Navigating The Deepest Cave In Britain

Some Route Finding and Learning Surveys.

Having been with Dudley Caving Club for around 5 or 6 months, and getting plenty of trips under my belt, I recently decided its time for me start learning some of the main cave systems with the hope of starting to lead trips toward the end of this year.

The obvious place to start had to be Ogof Ffynnon Ddu. This system seems to be a regular retreat for DCC and for obvious reason, plenty of cave to go at and plenty of drinking opportunity! Having been only 3 times previously, two through trips and some poking around/route finding with Loz and Mike in top, I felt very vaguely familiar with OFD 3.

I put out the email and had one response, from Mark. If I was going to get us lost, Mark was certainly the right man to point me back in the correct direction! I arrived very early Saturday morning, deciding I couldn’t be bothered to get up early and make the meet time of 10am that I had decided on. After waking up to a beautifully sunny view across the mountains and making a brew amidst the eerie silence that was a sleeping, hungover uni society, Mark arrived. We had a short discussion and decided on a through trip from Cwm Dwr to Top Entrance. I’d never been in Cwm Dwr before, so this was a little bit of a drop in the deep end for my first navigation trip!

I purchased the necessary parts of laminated survey, and after mark pointed our intended route out on the full survey in the common room, we got changed and made our way over the the Cwm Dwr entrance. The first warm sunny day I have ever walked to a cave, and it was only 2 and a half minutes away!

After dropping down the concrete chute, I basically managed to go the wrong way before getting into the entrance series. I missed the right turn following the water and climbed straight up into the choke. As I realised it didn’t go, I turned to see that Mark had followed me, but he didn’t have his camera box with him. This confirmed to me that I had already gone wrong! A bit red faced, I made my way back down and pulled out the Cwm Dwr survey, only to find that the entrance series wasn’t on the sheet I had with me. Mark led on through the entrance series until we hit the choke, when I took over. Taking it slowly, picking my way through, we emerged into Big Shacks. I was already finding it difficult to match specific features in the cave to the survey, as the Cwm Dwr sheet I had was not coloured. Or this was my excuse. Mark pointed out the way forward on the survey, and we moved forward.

Passing through Big Shack 1, turn off the right between two left turns which head to Big Shack 2, we were on the main route. The cave itself was easy going at this point. We pressed through to the traverse which cuts out the 100 meters or so of walking passage. Here I had a bit of a wobble trying to pass the very exposed deep hole, but eventually managed the quick couple of long steps over and we carried on through to take the shortcut through to Piccadilly, converging with another small group who seemed a bit lost!

We stopped to take some photographs at the waterfall approaching Piccadilly. Thankfully I wasn’t too wet so didn’t get cold for these ones! Stopping every so often to check the survey and orientate myself, we cracked on through Piccadilly and round into Flood Bypass. No real dramas here until I went the wrong way at The Confluence. Mark gave me a few seconds and then, not wanting to turn to add an extra half an hour onto the trip, decided to let me know that actually it was Right, not Left!

Picadilly Waterfall

From here continued upstream, stopping to get cold and take more photos at the Marble Showers.
Then it was the pots, 15 or so. All deep enough to get very wet and some wide enough to have no choice, but I did manage to not fall into any of them! I’m not sure about Mark, although I’m sure might not have mentioned it if he had...

Marble Showers

Missing the exit off to Great Oxbow, but quickly realising that I didn’t fancy going underwater, I turned around and saw mark waiting at the climb out of the streamway. After some more photos at a traverse over some white water, we made it to Maypole Inlet, which I have only done twice, once up, once down. Mark was struggling/swearing a bit with his camera box through here as it was a little bit too large to be comfortable in the narrow passage. Passing another lone caver going in the other direction, we both made it up the 35-foot climb without too much bother.

Main Stream Way

I was fairly confident from this point, having been through a couple of times - and the coloured survey helped! An uneventful march up to the Crossroads followed by mark getting a bit excited about finding a small passage into the maze which he hadn’t done or didn’t remember. He did an excited loop and we carried on up Salubrious passage, through the corkscrew and onto pass the wedding cake. Some boulder scrambling through Brickyard later we emerged into the low sunlight at about 4pm.

All in all I a successful trip for me, I went wrong a couple or more times, but Mark was there to set me straight!

Sunday morning saw a rapid round trip in OFD 1, as I had never done it before. As a self-proclaimed non-fan of traverses, Mark lent me some Cows Tails for them. Turns out they were not as bad as I thought they would be and so didn’t bother with them. Out, back and changed for 11am, we managed to make a brew and get that down us before the students awoke, then off home.

