Saturday 26 April 2008

Dan Yr Ogof, Swansea Valley, South Wales, The Lost Tackle Bag Trip

The aim of the trip was to take some photos between the pitch down into the Great North Road and North Aven. However about an hour or so into the trip I was pushing a tackle bag in front of me in a 'hands and knees' crawl. Suddenly the bag disappeared from view and I heard, "Bang, crash, wallop, crash, crash, biff, bang, wallop, wallop, SPLASH." The bag had fallen down a 10 metre rift and into a pool at the bottom. We tried to retrieve the bag, but the pool was brown and muddy and very quickly became too deep to feel the bottom, i.e. the bag was totally lost and beyond retrieval. This not only totally screwed up the trip as we needed the tackle in the bag (2 full SRT kits, spare batteries, food and drink) to get up and down pitches, but the bag also contained my ONE AND ONLY car key! We had no alternative but to abandon the trip and exit the cave - back through the long crawl and the lakes. 

The Team: KeEd, BrMa, DeRo & ChWe

Sunday 13 April 2008

Llanelly Quarry Pot, Clydach Gorge, South Wales

The entrance consists of a drop down a 10 metre very tight awkward rift impassable to 'persons of larger than average build' which is much more difficult on the way out! This is followed by a small stream which leads to a 20 metre pitch. This leads to a boulder floored chamber where a 5 metre climb down an excavated 5 metre shaft leads to a small inlet stream which feeds the main Midsummer Night's Dream Streamway. We explored the streamway between Ryan's Duck upstream to Hammer Passage downstream. The expedition went very smoothly with everyone managing to climb up the entrance rift in a reasonable time, but ask Brendan if he enjoyed his trip.
Jessica in the Midsummer Nights Dream Streamway.

Rachel in the Midsummer Nights Dream Streamway.

The Totem Pole formation in the Midsummer Nights Dream Streamway.

See more Llanelly Quarry Pot photos here 

The Team: KeEd, JeHa and BrMa + Richard & Rachael from WMCEG