Another Fechan Caving Trip

Ogof Fechan is a reasonably sporting caving trip with 1km of passage leading to the second sump. The cave has some low passages with water in that flood to the roof, so a dry weekend in July was taken to make a return visit to this cave.
A break in tradition saw breakfast taken at Asdas on the route to the cave. Arriving at Cwm Cadlan a courtesy visit to Wernlas farm was made before changing and heading towards the cave. A camera box, a camcorder box and a flashgun box was shared between the two of us, making progress through the cave a little awkward.
The route description was left in the car and Brendan in a fit of navigational ineptitude went up every dead end and side passage as we went through the cave. Towards the end, the duck that bypasses sump 1 was met, looking very uninviting but after a little deliberation we made our way through and headed to the second sump. For a few moments on the return journey through the duck Keith thought it had sumped, only to find he was heading the wrong way through it.

Keith in the Entrance Series - Ogof Fechan

Keith in Sand Chamber - Ogof Fechan

Keith viewing formations in West Rift - Ogof Fechan

Keith in Waterfall Chamber - Ogof Fechan

See more photos and information on Ogof Fechan Here

Present: Keith Edwards, Brendan Marris

Alum Pot from Lower Long Churn

July 23rd 2011

On a very wet weekend in July Andy, Mel, Jess and I decided to visit Yorkshire for an SRT trip I’d always wanted to tick off...Alum pot from Long Churn.
After an interesting night of very heavy rain and someone trying to break in to the van whilst Jess and I slept in it! We met up at Inglesport for Mel to fuel up and the rest to have a cuppa and discuss options. Long Churn had been flooded to the roof over the past couple of days, but the streams had actually dropped significantly in the past 24hrs, so we decided to have a wander and check it out and retreat to a backup if it looked too risky.
Walking past Alum the stream was a little higher, but nothing like we were expecting. The sun had decided to make an appearance and once at the entrance to the Churns I was ready for a little water!
 After a wade through some thigh deep passage to double shuffle where Andy couldn’t be bothered with acrobatics and jumped straight in. A quick rig and drop down Dolly tubs and the view to Alum was spectacular. Everything went smoothly and after a few hours of happy caving we were back to the cars for a cuppa.

Andy at the opening to Alum Pot

Present Andy, Mel, Jess, Mark