Present: Mark Burkey, Joe Watkiss

Trip report: Joe Watkiss

Bolting in OFD Big chamber

After being rocked gently to sleep by the horrid weather Jess and I awoke refreshed and ready to rumble.
We were designated Duty officer this morning and so begun gently with a cuppa and taking the hut fees.

Once all had paid up we begun the search for the keys to get the SWCC ladder which was surprisingly harder than expected and took almost an hour to track down. Eventually though we had everything we needed. Ladder, rope, climbing gear, drills, spits and of course camera's ready to document caverns measureless!

I should explain that on a previous visit to OFD, Roo used big chamber near the entrance to instruct a group of us how to use the 3D scanner ahead of a couple of planned trips abroad. The result of this was that he had identified a passage that he wanted to investigate and so had contacted us to see if we could help.

Loz had joined us Saturday night for the curry, but after her 40 mile run she wasn't in much of a state to cave and so we only made her carry the 8m ladder up to the entrance rather than anything strenuous!

Soon Bartek and I were making our way through to Big Chamber with a section of ladder each and after a slight mishap where the ladder took a dint after tumbling out of position, we managed to get it up and secured.

Roo went up carefully and popped a bolt in to secure the ladder to before continuing up to take a look in the passage and with a deflated look on his face reported that it didn't go and was blocked with stal :(

Bartek and I made the most of the unusual vantage point and took a couple of photo's before we de-riggged and headed back to the hut for yet another cuppa before heading home.

Let the fun begin!

Big chamber from the inlet

Trip report: Mark Burkey

Present: Paulina, Bartek, Jess, Roo and Mark

Caving for Andrew

We lost our son Andrew James Millward on 27^thApril 2017 aged 33 when he took his own life. He had suffered bouts of depression brought on we think from his time serving with the Warwickshire Fusiliers in Iraq in 2007.  He was a serving Police Officer with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary working at Harwell in Oxfordshire commuting there daily from his home in Birmingham.

His colleagues from Harwell and in particular those from his unit have been of tremendous help and support over the last year to both his wife and two daughters and ourselves. His sister also ran the Birmingham Marathon in his place and memory last year.

l wanted to do something special to say ‘thank You’ to his close friends on his unit, rather like cavers they have to rely on each other in difficult moments. As a proud member of Dudley Caving Club, yes us lot, what better way than to organise an ‘Adventure Fund Day’ caving in south Wales.

Our guide for the day 6^thMay would be non-other than ‘Caver Keith Edwards’ himself, ably assisted by Jessica Burkey and Kayleigh Wood.

We met in Abergavenny at our usual breakfast haunt of Luigi’s before moving on to South Wales Caving Club to allocate caving gear, change and make our way up the hill to OFD2. The five from Harwell had become four as one could not face his gremlins of going underground, but to be fair he did travel with his colleagues in order to support them and saw them off from nearly the entrance.

There was much nervous laughter and banter from our visitors as we made our way in and to their surprise it was, as we know, much larger in that entrance area than they had imagined. We pointed out land marks on the way such as Gnome Passage and the Wedding Cake and the Corkscrew certainly racked up the excitement. We made our way down to Salubrious and crossed the steamway and headed for the Columns where Clark Friend was able to give our visitors an interesting talk on how this part of the system had evolved.

Time was pressing now so we took the quickest route back which involved an interesting slide down a rift, exiting to the left part way aided by a safety line to avoid the continuing drop. We emerged to brilliant sunshine, amid exhilaration and relief to pose for pictures before making our way back to SWCC where my wife and other family members had prepared a BBQ.

Viewing the survey on wall in the long common room our visitors were amazed at the size of the OFD system and thrilled to plot their route in and out.

Following our meal and a short speech the final cherry on the cake was the presentation as a memento of the day of ‘UK Caving .com’ mugs to our visitors kindly and generously supplied by Jane Allen. All in all a great day out full of happy memories and possibly a couple of new members for D.C.C.

My sincere thanks to everyone who helped out that day. 

Ian Millward, Dudley Caving Club.

                        

Through to Cwm Dwr was a bit of a stretch for Mel!

Mel arrived to a wet Welsh morning on time at 10am. We waited half an hour or so to see if Los was going to make it, but decided she was probably still in bed when the clock reached twenty to eleven and so headed up the hill for a through trip to Cwm Dwr.
No camera today so the going was quick and we were soon dropping in to the main stream way. After the first half dozen pots Mel decided it would be easier just to jump in them, and as we were moving at a reasonable pace she didn't get a chance to chill down.
After an hour and a half of caving we exited the stream way in to Cwm Dwr and as we had made such good time we decided to do a couple of add on's. First we popped up Heol Eira, which was prettier than I'd remembered. We then headed up in to the Upper Smithy for a poke around.
Mel found a couple of the climbs rather strenuous and by the time we had reached the exit crawls her legs were cramping up every time she bent them.
We slowed the pace and took breaks for her to stretch out and still exited at a very reasonable half past 3.  A good fast paced trip which offered the chance to refresh my navigational skills in some of the less explored area's of the system.

