A last minute invitation from Dan to join him and some mates on a trip to South Wales saw me driving to the Peak on Monday and staying at Dan's. On Tuesday we all piled into one van and set off for the South Wales Caving Club hut at Penwyllt, Brecknockshire near Swansea. We didn't get there till 2ish due to multiple food stops and continuous road works. Leon had organised the trip and luckily for us he had read through the 13 page document required to stay in the hut. 13 pages!
OFD 1 round trip - 6th November 2012 Me, Dan, Leon, Sam, Simon
After another coffee stop in the hut we changed and headed off for OFD1 and hopefully the round trip. Simon had done it before and could remember most of it, he said, plus we had an old survey that was mostly readable. The forecast was dry although the weather didn't know this as it had rained during the drive.
Dan had had food poisoning all day Monday; his tales of vomiting and diarrhoea had made him seem heroic. He hadn't eaten anything Monday or Tuesday and was initially not going to cave until Wednesday. However, a few exploratory farts which didn't lead to violent discharges into his trousers (you should have seen the smile on his face) meant he decided to come caving. I was slightly concerned about him collapsing due to lack of food but more concerned about any explosions into his waterproof cave suit. The thought of being near him as his wellies filled up almost made me gag.
The entrance is a blasted climb down ladders and through a trapdoor. Straight away it feels impressive. There's passages going off all over the place, some really nice flow stone but also some curiously unimpressive formations which are taped off. You soon arrive at the main streamway and it's fantastic, not massively well decorated but very high in places. The water was low so following the river was easy.
Our route was roughly as follows: main streamway over pots 1, 2, 3 and 4 (they have a scaffold pole across to walk on, are they really that deep?) to the climb out of the streamway up a rope at Lowe's Passage. Up the massive boulder slope into the Rawl Series of sand filled passages. There are some fantastic gypsum formations on the wall here. I say gypsum, Dan told me, I didn't have a clue.
Bridge Passage was the most impressive part for me. Initially you think you are walking over boulders in a reasonably high passage until you encounter an enormous hole in the floor. Turning your light to it's most powerful setting reveals a long, long drop! Bridge Passage is basically a high level walk over jammed boulders high up in a very high passage. It's high.
At the end is a constricted route down through the boulders into a small, steep passage that has a fine quartz intrusion in the floor. Intruded as a gas according to Dan. Dan knows about gas. This leads to a bolt traverse above the main streamway permanently rigged with a wire cable. This eventually leads to a climb down a chain back into the streamway and back to the exit. Before exiting we had a look up the Toast Rack, an impressive flow stone ramp, round to Rocky Holes Chamber and eventually back to another bolted wire traverse above the streamway.
Altogether a great trip. Some big passages, a fine streamway, great situations in Bridge Passage and fantastic looking passages leading off everywhere to make you want to come back and explore further.
OFD1 to OFD2 - 7th November Me, Dan, Simon
Awesome trip, absolutely brilliant. Fantastic large passages, some nice formations, beautiful streamway, crawls, climbs, squeezes, awesome "rock architecture" (TM Dan Clarke), brilliant.
Apart from the impressive large passages that are all over the system, the highlights were Marble Passage, a beautiful streamway with quartz intrusions everywhere. "Like a trendy bathroom" according to Dan. Dan doesn't have a trendy bathroom.
The Letter Box, a slab of limestone with a horizontal slot halfway up. You climb up the side of the slab, step left and grab a chain and then slot your legs in and squirm to a small phreatic crawl. Absolutely fantastic. Just after this is a convoluted crawl through small tubes to reach the base of the Divers pitch. Just big enough to get through easily ish, small enough to look intimidating.
The area before the letterbox was interesting but only because our old survey didn't exactly match the passages. We went back and forth quite a bit to confirm our position.
The Main Streamway is beautiful and has lots of hidden small pots in the floor that occasionally catch you unawares. There are also some larger ones, most can be traversed but occasionally a swim is required. The best bit here involved Dan and Simon watching me traverse a pot, hoping I would fall in. Instead Simon stepped backwards and fell in himself, only to proclaim he'd stayed dry. The look on your face said otherwise Simon! Plus the water lapping around your neck.
The climb up the rift in the Maypole inlet was interesting! It took us ages to find the right climb up as Simon couldn't quite remember which one it was. After numerous false climbs and traverses he found it and I needed a rope for the start which was a bit iffy. Other crucial points in the cave are marked, I'm not sure why this isn't.
The route OFD1 down to main streamway. Follow past Lowe's Passage and past The Waterfall to Boulder Chamber. Crawl on right, past impressively bent rusty scaffolding to The Connection.
Various passages lead to Collapse Chamber and Letter Box. Crawls leads to top of Divers Pitch. Climb down in situ hawser rope and head for Piccadilly. Flood Bypass leads to The Confluence and the main streamway. Still in streamway, past Marble Showers, bypass the sumps using the Great Oxbow.
Back in Mainstream Passage all the way to Maypole Inlet, marked by a bolted on step. Climb up wall, up in situ ladder and try to find the climb up the rift. Up through boulder choke into fossil passage and to The Crossroads. Gnome Passage leads to OFD2.
Pant Mawr - 8th November Me, Dan, Leon, Sam, Simon
Pant Mawr is an hours walk for an average cave with a few interesting features. Not worth the trip if you've already done OFD and it's the cave you feel you have to go to if you cave in Yorkshire or the Peak because it's got a pitch so it makes you feel at home. Don't bother.
It does have some impressively large breakdown and lots of precarious looking slabs of rock hanging from the ceiling. There are also slabs with flow stone and stal hanging over the edge which have also fallen off, cleanly breaking the formations.
