Manor Farm Swallet

The DCC Christmas caving trip.

Climbing up the streamway in Manor Farm Swallet.

The Team: KeEd, AnGr, JeHa, DeRo, BrMa, MeWa & ChWe

Ogof Pont Gam

A return to this "collectors' item" to see if this time we could complete the through trip from Ogof Pont Gam to Ogof Nant Rhin. We got as far as Aven D'Oznog.

Del approaches the top of the second pitch in Ogof Pont Gam.

Keith climbs from Aven D'Oznog through to Ogof Nant Rhin.

See more Ogof Pont Gam photos here 

The Team: KeEd, BrMa & DeRo

Giants Hole Round Trip

This trip was originally arranged for a friend of mine, but unfortunately he couldn’t come. So that left me all alone with three women, luckily I had been caving with them in the past so I knew what to expect and we all had a good laugh. Now for some reason Heather and Jess decided to duck down into the water going threw the vice, which seemed a bit strange to me as they aren’t exactly on the large side, and we all got a good soaking as Jess came down the steel ladder and the water sprayed off her back which set us all off laughing again. Now the rope climbs were fairly amusing, especially as Heather's “dangly bits” (her tackle bag) got tangled up in the hand line making it a bit awkward for her to stand up at the top, and the water level in the wind pipe was fairly low so there was no danger of drowning in there either. The calcite boss on the traverse was a bit off fun, watching them all come through head first, staring straight down to the water below, with an anxious look on there faces. That was it then, just the ladder to go and we where out, now have a guess whose “dangly bits” got in the way again at the top of the pitch, while I was there getting soaked making sure she was safe on the life line. Not to worry it was all good fun……. 

The Team: AnGr, JeHa, HeSi & MeWa

Ogof Yr Ardd

A return to this "collectors' item" to see if this time we could get to the sump at the end of the cave which is not suitable for cavers of the larger variety. We didn't get to the sump.

Chris traverses in the passage that approaches the pitch.

Keith traverses in the passage that approaches the pitch.

Chris in the meandering lower rift passage.

Chris in the lower streamway.

See more Ogof Yr Ardd photos here 

The Team: KeEd, BrMa & ChWe

Ogof Fawr

Pete Hobson in Ogof Fawr.

Pete Hobson in Ogof Fawr.

See more Ogof Fawr photos here

The Team: KeEd & BrMa and Pete Hobson

Ogof Pasg and Ogof Foel Fawr, Herbert's Quarry, South Wales

These two small caves are connected and the plan was to do the through trip. We thoroughly explored Pasg first and stopped for Brendan to take numerous photos. The connection involves descending a pitch and in spite of taking the recommended ladder length and a long tether the bottom of the ladder was about four metres from the bottom of the pitch. The only alternative was to walk around the side of the hill in bitterly cold driving rain and enter Foel Fawr. We did all manage to get through the very tight squeeze and find our way to the canal at the bottom of the ladder pitch, stopping this time for photos and video.

Del views formations in Ogof Pasg.

Del views formations in Ogof Pasg.

Keith passing through the Slab Squeeze in Foel Fawr.

Del in the main passage of Ogof Foel Fawr.

See more Ogof Pasg photos here 

See more Ogof Foel Fawr photos here 

The Team: KeEd, BrMa, DeRo & ChWe

Ogof Clogwyn and Ogof Nant Rhin

An introductory trip for Dean, first in Ogof Clogwyn via a very long walk, and then up the stream to Nant Rhin where we went right to the end including the squeeze through to the final digs.

Dean in the streamway of Ogof Clogwyn

Jessica in the streamway of Ogof Clogwyn.

Dean by the PF formations in Ogof Nant Rhin.

See more Ogof Clogwyn Photos here 

See more Ogof Nant Rhin Photos here 

The Team: Brendan, Jessica and her friend Dean

Northern Lights, OFD2, Penwyllt, South Wales

The Team: KeEd, JeHa, HeSi & StWa + Evan and Alan from NWCC

Through Trips - OFD1 to Cwm Dwr and Cwm Dwr to OFD1, Penwyllt, South Wales

Last minute and hastily arranged, this trip as one of those where from no one wanting to go caving to having almost too many bodies seemed to happen in a matter of minutes. With eight people the only logical thing to do was to split into two parties and do the same trip in reverse directions. We met up underground at the letterbox.

Wal watches Rachel as she posts herself into the Letterbox.

Wal viewing formations in Cwm Dwr Jama.

Wal viewing formations in OFD 1.

Rachel viewing a false calcite floor in OFD 1.

See more OFD1 photos here 

See more Cwm Dwr photos here 

The Teams: 
OFD 1 to Cwm Dwr: KeEd, HeSi & ChWe + Evan from NWCC 
Cwm Dwr to OFD 1: BrMa & StWa + Rachael & Richard from WMCEG

OFD 2, Top Entrance - The Big Chamber Near The Entrance

A photo trip to the Big Chamber and passages around it.

Adrian viewing a shower inlet near Top Entrance.

Adrian and Graham near Top Entrance.

Graham viewing formations near Top Entrance.

