Ogof Draenen, Wyvern Hall

We had hoped to extend the club dig this weekend but the wet Summer meant that this had to be postponed.  The Wyvern Series is an area of this extensive system that none of us had visited before.  Unfortunately we ran out of time before we got to the end but, as you can see, Wyvern Hall is well worth a visit.  It was also an opportunity to take some video in the entrance series and try out the latest video lighting - a LED Lenser P7.  I'm so impressed that I've bought another one.

The team: KeEd (report), BrMa, DeRo & ChWe
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVFUQwuRS60

Wapping mine/Cumberland Cavern, Jugholes and Carlswark Cavern

This trip was arranged for new member Tony to give him a taster of what caving is about.  We started with a nice simple mine called Wapping Mine which is basically a walk about with a small amount of climbing which leads you up into Cumberland Cavern. From here we moved on to Jug Holes mine which proved somewhat of a challenge to get to as they have blocked off Salters Lane at the Matlock end, so if you intend to visit Jug Holes don’t approach from the Matlock side of Salters lane. This was a little more challenging for Tony as we used the shaft to abseil into the mine and there was a bit more climbing and squeezing involved. From here we drove to Carlswark Cavern and did the short through trip by going in via Eyam shaft and coming out of the Gin entrance. The water levels in Carlswark were the lowest I had ever seen them (much to my disappointment).

The team: AnGr (report), MeWa & ToWh

Ogof Llyn Parc, North Wales

Heather and I went to Pool Park near Wrexham on Sunday 14 June, a very pleasant warm and sunny summer day. I was late meeting Heather, as the road at Much Wenlock was closed due to a rock fall. A winch trip had been organised for Cambridge CC by North Wales CC, to avoid the 100m climb in the entrance shaft. We did the round trip in the cave below the mine workings, including a detour up a small streamway which bypassed the "knotted rope" climb up a mud bank. The caves are reasonably well decorated with straws in many places and some stalactites.

The team: AnCr & HeSi

Blaen Onneu Quarry Pot, Llangynidr Mountain, South Wales

Because of poor weather at the weekend we selected this cave as it was relatively near, not affected by heavy rain and only a short walk from the parking spot. Unusually for South Wales this cave system has four pitches in it, two in the northern section and two in the southern section. The tackle coupled with camera box and video box made for some entertainment passing some of the squeezes and dug out sections which are tight enough even for the unencumbered. An interesting and challenging cave.

Keith Edwards at the Twin Peaks Pitch

Keith in the Northern Section of the cave

The team: KeEd & BrMa

More photos of Little Neath River Cave can be viewed here

Little Neath River Cave, Upper Nedd Valley, South Wales

This was a second caving trip for Dean and a chance to take some photos and video in one of the most sporting caves in South Wales. We took a standard route into the cave, through The Canal and down to Sump 2. Our return was through the canal Bypass and then to fight our way against the flow of the water through the entrance passages. Although the helmet camera experiment failed some stunning video was taken with the waterproof camcorder.

Dean in the Canal

Dean in the Little Neath Streamway

Jessica Harding in the Little Neath Streamway

The team: KeEd, JeHa, BrMa & ChWe + new member Dean

More photos of Little Neath River Cave can be viewed here

Big Sink, Symonds Yat, Ross-on-Wye

Another major engineering feat in the Forest area. Lots of scaffolded climbs through tons of loose rocks lead to a nice SRT pitch into a big chamber, but after this the streamway in tight and rifty throughout. One for the cavers of slimmer stature.

The team: KeEd & BrMa + others

Pwll Y Pasg, Llangattock Escarpment, South Wales

A trip to explore some of the lesser visited caves. The cave is located in a shakehole and is formed just below the gritstone cover. Most passages are wide and flat so most of the progress involved crawling. The passage runs below an adjacent shakehole where we had to dig our way around the run in to find the further passages. We aborted our visit to the lower passages due to the sharp nature of the rock and our desire to protect our ropes.

Keith in the bedding plane crawls

Keith in Lost Pasage

The team: KeEd & BrMa

More photos of Pwll Y Pasg can be viewed here