streamway and headed down stream. Morgan started taking photos as we went along. Unfortunately there was a problem with the memory card which resulted in there being no photos to show. We turned left after a while, to see The Trident and The Judge formations and carried on beyond, along the nicely decorated passage to the formations in Swamp Creek.

Returning to Salubrious, we turned right at the next junction. There was a passage up here, that I’d spotted on the survey, that I remembered had a really nice crystal pool. I’d only ever approached the passage from the other side before but the survey showed it was the first turning on the left so we couldn‘t miss it could we? After a little while we all felt that we’d gone too far. We should have turned around but of course we didn’t! We came to an s-bend with a funny little window in the middle and then an awkward rift. Beyond I arrived at an enlargement at a cross-roads. There was no cross-roads marked on the survey. The passage we were looking for was to the left so that’s the way I went, through a slightly muddy crawl, into a larger area with a booming echo. I called the others through but then discovered that the passage closed down at a grotto! We back tracked to the cross-roads and took the branch straight on, instead of left. This also closed down so we decided enough was enough and we should get back to somewhere that we knew where we were. Back at the cross roads again, I was certain that the remaining branch would take us back to Salubrious, upstream of the turning to The Trident and The Judge, which it did via an interesting little climb down. Later, on our way out, Morgan and I had to have another look. Morgan soon spotted the passage we were looking for – at the top of a 15’ overhanging climb!

Huw D really wanted Taylor to have a look at the Main Streamway so we decided to do that instead of heading over to the Midnight Passage area. First though, we headed for Selenite Tunnel. We briefly met another party returning from The Trident, before turning right into Selelnite and carefully crossing the chasm that is President’s Leap. Selenite really is a stunning bit of passage. Nicely scalloped walls of black limestone lined with pure white calcite, a flat mud floor and nice formations. Just a pity it doesn’t go on for longer. We waited for a short time at the other end, at Shatter Pillar, for Morgan to take a few photos and then followed an equally as nice passage down to Cross Rift. We turned left, admired more formations in the ceiling and made our way to Maypole Inlet via one wrong turning.

Here we got out the rope I’d brought and used it to line Taylor on the climb. We twisted our way down Maypole to the ladder and the climbs down to the stream. It had been very wet and we weren’t certain if we’d actually be going into the stream. It looked fine though, high but not dangerous so in we went. It was forecast to start raining in the early afternoon and it was now 12.30! We had a very quick look up and down the streamway before climbing back out. Huw said he’d definitely been there before (he had done a through trip in the past) but he had no recollection of Maypole at all.

Back up the ladder and the climbs and we had a quick bite to eat before the steep trek back to the entrance. Between Gnome and The Brickyard, Morgan pointed out a rock feature that is a useful landmark to choosing the correct route. He gave it a name that I don’t think any of use will forget in a hurry! He claims that someone else told him. You’ll have to ask Morgan.

Morgan Specht, Huw Jones, Lee Garbett

Early on a Sunday morning at the beginning of December I drove from Abergavenny about 50 minutes through the beautiful countryside around Brecon en route to Penwyllt in the Swansea Valley. Penwyllt is the headquarters of the South Wales Caving Club who are the gate keepers for the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave systems. There I met up with Huw and a new man to the club named Lee. Lee’s other half Carolyn had meant to come but after doing her first BCC trip into Aggy earlier that week she was still a bit stiff and decided to give this trip a miss.
We changed into our gear and Huw grabbed the key and signed us out on SWCC’s caving board. Cavers on the whole are very enterprising with their approach to gear, producing bespoke and homemade/altered gear and Lee was no exception. He came to South Wales from the peak district and a climbing background, having done some caving, where he claims that he didn’t have much use for a helmet. The helmet he pulled out of his gear bag was an impressive creation. He had adapted a helmet with black duct tape to hold several head torches.
We walked down the hill to the cave entrance, about a 20 minute walk. This was a new way of approaching the cave for Huw, who said that years ago you had to drive down the hill, park and use someone’s drive, but recently the right of access and land had been secured by the club allowing us to walk down from the club.
We approached the entrance, descended the ladder and opened the gate to enter OFD 1. The plan was to do the round trip. Huw had printed out the surveys and route descriptions and highlighted our route. He gave me the opportunity to lead the trip and do the route finding. We got our bearings and set off through the lower section which had been set up to be a show cave with concrete floors and railings, now gone. We made our way to the Toast Rack which is a junction, either going straight on through Pluto’s bath or up the fixed step ladder that takes you up over a six foot smooth flowstone step. We went up and came shortly to another junction, where we took a right under some fine curtains and headed to the Step, which was a nice series of steps down into the main Stream Way. The Stream Way was brilliant, a long winding passage with rushing water carving great shapes and scallops into the rock. Crossing the pots is the main hazard at this water level and is fun because you have to balance on a rolling scaffolding bar which is attached on the upstream end. None of us swam, but we did fill our wellies! We made our way along to Lowe’s Chain which is a smooth 4 meter high wall with two fixed ropes hanging down it. We passed this and went on up the stream to a waterfall and the end of the passage, where I climbed up over a natural stone bridge to have a look at the entrance to the Waterfall series. It was a precarious climb and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone with a fear of heights or a priority on self-preservation. I carefully climbed down and we made our way back to Lowe’s Chain where we climbed out of the Stream way. The climb wasn’t too tough, but this could prove to be the most difficult part of the trip for some cavers.
This took us up into the Rawl Series, a dry blocky series of passages, chambers, and chokes where Lee discovered the value of wearing a helmet. The cave here is similar in character to OFD 2 further up the hill. The route took us up and back around on ourselves until we arrived at Pi Chamber where we went left, and I found the way on behind a boulder which dropped us steeply down a small phreatic tube (a long way down surprisingly) to the beginning of the bolted traverse 50 feet above the Stream Way. If you don’t like traverses, cow’s tails are advised to attach yourself to the cable, but it is a wide and flat ledge that can be done without them. The start is the scariest bit because you have to slither over a polished bolder and carefully get your foot on the ledge beside the drop! I managed without attaching myself to the cable, tucking my elbow over the cable and slithered along the wall when the ledge narrowed!! Exciting!!!
After the traverse the passage meanders until you pop your head out of a dig and then crawl back to a recognizable junction where we saw the hanging curtains earlier. We had finished the round trip and done if fairly quickly so we headed back down past the curtains and scrambled up a smooth flowstone climb on the left and made our way to along Column Passage to The Column, which is well worth the visit. We then went back down to the stream to a fork which lead us back up to the Toast Rack, this time crossing Pluto’s Bath. I successfully crossed it without getting soaked due to my long legs. Lee got a bit wet!
We made our way out and back up the hill, to the showers and changing facilities at Penwyllt. It was a great trip and you can see why it’s a classic caving must do for any aspiring caver. It takes less 4 hours, its good practice for navigating, it has every variety of cave challenges, none of which are too extreme or unpleasant and it’s stunning. It’s a lot of fun and having a warm shower and a roaring fire to follow it up makes a perfect day.

Morgan Specht