OFD 1-3-1 Attempt

After the OFD 3 trip back in December 2024, an idea was sparkling in Dave's' head, a super adventurous traverse of the Ogof FFynnon Ddu, starting from the bottom, the OFD 1 entrance, visiting the Smith's Armoury in OFD 3, and turning back the same way. Early in the year the planning started and the date was set for the International Women's' Day 2025 (8th March). Four of us met up in Penwylt the night before and decided for an early start at 7am. We weren't far behind the timings but the nightly disturbance at SWCC hut didn't allow for easy sleep for some of us. 

We marched into the cave at 7.45am and within first half an hour we learned that Jas decides not to continue. After emotional 'good bye' three of us remaining manage to keep fairly good pace all the way to the Traverses before OFD 3. To get there we have taken the traditional well known by us route following the steamway to the Maypole Inlet, through the Arette Chamber and Poached Eggs. We reach Smith's Armoury in just under 6hrs, which was really decent since we have allocated 16hrs for the whole trip. After quick refuel we turn around and get back to Maypole Inlet where we come across another group of cavers going opposite direction. The tiredness is about to kick in, for some more then for the others but we bravely march on since it is all downhill now (mostly) and being propelled by water (kind of). There is a brief moment (that probably lasted one hour) were we stopped talking to each other but another refuel helped to lift the mood and obviously energy levels. We exited the cave after 12hours and 30 minutes of caving and since it was in a shorter time then originally planned and we weren't gonna cave next day anyway we all decided to drive back home. 

Short video from the trip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6dZnJIA7KU

Cavers: Bartek B, Dave B, Jas S, George T