OFD 1.5: Confusing and Tight

One of the downsides of getting older, is that it really doesn't take much to get confused. This is probably why I like things to be simple, but I'm fast realising that OFD isn't simple in any way!

Take OFD1.5, for example. I thought this was the maze of passages to the east of the Connection, and north of the Letterbox. This is what is on the survey, and being a simple sort of chap, I tend to believe what I see with my eyes. So when we bumped into someone by the Letterbox who told us that we were in OFD1.5, this stretched my poor little mind. Because it meant that OFD1.5 isn't where I thought it was, and we weren't where I thought we were; rather we were where I thought we weren't and we weren’t going where we wanted because we were already there.

Confused? Evidently, so was I. One thing I did know, however, is why we were where we were. (Which is some consolation, as the why of a matter is normally more important than the what of a matter. Or I like to think it is, anyway.)

We were there because I watched a video by the wily cave wizard all about OFD1.5, and it looked like an interesting place to visit. Unfortunately, we didn't have a ladder and therefore we couldn't sample the delights of the Knackeracker Pitch, however we did take a couple of SRT kits so we could go down the pitch into Falcon Chamber. But back to that in a bit.

We started our trip in Cwm Dwr, where - despite not being confident in the navigation - Phoebe’s knowledge of the cave and Jas’/George’s ability to follow their noses saw us make good progress. Eventually, another group of cavers appeared behind us and confirmed that we were on the right route, and were just shy of Piccadilly.

On past the Flood Bypass, up the Divers' Pitch, and through the tight tube towards the Letterbox we went. I remember finding the passages here to be a complex maze on an earlier trip, and having remembered the key navigational decisions from the other direction, I found myself facing more confusion: what was the opposite of left, right, left, left, right, right, left, right, left?

Whatever it was, it wasn't what I thought it was, so I ended up leading everyone round back to where we'd exited the low tunnel from the Divers’ Pitch. A quick look at the survey showed me that my original sequence of lefts and rights was utter rubbish. However, the tortuous (and circular) route we followed did mirror the tortuous (and circular!) pattern of thoughts in my head, which seemed apt.

Well, after the Letterbox, we trudged on to the mud slope leading up to OFD 1.5. Here we quickly found ourselves in a tight passage. It didn't look very nice, so I asked Phoebe if she'd like to have a look. After a few seconds, the words “um, it's getting very small,” floated back to us. “Ok, see if you can get a bit further,” I replied. “Well there's a rock in the way; I might be able to get past it.” “Oh good, keep going,” I said, reflecting how pleasant it is to have a ferret in the team whose superpower is small spaces. At this point, Jas’ sensible streak intervened, and he called out to Phoebe to come back before she got stuck. (After all, what can successfully rescue a ferret?)

After this, Jas took point and before long said: “It's a bit tight.” “That's ok,” I said, just keep going,” thinking for a second time how pleasant it is when other people test the tight bits. Before long we were through into yet more crawling passage. This time George set off in the lead, and after ten minutes or so, he called out - you guessed it! - “this is quite tight.” Despite being less of a ferret than Phoebe, he persisted until it became impossibly small.

Turning around, we decided to look for a connection with a higher passage. Peering up into a jumble of boulders, I was surprised to spot it. Twisting into it, it quickly became clear that it was another tight section, and was indeed the hole which Mark can be seen squeezing through in Keith’s OFD 1.5 video. This led to an unstable rock / sandy slope, and one by one, we made our way up through the hole. Here, some of my confusion rubbed off on Phoebe, who got the order of shouting “climb free” and kicking a rock down the hole the wrong way around. (I'm sure it was accidental!). Fortunately, the rock missed Jas, and I was left to reflect on many such occasions when I have knocked things down pitches...

A short while later we came across a beautiful crystal pool which we traversed over to arrive at a bridge of boulders (imaginatively called Boulder Bridge). From here, a steep, loose slope led down to the head of the 8m pitch that takes you to Falcon Chamber. Keen to look at this and possible rigging options, George and I started wandering backwards and forwards over the bridge. In his new-found role of sensible caver, Jas told us that perhaps both of us stomping over a load of boulders jammed together and suspended over a big drop wasn’t such a great idea…

In any case, it turned out that the rope we had wasn't going to be long enough to rig an approach line and the pitch. I was sorely tempted to rig only off the one bolt, until Jas and George sensibly pointed out that the bolt was of unknown age, and that this was an absurd idea. (Evidently, the progression from confusion to abject stupidity can be quite swift).

Destined to see neither the Knackeracker Pitch nor Falcon Chamber, we turned round, exiting the series down a 4m climb into the passages leading towards the Connection. Once through this and the boulder choke, we took the escape route out, with a quick diversion up Column Passage. Here, Jas put his lassoing skills to good use by throwing the rope up and around a small stump of rock before we climbed up. It was well worth seeing the column, which was certainly very impressive.

