Dan Yr Ogof, Swansea Valley, South Wales, The Lost Tackle Bag Trip

The aim of the trip was to take some photos between the pitch down into the Great North Road and North Aven. However about an hour or so into the trip I was pushing a tackle bag in front of me in a 'hands and knees' crawl. Suddenly the bag disappeared from view and I heard, "Bang, crash, wallop, crash, crash, biff, bang, wallop, wallop, SPLASH." The bag had fallen down a 10 metre rift and into a pool at the bottom. We tried to retrieve the bag, but the pool was brown and muddy and very quickly became too deep to feel the bottom, i.e. the bag was totally lost and beyond retrieval. This not only totally screwed up the trip as we needed the tackle in the bag (2 full SRT kits, spare batteries, food and drink) to get up and down pitches, but the bag also contained my ONE AND ONLY car key! We had no alternative but to abandon the trip and exit the cave - back through the long crawl and the lakes. 

The Team: KeEd, BrMa, DeRo & ChWe

Llanelly Quarry Pot, Clydach Gorge, South Wales

The entrance consists of a drop down a 10 metre very tight awkward rift impassable to 'persons of larger than average build' which is much more difficult on the way out! This is followed by a small stream which leads to a 20 metre pitch. This leads to a boulder floored chamber where a 5 metre climb down an excavated 5 metre shaft leads to a small inlet stream which feeds the main Midsummer Night's Dream Streamway. We explored the streamway between Ryan's Duck upstream to Hammer Passage downstream. The expedition went very smoothly with everyone managing to climb up the entrance rift in a reasonable time, but ask Brendan if he enjoyed his trip.

Jessica in the Midsummer Nights Dream Streamway.

Rachel in the Midsummer Nights Dream Streamway.

The Totem Pole formation in the Midsummer Nights Dream Streamway.

See more Llanelly Quarry Pot photos here 

The Team: KeEd, JeHa and BrMa + Richard & Rachael from WMCEG

Hillocks and Wharf Mines, Monyash, Derbyshire

The Team: AnGr, MeWa, HeSi, StWa & CaNo + Graham and Evan (NWCC)

Ogof Clogwyn and Ogof Nant Rhin, Clydach Gorge, South Wales

The Team: JiDu, KeEd, JaHa, JeHa & DeRo

Ogof Craig A Ffynnon, Llangattock, South Wales

The trip was arranged by Andy Grimes with the aim of exploring the system as far as the Hall of the Mountain King. Keith was interested in exploring the lower series which is entered via a passage on the left just before the fourth boulder choke. Brendan was interested in photographing large chambers using loads of flash bulbs and requiring the use of a tripod. So what could have been a simple trip involving the minimum of equipment turned into an endurance test involving carrying several bags of equipment through the system. The party split into two just before the fourth choke with half the team exploring the lower series and the other half going through the choke to photograph the formations.

Wal and Graham in the Upper Gallery.

Jessica in a low section of passage.

Mel in the passage after Gasoline Alley.

See more Ogof Craig a Ffynnon photos here

The Team: KeEd, AnGr, JeHa, BrMa, MeWa & StWa

Dan Yr Ogof, Swansea Valley, South Wales

The aim of the this trip was to explore areas of the cave none of us had visited before. Initially we were going to head for Bog Passage - a large passage on the right when heading for The Rising. On the way in Brendan wanted to experiment with underwater lighting in the Green Canal. This involved the other two members of the team freezing their private parts off as model and lighting technician while the photographer experimented with different exposures and lighting effects. What we do for his art! Still the result shows quite clearly that the Green Canal is in fact green. After this we got diverted and went off the explore Tunnel 2 - a very interesting area of the cave with a number of un-surveyed passages and a good draft. We will return to explore this region further. Finally we made it to Bog Passage where loads more photos were taken before heading out back through the Green Canal. As we approached Boulder Chamber I saw a trickle of water emerging from Lavatory Dan and while explaining about this phenomenon to Del it started flowing full bore. Without waiting to draw breath Brendan whipped his equipment out again and started flashing. You can see the results on the right - Del does not look impressed!

Del with Lavatory Dan in full flow.

Del in Bog Passage.

Del in the Green Canal.

See more Dan Yr Ogof photos here

The Team: KeEd, BrMa & DeRo

Bull Pot of the Witches

Whilst Brendan headed off to top up his cholesterol levels with a fry up, Em and Mike went to the YRC to plan their next China expedition, the other three helped Graham from Craven with his CIC assessment and had a great trip. 

The Team: JeHa, HeSi, DeWi, Graham Coates and 2 friends and his assessor