The best thing though is under a small overhang at about waist high at the side of the passage. There's a row of stalagmites and small curtains along the lip and one of the curtains has snapped off. Instead of falling off though it is now attached to a nearby stalagmite with about a centimetre between the break. How it snapped and stayed attached to the stal is hard to fathom.
OFD 1 round trip - 6th November 2012 Me, Dan, Leon, Sam, Simon
After another coffee stop in the hut we changed and headed off for OFD1 and hopefully the round trip. Simon had done it before and could remember most of it, he said, plus we had an old survey that was mostly readable. The forecast was dry although the weather didn't know this as it had rained during the drive.
Dan had had food poisoning all day Monday; his tales of vomiting and diarrhoea had made him seem heroic. He hadn't eaten anything Monday or Tuesday and was initially not going to cave until Wednesday. However, a few exploratory farts which didn't lead to violent discharges into his trousers (you should have seen the smile on his face) meant he decided to come caving. I was slightly concerned about him collapsing due to lack of food but more concerned about any explosions into his waterproof cave suit. The thought of being near him as his wellies filled up almost made me gag.
The entrance is a blasted climb down ladders and through a trapdoor. Straight away it feels impressive. There's passages going off all over the place, some really nice flow stone but also some curiously unimpressive formations which are taped off. You soon arrive at the main streamway and it's fantastic, not massively well decorated but very high in places. The water was low so following the river was easy.
Our route was roughly as follows: main streamway over pots 1, 2, 3 and 4 (they have a scaffold pole across to walk on, are they really that deep?) to the climb out of the streamway up a rope at Lowe's Passage. Up the massive boulder slope into the Rawl Series of sand filled passages. There are some fantastic gypsum formations on the wall here. I say gypsum, Dan told me, I didn't have a clue.
Bridge Passage was the most impressive part for me. Initially you think you are walking over boulders in a reasonably high passage until you encounter an enormous hole in the floor. Turning your light to it's most powerful setting reveals a long, long drop! Bridge Passage is basically a high level walk over jammed boulders high up in a very high passage. It's high.
At the end is a constricted route down through the boulders into a small, steep passage that has a fine quartz intrusion in the floor. Intruded as a gas according to Dan. Dan knows about gas. This leads to a bolt traverse above the main streamway permanently rigged with a wire cable. This eventually leads to a climb down a chain back into the streamway and back to the exit. Before exiting we had a look up the Toast Rack, an impressive flow stone ramp, round to Rocky Holes Chamber and eventually back to another bolted wire traverse above the streamway.
Altogether a great trip. Some big passages, a fine streamway, great situations in Bridge Passage and fantastic looking passages leading off everywhere to make you want to come back and explore further.
OFD1 to OFD2 - 7th November Me, Dan, Simon
Awesome trip, absolutely brilliant. Fantastic large passages, some nice formations, beautiful streamway, crawls, climbs, squeezes, awesome "rock architecture" (TM Dan Clarke), brilliant.
Apart from the impressive large passages that are all over the system, the highlights were Marble Passage, a beautiful streamway with quartz intrusions everywhere. "Like a trendy bathroom" according to Dan. Dan doesn't have a trendy bathroom.
The Letter Box, a slab of limestone with a horizontal slot halfway up. You climb up the side of the slab, step left and grab a chain and then slot your legs in and squirm to a small phreatic crawl. Absolutely fantastic. Just after this is a convoluted crawl through small tubes to reach the base of the Divers pitch. Just big enough to get through easily ish, small enough to look intimidating.
The area before the letterbox was interesting but only because our old survey didn't exactly match the passages. We went back and forth quite a bit to confirm our position.
The Main Streamway is beautiful and has lots of hidden small pots in the floor that occasionally catch you unawares. There are also some larger ones, most can be traversed but occasionally a swim is required. The best bit here involved Dan and Simon watching me traverse a pot, hoping I would fall in. Instead Simon stepped backwards and fell in himself, only to proclaim he'd stayed dry. The look on your face said otherwise Simon! Plus the water lapping around your neck.
The climb up the rift in the Maypole inlet was interesting! It took us ages to find the right climb up as Simon couldn't quite remember which one it was. After numerous false climbs and traverses he found it and I needed a rope for the start which was a bit iffy. Other crucial points in the cave are marked, I'm not sure why this isn't.
The route OFD1 down to main streamway. Follow past Lowe's Passage and past The Waterfall to Boulder Chamber. Crawl on right, past impressively bent rusty scaffolding to The Connection.
Various passages lead to Collapse Chamber and Letter Box. Crawls leads to top of Divers Pitch. Climb down in situ hawser rope and head for Piccadilly. Flood Bypass leads to The Confluence and the main streamway. Still in streamway, past Marble Showers, bypass the sumps using the Great Oxbow.
Back in Mainstream Passage all the way to Maypole Inlet, marked by a bolted on step. Climb up wall, up in situ ladder and try to find the climb up the rift. Up through boulder choke into fossil passage and to The Crossroads. Gnome Passage leads to OFD2.
Pant Mawr - 8th November Me, Dan, Leon, Sam, Simon
Pant Mawr is an hours walk for an average cave with a few interesting features. Not worth the trip if you've already done OFD and it's the cave you feel you have to go to if you cave in Yorkshire or the Peak because it's got a pitch so it makes you feel at home. Don't bother.
It does have some impressively large breakdown and lots of precarious looking slabs of rock hanging from the ceiling. There are also slabs with flow stone and stal hanging over the edge which have also fallen off, cleanly breaking the formations.
The best thing though is under a small overhang at about waist high at the side of the passage. There's a row of stalagmites and small curtains along the lip and one of the curtains has snapped off. Instead of falling off though it is now attached to a nearby stalagmite with about a centimetre between the break. How it snapped and stayed attached to the stal is hard to fathom.
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