A weekend based at Whitewalls featuring the ever-popular Curry Night on Saturday evening, and a collection of caving trips including well-known classics as well as some lesser known caves.
Those arriving early on Friday started the weekend with a trip to Llanelly Quarry Pot, rigging the pitch for SRT and exploring the excellent stream passage in both directions. Saturday was a day full of activity with five very different trips taking place, the most popular of which was Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, with two teams heading over to the Black Mountain and into this fine cave. Due to high water levels the streamway routes were impassable, but with an abundance of high-level dry passages to explore this wasn’t a problem. Both teams entered the system via the top entrance, each taking a different route encompassing a variety of different sights. The formations at Swamp Creek and the Judge and Trident were visited, along with Selenite Tunnel, Salubrious Passage, Chasm Passage, Gnome Passage plus a descent of Maypole Inlet to see the streamway.
The second trip, dubbed “the big adventure”, comprised exploration of six different caves and mines beginning at the Dinas Silica Mines in the Sychryd Gorge. The most extensive of these was visited first, with the multi-level galleries of unusual colours and angles of Upper Dinas Mine all explored, revealing some interesting relics and artefacts along the way. Then it was on to the smaller, but also interesting Middle Dinas Mine, before continuing to the next port of call at Will’s Hole. Due to recent heavy rain the normally easy scramble to the cave was now engulfed in a foaming waterfall, so a traverse rope was rigged to protect the crossing to the entrance. The pitch inside was rigged with two ladders, which the team descended to find the cave below entirely flooded with no further progress possible. The last destination for the day was three caves alongside the new Heads of the Valleys road, Vaynor Road East, Vaynor Road West and Vaynor Road Pot Cave. The first of these was quite extensive and all were very different to other caves of the area.
Meanwhile, the third trip was to Ogof Draenen on a circuit of the vast and impressive Canyon Passages, Megadrive North and the Underworld Series. Closer to home a short trip to Daren Cilau was followed by a foray into Eglwys Faen, while a fifth team explored the lesser visited passages of the Entrance Series. All returned in time for a spice infused evening back at Whitewalls. Curry Night was very well attended with the cottage full of members enjoying a feast of homemade curry delights, side dishes, accompaniments and a barrel of beer.
Sunday saw many members working off their curries with a local walk along the escarpment, while others had more vigorous fun caving in Ogof Draenen and Ogof Capel. This time the destination in Draenen was the Dollimore Series, taking in the majestic wonders of Medusa’s Children, Circus Maximus and The Geryon. These formations are all well worth the effort of the long crawl there and back through Last Sandwich. The Ogof Capel team enjoyed some excellent formations on their trip through this fine stream cave, which was found to be somewhat more aqueous than usual.
See CSS newsletter Vol. 67, Nos. 10-12 for a full report of the OFD trip.
