A weekend of caving and camping at Saundersfoot on the Pembrokeshire coast, with five caves visited during the weekend and some exceptionally gusty weather at the campsite.
Those arriving on Friday evening pitched their tents and enjoyed a very pleasant walk in the sun to Saundersfoot Harbour for dinner and drinks, before returning to the campsite for a highly eventful night of extreme weather, putting tent guy ropes and waterproofing to the test. However, it takes more than a night of strong winds and heavy rain to dampen the spirit of speleology, and the next day three different caves were explored, starting with the primary destination for the weekend, Ogof Marros. The trip was led by Phil Knight (SWCC), a Marros digger and Pembrokeshire cave enthusiast who was a font of interesting knowledge about the caves and geology of the area. After a thorough tour of the wonders of Marros, including some trout spotting in the streamway, we moved on to the smaller but also fascinating caves of Ogof Carreg Wen and Green Bridge Cave located just a short walk away. With the sun shining the day was rounded off with a stroll down to Morfa Bychan beach to see the resurgence associated with the caves and numerous tree fossils, before heading to a local hostelry for dinner and drinks.
The original plan for Sunday had been to enjoy various pursuits on the surface, with a mountain of climbing and water-sports equipment brought along for the purpose (it is summer after all). However, with an abysmal forecast for the local area, caving seemed a much better idea. The caves of Herbert’s Quarry fitted the bill of being conveniently situated in the homeward direction and with added bonus of being beyond our usual caving zones in Wales. Ogof Pasg and Ogof Foel Fawr were fully explored and offered a good variety of sporting aspects and scenery including a ladder climb, a waist-deep canal, a beautiful green pool, grottos and squeezes, with a dash of easy scrambling to get there.
Many thanks to Phil Knight for leading the Saturday trip - information on how to arrange a trip to this intriguing cave can be found at https://ogofmarros.uk
See CSS Newsletter Vol. 68, Nos. 4-6 for a full trip report from this meet.