Looking like she's posing, Mel grimaces as she tries to stretch out her legs ;)

Present: Mel Bell & Mark Burkey

3rd Time Lucky, An OFD Through Trip

For Ollie's 3rd ever caving trip he was keen to try something a little more ambitions I suggested a through trip and told them to decide which one.
As Kay and Ollie discussed which through trip to do, Clive Westlake wandered over and introduced us to a chap called Tarquin who was looking for a decent length trip for a Sunday .
He was most keen on a through trip and asked if we fancied an ofd1 to top trip, and so the decision was made.
We made swift progress through OFD1 with Tarquin giving us a full descriptive history of the cave. We paused for a while at the letterbox as I tried to better a shot I had previously taken there before continuing on in to the main streamway. The water levels weren't too high and although we often had to jump in to the deep water it wasn't too strenuous. We again took a quick shot before leaving the streamway and once we arrived at the crossroads Kay took over the navigation out.
A thoroughly enjoyable day in good company.

Ollie entering the letterbox climb

Kay in the main streamway

Ollie learns that just one more shot isn't always quite truthful!

Present: Ollie Woodward, Kay Wood, Tarquin & Mark Burkey

A Run Around Top....More Like A Marathon!

Ollie's first outing last week to Bagshawe Cavern hadn't put him off and he turned up on Thursday evening keen for more and so a weekend at South Wales was arranged to try and beat the enthusiasm out of him!
We stopped off for the usual breakfast to start the day at Luigi's in Abergavenny before heading on to the SWCC. Upon arrival we checked the river and found this flowing well so the streamway would be out of bounds for todays foray and a run around top entrance would be the trip of the day.

After changing and walking up the hill we headed in.
Kay was kind enough to carry the 2nd peli box as I wanted to test some new flash guns and we took a couple of test shots straight away to see if she would have to lug them around the entire trip.......she would :)

We begun with the awkward climb up to the mini columns and in to the bedding planes to show Kay the head of the practice srt pitch in to Gnome passage. From here we headed down speedy caver and across to Gnome passage, down Edwards Shortcut and for a look at the pretties in Frozen River. We continued down Edwards Shortcut and cut across to Shatter Pillar and took the usual route through Selenite tunnel and over Presidents Leap to take a look at The Trident & Judge formations. A quick divert to Swamp Creek and then up to Peter's Pretty Passage.
I really thought that would be enough for Ollie's first trip in OFD, but he was still game and so we headed up Salubrious and over toward the bottom of Arete Chamber, turned off in to the Snowman passage and cut across to come out in Chasm. We went for a look at the head of the Crevasse before taking a look at Bowani Junction, Straw Gallery and back to Timo's Table. We took the crawls behind Timo's Table back to the base of Arete and the the direct route up the Corkscrew Climb, Past The Wedding Cake in to Gnome Passage, Through the Backyard and Out.
Fortunately that seemed to be enough of a warmup for Ollie and so after a quick look in the club dig, we retired to the local Indian Restaurant to make plans for the next day.

Ollie Admires The Mini Columns

Kay Slides Down The Calcite At Speedy Caver

Ollie Examines The Helictites In Peter's Pretty Passage

Kay In Straw Gallery

Present:
Ollie Woodward, Kay Wood & Mark Burkey

Highlights of the Caving Year 2016

Dudley Caving Club 2016 Round Up. What another eventful year it has been. Join us on our underground adventures.

Photos: Brendan Marris and Mark Burkey
Video: Keith Edwards

A photographic trip in to OFD II

A German photographer had contacted Dudley Caving Club to ask if we would be able to take him underground for a photo shoot and so Jess and I offered to escort them. 

We met up at SWCC and proceeded to spend the next 8 hours underground giving instruction and taking snaps. We only managed to get as far as Selenite Tunnel and back, must be some kind of record!!!

