Redhouse Lane Swallet - Call of the Crow - Radiolocation trip

 We were asked to help to document the radiolocation and possible connection point towards the Symonds Yat cliffs. Loz and I joined a well-choreographed trip where a number of people have been allocated critical tasks by the Diggers. Our party of 3 including Loz, Ian Healey and I was going to the forefront of the most current exploration and document the formations. Dan Sandford followed up to the end as well with the radio location transmitter rig, whilst the rest of his group established the Cavelink communication with the surface team. In the same time the surface team was operating the reciever antenna to triangulate our underground position in relation to the surface. 

In addition to that it was also a first proper test to my downsized photography set up, the main camera being the small compact size Ricoh GRIII instead of the chunky full frame DSLR. Due to unique nature of the task and location I opted to still take the big camera with us to the end of the cave, just in case, and Loz kindly agreed to carry it. Overall, a very successful trip with all the team achieving their objectives. 

OFD: Return to the Tourist Trail

On Saturday 18th November the Dudley met at South Wales Caving Club. One CDG member was taking a trainee around OFD for the weekend, another photography trip was delayed due to a puncture. The rest of us went on a nice amble around the classic tourist route to reintroduce a lapsed caver into the swing of things.

We started off trying to sniff out the mini columns. Finding these turned out very successfully however we had difficulty locating Speedy Caver. After Jas heroically made the down climb near the entrance proving we'd gone the wrong way, we decided to press on and retrace our steps. We went into the Brickyard and past the Wedding Cake where we joined a queue of student groups all taking their freshers through the Corkscrew. We had planned to do the Sandy Crawls, but as the students were going this way we went straight down to Salubrious Streamway and then to Crossroads.

After this, we took a vote on whether we should find the beginning of the Midnight Traverses or Frozen River, the appeal of pretty helictites indesputably winning out. After sniffing around Cross Rift we found the right way and spent some time enjoying the beautiful decorations in Frozen River. This was even more enjoyable as the slippy slope back up wasn't anywhere near as difficult as we thought it might be.

Our route back took us by an orange crystal pool and then it was a gentle route back up via Shatter Pillar, President’s Leap, etc. The Sandy Crawls lived up to their name, and after some effort negotiating a big hole in the middle of the crawls it was nice to get back to walking passage. All in all, a great little bumble and it was nice to revisit the familiar top entrance landmarks.

Cavers: Becca, Jane, Jas, Dave & Anne
Photos: Jas
Trip Report: Anne