See more OFD 2 photos here 

The Team: John Smith, Graham Smith, Adrian and Brendan

OFD 2, Top Entrance - Passages around Moonlight Chamber

A photo trip in the pretty passages that are around and above Moonlight Chamber in OFD II.

Adrian viewing formations in a passage near Moonlight Chamber.

Adrian viewing formations in a passage near Moonlight Chamber.

Graham viewing formations in a passage near Moonlight Chamber.

See more OFD 2 photos here 

The Team: John Smith, Graham Smith, Adrian and Brendan

Manor Farm Swallet

A trip into this cave for the fist time for us. Much more impressive than we had expected, still stuff to left to explore, we will return.

Heather viewing the Beehive formation.

Heather in the magnificent Curtain Chamber.

Jessica in the magnificent Curtain Chamber.

Jessica climbing out the entrance shaft.

The Team: Brendan Jessica and Heather

Ogof Llyn Parc, North Wales

First of all I have to congratulate Heather for arranging this trip and say a special thanks to the lads from NWCC for manning the winch as with out them this trip wouldn't of been possible. The cave is entered via a 300 foot shaft for which we were all attached to a winch line (one at a time) to make it easier and quicker to descend. The cave itself is actually accessed via a mined level which has broken into natural passage and this is where the best bits are. There are plenty of formations for which Brendan got has camera out, and photographed anything that stayed still long enough. There's a stream way, a small amount of crawling, a few short climbs, a bit of mud to crawl through and roll about in, but best of all lots of fun, and to be honest no matter what I say it wont do this cave justice. I think I can say without contradiction that all of us enjoyed Lynn Parc.

Del views the miner's inscriptions.

Mel in the main streamway.

Jessica viewing a calcite splash pool.

Del in the Main Streamway.

The Team: KeEd, AnGr, JeHa, BrMa, DeRo, HeSi & MeWa + lads from NWCC

Cwm Dwr, Penwyllt, South Wales

A trip to explore Upper Piccadilly. We still need to go back as we didn't explore all of the passages. Brendan couldn't resist taking some photos at the Piccadilly waterfall on the way out.

Del at the Piccadilly Waterfall.

Del at the Piccadilly Waterfall.

Del at the top of the pitch to Upper Piccadilly.

Del in Upper Piccadilly.

See more Cwm Dwr photos here 

The Team: KeEd, BrMa & DeRo

Tooth Cave, Gower

A trip with SWCC on a very wet day. Turned around before we hit the main streamway, as this is a very flood prone cave.

Heather in the crawls in Tooth Cave

See more Tooth Cave photos here 

The Team: Brendan, Heather and Jessica

Ogof Ap Robert, South Wales

Another cave that none of us had done before in spite of it having just over a kilometre of passage. The entrance consists of descending a number of vertical rift passages until a large chamber, Toad Hall, is reached. From here the cave changes character and after crawling in the stream for a short distance the end of the cave consists of muddy phreatic passages. We didn't descend the pitch near the end of the known cave.

Keith and Del in the very drippy Toad Hall.

Keith and Del in the very drippy Toad Hall.

Del climbs up to scaffolded shaft.

See more Ogof Ap Robert photos here 

The Team: KeEd, BrMa & DeRo

Chartists Cave, Crescent Cave and Pant Gam Entrance to Nant Rhin

The aim was to visit Crescent Cave, but because of it's close proximity to Chartist's Cave we visited this first. This is an impressive system and judging by the large passages and chambers discovered to date there must be a lot more cave to be found. Our next stop was Crescent Cave, but at the first scaffolded section we discovered that a rock had fallen out of the roof completely blocking the way on. To finish off the day we drove to the Pont Gam entrance to Nant Rhin and descended the first pitch.

Chris in Chartist's Cave.

Chris and Keith in the Lower Chamber in Chartist's Cave.

Chris in the entrance series to Ogof Pont Gam.

Chris on the First Pitch of Ogof Pont Gam.

Chris below the rock Bridge in Ogof Pont Gam.

See more Chartist's Cave photos here 

See more Ogof Pont Gam Photos here 

The Team: KeEd, BrMa & ChWe

Ogof Draenen, Dollimore Series

The plan was to go almost to the end of the cave and visit the Geryon. A mega stomp followed to the Dollimore Series with a couple of small detours where my memory had failed, and a brief stop to photograph the Snowball (now moved!). We followed the main passage to the left once in MSAD to photograph the snowy Christmas Tree thingy at the end and then retraced our steps to find Luck of the Draw. This was a fairly pleasant passage with lots of pretties. We found Medusas Children and then we began to make our way out, it was now nearly 6:00pm. We had failed to get to the Geryon, but it could have only been 20 minutes away. A steady pace was made on the way out and we were in the entrance series for about 10.30. Water was oinking down the entrance, but we made it out fine and just got to the Indian in Abergavenny before it closed.

Jessica views the Snowy Christmas Tree formation.

Rachel views the Medusa's Children formation.

Richard proposes to Rachel at Medusa's Children.

See more Ogof Draenen photos here 

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