Swildon’s Short Round Trip

Trip Report by Mark Burkey

After a trip earlier in the year to sump 1 and then the greasy chimney, Andy, Mel, Jess and myself had been planning on going back to have a go at the short round trip.
This time we were minus Jess (after she decided to jump off her new scooter before actually stopping) and plus Dominic.
We knew it was going to be busy as soon as we arrived by the number of cars at the green. Sure enough as soon as we got in the entrance cavers begun appearing from everywhere!
We made swift progress to the pitch head only to have a half hour wait as there was a traffic jam of cavers waiting to descend.
At Tratman's Temple we again caught up a group who were also doing the short round and as we had already lost a lot of time we decided to tag along rather than jump ahead and risk navigation errors.
Everything went smoothly with no surprises to the greasy chimney. Andy went first.....grunt, grunt "I'm nearly there"...THUMP!! “Strike 1”...THUMP!! “Strike 2!”... Fortunately Andy flew up on the fourth attempt as I’m not sure there were anymore swear words left for him to use!
Again with our guides we swiftly made our way through to the Troubles where the other group decided they wanted to get some pictures of everyone going through. Andy was first up.....”Exactly how long IS this?”.......”THAT’S not much airspace”.....”What do you mean on your BACK?!?!”  In the end Andy showed us how it was done and just treated the whole thing as a sump and swam under it! Next went Mel and then Dominic who, after a ‘moment’, took to the ducks like, well like a spluttering duck to water. I myself had been so focused on the Birthday Squeeze ahead that I hadn’t even given any of the other obstacles a second thought. At least not until I wedged tight through one of the later ducks with my head half submerged and had to be dragged through. It was at this point I decided I really, REALLY wanted to fit through the squeeze and not have to do the Troubles in reverse.
Andy and Mel flew through the Birthday Squeeze, and I followed family tradition by first stripping off down to my furry. Following advice from Paul (an experienced caver who swore he’d got “corks” through the squeeze before)  I eventually went in on my back and was just thinking to myself how well I was doing when everything came to an abrupt halt. I’d reached the tightest part of the squeeze and no matter how hard I pushed I wasn’t going anywhere. I would just like to say that I was very manly at this point and took it in my stride, but unfortunately I can’t.  I begun to panic, making some very un-macho noises! However, with Paul wedged in behind me to push against, & Andy telling me there was no way he was going back through those bloody troubles and to suck it up, I eventually popped through like a champagne cork through to a slightly wider part, managed to turn full circle, and actually wound up having Andy pull me feet first out of the squeeze. I’m reliably informed this is a manoeuvre that has never been performed before and certainly gave cause for a few giggles!
With nothing more than a couple of minor navigational errors we were through the sump, back up the pitch and out with no further events.
In conclusion I think it is important for a caver to approach such a challenge with guts and determination, though I do feel a little less guts on my part would have made the whole experience far easier :)
My thanks go to Dominic, Mel, Andy & my new foot-rest, Paul, for getting me through my hardest challenge to date. The ribs are a little sore and tender, but I couldn't have done it without the whole team.

Present: Dominic, Andy, Mel, Mark & around 200 other cavers popping out from everywhere!!!

OFD - Towards Top Waterfall

With the weather looking very poor in the South West, Keith decided to take James and Chloe on their introductory caving trip with the club to South Wales and OFD. A little rain had fallen in the week, but the day was glorious and so we headed up to the Top Entrance to OFD and then on to the streamway. The plan was to head upstream to Top Waterfall and then return along some of the trade routes. The journey in was a little slower than planned and after climbing down Maypole Inlet we headed downstream for a short distance to visit the impressive cascades in the streamway.

James at a pot in the OFD Streamway

Chloe at a pot in the OFD Streamway

We turned around and made our way against the flow of the peaty coloured water towards our goal for the day. After reaching the oxbow in the streamway we decided that it would be better to return than carry on to Top Waterfall, as we were in danger of exceeding our call out time.

Chloe at a cascade in the OFD Streamway

See more photos of OFD 2 here

Present: Keith Edwards, Chloe Burney, James Charlick and Brendan Marris

North Wales Digging

Another Sunday spent in the company of Heather and friends of North Wales Caving Club. A great volume of dry sand was dug, bagged up, hauled up to the chamber above the dig and made into sandcastles. This continued until we were exhausted, the oxygen had run out at the dig face, the fan to pump fresh air to the diggers had packed up and and one member stabbed himself trying to repair the connector to the fan. The connection between cave X and cave Y is now 4m closer, unless of course we are going in the wrong direction and we are now 4m further away.

Photo taken on a previous digging trip

Present: Heather Simpson, Keith Edwards, Brendan Marris, Rebecca, Julian, Dave and Patrick

Hidden Earth 2011

Hidden Earth was attended by a good number of Dudley Club members. At the end of the weekend the annual presentation of the Giles Barker Award was made. For 2011 the award, a hand-crafted statue of a cave photographer made by Ceris Jones, went to Brendan Marris. Brendan has become known for a consistently high standard of underground photography and, since 2008, publishing regular updates on his website at ogof.org.uk As part of a personal online project, he is documenting the caves of South Wales, logging the results against digital maps. Both the quality of his work and his comprehensive approach make Brendan a worthy winner.

South Wales has been a regular venue for many cavers from Dudley Caving Club and the South Wales Cave project was born out of a passion for the caves of the area.