Selenite Tunnel

Swamp Creek

The Chasm

Present: Mark, Jess, Michael & Claudia

Headbanging trip to Moonlight Chamber Area

After a recent trip to the passages at the top of the pitch down into Moonlight Chamber we realised there was still quite an extensive area of passages that we had still not visited. Rich was joining the trip and wanted to learn some more routes in OFD and so we set off on a not very direct route to our destination of choice. We first headed up to the climb up to the Mini Columns, from where we headed to Speedy Caver and then slid down to enter Gnome Passage. A short jaunt down took us to the start of Edwards Shortcut, where easy work was made of the slippy climb down. A short while later Brendan missed his footing on a short section of easy traverse and ended up falling and head-butting a boulder with the side of his head. The helmet saved him from serious damage, but his ear was cut and bleeding. After some proficient first aid by Mark, the ear was dressed and we continued to the main traverses and the rest of the trip. We went to Shatter Pillar and then down to Cross Rift before heading to the end of the passage and then the climb up into the series of passages around Moonlight Chamber. We followed a route through the passages that we had not previously visited and then reached a climb down where a hand-line was required. This took us into a maze of passages where we located the other side of a pretty crystal pool that we plan to return to to photograph at a later date. In our exploration of these passages we ended up arriving at the start of Lugubrious Passage. This was a connection that we had not anticipated and we may use this simpler route on a future trip.

Rich in passages near Moonlight Chamber - Photo by Brendan

Rich in passages near Moonlight Chamber - Photo by Mark

Rich in passages near Moonlight Chamber - Photo by Mark

The route out of the cave was via Selenite Tunnel up Salubrious, taking a short cut to the bottom of the Corkscrew Climb and then via the sandy crawls from Gnome Passage and out via White Arch Series. All above ground for 4pm.

First Aid by Mark Burkey

Present: Rich Gibbons, Mark Burkey and Brendan Marris

Bags and bags of fun in OFD

Sunday dawned and the realization that we were committed to going back to Splash Inlet and Marble Showers seemed a little less exciting, especially as we had been unable to coerce anyone to join us, we were taking even more camera kit in with us, and we were all tired and sore from our exertions the day before.

However, we made good time and soon were heading up the Skyhook pitch again. Taking the rope, SRT kits and bag of camera stuff with us, we again struggled through the tight rifty and crawly bits to make our way again to Splash Inlet and the passages beyond.

Taking a short detour to show Mark the crystals from the day before, we went to take some photos in a nicely decorated dry passage before heading to the much wetter Marble Showers. But alas! The water conditions were much lower than the day before, and where there had been a myriad of waterfalls and a good height to the stream itself on the Saturday, there was much less water flowing on the Sunday and it was far less spectacular. Mark and Brendan somehow still managed to make sure we were all completely soaked by the time they’d finished taking photos!

Heading back to the pitches we stopped for one more ‘quick’ photo and then we began our return journey. Once the second pitch had been derigged, we had 2 camera boxes, one large tackle bag, one smaller bag of camera equipment and 3 SRT kits to take through the awkward passages that we had struggled through earlier. Bags and bags of fun!

Once down the Skyhook pitch we made our slow and weary way back to the entrance, feeling tired but triumphant. This is a trip that is definitely worth a revisit (hopefully with more ‘mules’!) and would even make a great SRT exchange if there was a big enough group.

Jess at Marble Showers (Photo Brendan Marris)

Passage south of splash inlet (Photo Brendan Marris)

Marble Showers Series (Photo Mark Burkey)

Upper Marble Showers (Photo Mark Burkey)

Present: Mark, Jess & Brendan

Trip report Jess

Flood conditions cause a Splash or two

Saturday saw Mark, Brendan and I heading up to OFD Top Entrance with camera gear, SRT kits and rope. We planned to visit a little-visited part of the cave called Splash Inlet, which involves 3 pitches and some route finding, with the promise of quite a bit of passage to be found.

We made good time to the Skyhook pitch, pulled the rope up after us, and from the top we made our way past the formations to the top of the first pitch down towards Splash Inlet. Struggling through tight, rifty traverses and along crawls with all the tackle quickly lost its appeal, and we wished we had a few more friends along to share the load.

Once down the pitch we rigged the second pitch from natural anchors and were soon at the start of Splash Inlet. Following the inlet itself was less than inviting as it involved a squeeze in water, so we decided to explore the other passages.

Heading right led us to some interesting passages, but it was when we explored the passage on the left that we really found some treasures. Brendan and I found some beautiful crystal formations up a tight rifty passage, but when we went to get Mark to show him, he had disappeared up some knarly horrible passage. When he came back, he was full of enthusiasm for what he had found, and insisted we follow him.

The passage turned out to be not as bad as it seemed, and after a few twists and turns we came upon the cause of Mark’s excitement – we were standing above the main stream way, at Marble Showers! Not only that, but as the stream was in flood conditions, the water looked absolutely amazing, pouring down from all directions.

Excitedly, the boys started planning camera angles, but as time was running away from us and they had left their camera boxes a few junctions back, we decided that we would leave all the tackle and camera gear where it was, and return the next day for a decent photoshoot, hopefully with more people to help carry the kit!

Aven Near Mutiny Junction (Photo Mark Burkey)

Aven Near Mutiny Junction (Photo Brendan Marris)

Present: Mark, Jess & Brendan

Trip Report Jess