Another fun caving trip under the belt, all that remained was the trudge up the hill to Penwyllt to get showered and changed, and to reflect back on yet another enjoyable caving trip with members of the Dudley.

Cavers: Phoebe, George, Jas, and Dave.
Trip report: Dave.
Photos: Jas.

Upper Oxbow

For The Dudley’s first official meet of 2025, we decided on a trip that was not too taxing and which took us to a beautiful section of OFD: the Upper Oxbow Series, via the Skyhook Pitch. Bartek, Paulina, Mark, Jess, Jonny, Phoebe, Anne and myself all duly arrived at Penwyllt, and after the necessary chat and kitting up we trudged up the hill to Top Entrance.

The first challenge of the day was getting into the cave. Our key wouldn't work, and muggins (read Dave) was sent back down the hill to find someone to help. In the end another party going into Top Entrance opened the gate for us, but not without equal difficulty getting their key to work. Fortunately, we could relay these difficulties to someone from SWCC so the issue with the padlock could be resolved.

Finally into Top Entrance, we split into two parties, with Bartek, Mark, Jess and Jonny going to the Skyhook Pitch via Edwards’ Shortcut, and Paulina, Phoebe, Anne and myself going via Salubrious Streamway and President’s Leap. Arriving at the Skyhook first, the President’s Leap party found it pre-rigged and wasted no time kitting up and prussiking up the rope. Before long we heard the second party arrive at the base of the pitch, and we made our way through the first part of the series, with its impressive formations and extremely beautiful crystal pool.

Thereafter followed a fun - albeit slightly strenuous - rift. Traversing through this, we reached the pitches down to Splash Inlet, but given time and the plan to take photos we didn't drop these. Instead we wriggled into a couple of small chambers adorned with a beautiful array of formations. Here Mark and Bartek put their photography skills to good use. Mark also showed Dave the start of the connection to the Midnight Traverses; something to revisit at a later date (whilst wearing extra-absorbent big boy caver pants!).

The journey out was just as fun, although by the time Anne had reversed the rift, trudged up Midnight Passage and Salubrious Streamway, and climbed the slope up to and through the Corkscrew, she was struggling with reflux and being out of puff. As Mark had commented: is caving really suitable for someone who's seven months pregnant!? I reckon she has at least one trip left in her…

Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable trip to a very beautiful part of the cave. Some of the best bits remain to be explored (the route via the Midnight Traverses and the pitches down to Splash Inlet), so the Dudley can look forward to a return trip sometime in the future.

Cavers: Mark, Jess, Paulina, Bartek, Johnny, Phoebe, Dave & Anne
Trip Report: Dave
Photos: Mark

Column Hall

For the first trip of 2025, we thought we'd take advantage of Column Hall in OFD being open and make a quick trip there. Anne and myself had never been to this part of the cave before, and while Keith had, he wanted to take the opportunity to abseil the pitch having previously used the route via Cairn Chamber.

What none of us had anticipated was how busy Penwyllt would be. The car park was chock-a-block and cars were parked all down the lane to the overspill car park past the gate leading to Top Entrance. On entering the cave we saw several parties, some of whom had just gone in ahead of us, and others who were coming in just after us.

Nonetheless, after heading toward Big Chamber Near the Entrance we quickly lost most of the other parties, and ended up with just two other cavers as we started to wind our way to the pitch. Apparently everyone else was going to the columns via Cairn Chamber. The pitch itself was very pleasant; it was accessed by a simple rebelay and involved a deviation shortly below the Y-hang. This dropped us down into the southern end of Column Hall and from here a two minute walk brought us to the Columns themselves.

These are very impressive, and rise from a shallow lake full of rocks covered with thin, spidery calcite veins. The whole setting is incredibly beautiful. Having enjoyed them for several minutes, we set off to explore the rest of the hall. Highlights included walls covered with different colours of flowstone, pop-corn shaped mud formations, a huge calcited rift and pyramids of mud topped with pebbles.

We must have spent a couple of hours enjoying what would only have taken ten minutes to walk around, and took care to take several photos. Some of these were shot by the second entrance to Column Hall, which includes a wet crawl through a large puddle. Several students were coming through this as Keith took photos, and on realising that Caver Keith was present, they all fell over each other fighting to be videoed coming through the wet puddle!

Appearing somewhat bemused by this expression of fandom, Keith attempted to get the lighting quite right but eventually admitted defeat. Which means that the keen students splashed and squirmed around repeatedly in muddy water all for nothing…

Shortly after this we packed up video / photo kit and headed out again via the pitch. A pleasant 20-30 minutes of relaxed caving ensued before we arrived back at Top Entrance. The passages all around Column Hall were extremely beautiful in their own right, making the trip out very enjoyable. This was a lovely little trip and a great way to start the New Year.

Cavers: Keith, Dave & Anne
Photos: Keith
Trip Report: Dave