OFD I and Cwm Dwr through trip, Penwyllt, South Wales

This was to have been a day on the dig to see if it would be possible to pump water into the cave along the newly discovered roof space, however when we went into the dig the water levels were too high, so instead we went caving. 

Present: KEd, BMa, DRo & CWe

Brickworks Dig, Penwyllt, South Wales

At the dig face nearly all of the in-fill from the 'lost' roof of the passage had slumped in revealing back space in the ceiling. After some digging we were able to climb up into this. The passage here is around ten feet high. Ahead appears to be the continuation of the chocked narrow rift, above is a 4 inch square hole in the roof which is another inlet, but to the left is (as we suspected from last time) another passage and the in-fill does not go quite up to roof level - more black space! We can see about six feet along this passage before it appears to turn right again. This is a very interesting area.

For more details of the weekend see the Dig Page.

The Dig Team:  MCa, KEd, BMa (Sat only), DRo, GSm (Sat & first 15mins of Sun only), JSm & ASt

Hidden Earth Conference, Leek

This year the conference was relatively close to the West Midlands and once again was a great success thanks to the hard work of the volunteer staff. It was a great opportunity to catch up with friends, buy new kit and to be inspired. 

Attendees: Acr, BMa, DWi 
Lecturer: EPo 
Technical Support: MCl

Ogof Draenen, Pwll Du, South Wales

A trip to Canyons East and Canyon West with the purposes of a) visiting a part of the cave we haven't been to before and b) introducing Del to something a little tastier like the traverses in Indiana Highway. No real formations to talk about but some fantastic guano deposits. 

Present: KEd, BMA & DRo

Surface walk above Dudley Limestone Mines

Surface walk above Dudley Limestone Mines and trip into Dudley tourist mine with Shepton Mallet Caving Club, Dave Bowdley and Steve who kindly led the walk, Mike Clayton and Emma Porter.

Snail Beach Lead Mine, Shropshire

SRT exchange trip with Shepton Mallet Caving Club, Shropshire Mine and Caving Club and four members of Dudley. The Scenic Route was particularly impressive.

Present: Mike Clayton Andrew Cross, Dave Williams and Emma Porter.

Swinsto Hole, Yorkshire

Despite taking 1 hour to set the ladder at the cave exit, a successful and pleasant trip. Swinsto hole starts with a pleasant short pitch, but is soon followed by around a 1000 ft crawl in water. We developed a system, Mike C rigged, I carried the rope to the pitch head and Emma removed the rope behind us and passed it forwards. All went well until around the fourth pitch. When the knot in the bottom of the rope was not undone before starting to pull it up, fortunately this was noticed when the knot was only 12 ft from the floor, although under the waterfall. Despite fears of cutting the rope, it was recovered by climbing the pitch and being lowered on the rope. 

Present: MCl, ACr & EPo + Cara Allison (TSG), Mike Wilson (BEC) & Zot (BEC)