To embark on such a project was quite ambitious and could only be undertaken with the support of an equally dedicated team. Some spectacular locations have been visited on trips that would have been a challenge to simply reach without the added burden of photographic equipment. During this time I have been grateful for the level of support and commitment in visiting a range of places from the Out of this World to the quite simply horrid. I would like to express particular thanks to Keith Edwards who has offered consistent support and encouragement, and although he only appears in selected photographs, is generally around the corner out of sight, waist deep in water providing the lighting that is key to the photographs.

Brickwork's Dig

The dig was last visited in February when Graham and John fitted the entrance gate frame and started to ‘brick in’ the gaps around the sides.  We also managed to pump out the dig using the new pumping system but failure of the bottom pump along with water flowing in at a rate which would have required continuous pumping meant that we had to abandon any attempt at digging and go caving instead.
This time Graham and John completed the ‘bricking in’ around the sides of the frame and we managed to completely pump out the system.
The pumps and generator were set up on the Friday evening and we pumped for an hour or so until the bottom pump got itself clogged again.  The pump was dismantled and unclogged in the workshop but it was too late to resume pumping operations.
On Saturday as well as bricking in we also finished pumping out, moved 120-130 bags to surface which were stacked in the cross rift and filled another 60-70 bags which were stacked in the cross rift.
Sunday was less successful.  The bottom pump refused to lift the remaining sludge to the middle tank in spite of lowering the connecting pipe.  While pump maintenance and re-cabling was being done the filled bags from the previous day were bought out to surface.  The pump still refused to lift the sludge so we packed up early.
For next time it seems we need a pump for the bottom which can handle the sludge.

Graham lowers the new dig truck containing pumps and sand bags while Keith supervises

The new entrance to the dig complete with giant spider's web which mysteriously appeared when we were underground

The Friday Digging Team: Graham, John, Keith & Mark

The Saturday Digging Team: Andy, Brendan, Graham, John, Keith, Mark & Mel

The Sunday Digging Team: Brendan, Graham, John, Keith & Mark

Maskhill Mine

Mon 8th August 2011

After having done our rope access course Jess said she wanted to do some rigging. As I wanted a bit of a challenge I suggested Maskhill Mine.
Jess and I have done this as an exchange, but fortunately Jess has the memory of a goldfish and couldn’t remember the trip and agreed.
As I pulled out rope after rope out of the stores, & others in the club began commenting on the amount of kit, the look on her face changed a little as she realised what she’d let herself in for.

Equipped with over 300m of rope, dozens of maillons and karabiners all stuffed in to 4 well packed kit bags, we set off up the hill only to walk straight past the entrance which was surrounded with overgrown nettles and proceeded to spend the next half an hour cursing and saying ‘well I know it’s round here somewhere!’

Eventually we stumbled across it, and in fairness you did have to be right on top to see it.

With the first 80m of rope Jess jumped in and did a sterling job of rigging to the Jumbles. I followed with the other 3 bags, managing to drop them right in the middle of  Y hangs at least twice and realised just how much like I proper caver I was becoming, expletives pouring forth as I wrestled bags back into position. 
Switching at Trebuchet Corner I continued the rigging through to pool chamber without event.
De-rigging went fine for the first couple of bags of rope, once we got back to the top of Jumbles I could tell Jess was starting to feel it by the way she was often questioning my heritage. The fact that every 10 meters up the entrance pitches I could hear her struggling to free the bags which kept snagging possibly didn’t help!
All in all a great trip and an achievement for two people to do, but I think I’ll possibly take another couple of cavers next time ;)

Don't know why Jess was complaining, I was carrying the camera!

Present Mark & Jess

Five cavers - Four caves - One day

The day started with a very brief rendez-vous in Asda cafe before heading to Ystradfellte and the caves. Some substantial repairs to the road allowed us to park the cars down at the bridge. We sent Wal off to the farm to pay the trespass fees, changed and made our way to our first cave..

Cave 1 Bridge Cave
Our first cave of the day was Bridge Cave, with a quick trip down to the sump and then back out again.

Martin in the Entrance Series - Bridge Cave

Some more photos of Bridge Cave Here

Cave 2 White Lady Cave
We headed down the Nedd Fechan past Cwm Pwll Y Rhyd and down to White Lady cave, it's large arched entrance enticing us in. The water was deeper than I remembered and caused much upset to Wal who as we all know doesn't like the wet stuff. A quick sploosh down to the sump and then a slow return taking photos followed.

Martin and Mel in the main passage - White Lady Cave

Martin and Wal near the entrance - White Lady Cave

Cave 3 Town Drain Cave
A hop skip and jump from the entrance to White Lady was Town Drain, and one by one we entered this linear and impressively scalloped cave. A dash to the end was followed by half an hour of photos taken in the most impressive section of passage near the entrance.

Martin and Andy near the entrance - Town Drain Cave

Martin near the entrance - Town Drain Cave

Cave 4 Little Neath River Cave.
Having ticked off the lesser caves of the valley we headed up to the true target of the day - Little Neath. Low water and warm weather ensured that journey into the cave was not too cold or off-putting. We headed downstream to look at the other side of the Bridge Cave sump before sticking our heads into the canal. Wal was urged to commit himself to the water, but after much coaxing he would not budge. It took Martin heading off down the canal in front to get Wal to follow. After our swim a short detour to Bouncing Boulder Hall was made before the return via the Canal bypass was made. We were all out for four o'clock and in the New Inn at Ystradfellte supping pints in the beer garden by five.

Some Little Neath River cave photos from previous trips here

Present: Brendan Marris, Steve Wallis, Mel Wakeman, Andy Grimes and Martin Saunders.