Recent Trips with Hereford Caving Club
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Most of our monthly club caving trips are written up by one of our members on the trip along with some photos. These are then gathered together at the end of the year , and are printed into out annual Newsletters for all members to keep.
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Craig a Ffynnon - 4th January 2020
The Club kicked the new year off in fine style with a trip down Ogof Craig A Ffynnon, is this becoming a tradition? The aim of the trip being to visit the Hall of the Mountain King and then, possibly, continue on towards The Promised Land.
We all met up at the lay-by on the old road just up the gorge from the cave, all managing to get there on time in spite of the added intricacies caused by the Head of The Valleys road improvement works.
Paul, who had also turned up at the lay-by, went off to the escarpment where he was going meet up with Jan and Kingsley to go walking and check up on his dig alongside Eglwys Faen. The underground adventurers comprised: Adam, Barry, Grant, Guy, Karol and Pauline, and we also welcomed Karol’s friend Sebastian to his first trip. This group made it’s way back down the road towards the village turning off past old lime kilns to climb the cotoneaster clad slopes to the, rather unstable looking cave entrance.
Once Barry had unlocked the gate we made our way through the excavated passage to the first chamber where we all signed in at 10:15. Then moving on we passed through a nice decorated chamber with many straws, pausing to look at a number of bats that were in residence, I think that they were identified as Horseshoes. The stream passage, which apparently can flood to the roof, then leads you to the first boulder choke. The way though the choke is protected by an array of steel scaffolding poles, some of these have clearly been replaced fairly recently and some plastic boards installed to retain smaller rock slippages. Following the first boulder choke the way on is through the semi crawl of Gasoline Alley until a pool where the junction with North West Inlet is met, we passed this and made our way over the calcited slopes to the base of the second boulder choke. At this point Barry climbed to the top of the pitch to lifeline the rest of us up. The first part of the climb to the second boulder choke is an iron ladder followed by a handline and steel plates bolted to the walls, sadly the steel plates appear to have been installed for those of a greater than average leg length, so some of us were unable to make full use of this innovation! Beyond the head of the pitch is the second boulder choke which is “generally arduous and uncomfortable” but eventually gives way to larger passage. However the start of the larger passage comes with the added attraction of glutinous mud which made progress uncertain, however no one, nor even any footwear was lost to it’s sticky grasp. Thankfully the mud relents to give way to the beauty of the calcite floored Travertine Passage and it’s lovely gour pools. Then following another acquaintance with mud we reached the magnificent Hall of the Mountain King, which it seems impossible for any photographs to convey the sheer size of. Here we rested and decided what to do next.
Although we had thought of going further, my stamina was not holding up very well and so we decided to to return but examining other attractions on the way out. This was started by Karol and Sebastian going to look at ‘the tight bit’ at the beginning of the third boulder choke. Then on the return route we stopped near Travertine Passage to look at a large stalagmite flow that covered the height of one of the passage walls. There was a fixed rope in place and Barry used that in combination with an assemblage of etriers, karabiners, and slings to scale the slope from where he was able to tell us of all the sights we were missing. We then resumed our return route. On the way out I managed to slip in the second boulder choke and narrowly missed Barry as I popped like a cork from a bottle, Karol practiced his Italian hitches and Grant found a luxuriously padded rung on the iron ladder through the first boulder choke. Once we had reached the pool by North West Junction we washed as much mud off as possible and to complete the process Karol and Sebastian went to immerse themselves in the waters of North West Junction - apparently it was cold.
We emerged into the sunlight of a warm afternoon at about half past two. Then after we had changed into dry clothes and the walking party had joined us we celebrated Barry’s recent birthday with some magnificent cake!
We all met up at the lay-by on the old road just up the gorge from the cave, all managing to get there on time in spite of the added intricacies caused by the Head of The Valleys road improvement works.
Paul, who had also turned up at the lay-by, went off to the escarpment where he was going meet up with Jan and Kingsley to go walking and check up on his dig alongside Eglwys Faen. The underground adventurers comprised: Adam, Barry, Grant, Guy, Karol and Pauline, and we also welcomed Karol’s friend Sebastian to his first trip. This group made it’s way back down the road towards the village turning off past old lime kilns to climb the cotoneaster clad slopes to the, rather unstable looking cave entrance.
Once Barry had unlocked the gate we made our way through the excavated passage to the first chamber where we all signed in at 10:15. Then moving on we passed through a nice decorated chamber with many straws, pausing to look at a number of bats that were in residence, I think that they were identified as Horseshoes. The stream passage, which apparently can flood to the roof, then leads you to the first boulder choke. The way though the choke is protected by an array of steel scaffolding poles, some of these have clearly been replaced fairly recently and some plastic boards installed to retain smaller rock slippages. Following the first boulder choke the way on is through the semi crawl of Gasoline Alley until a pool where the junction with North West Inlet is met, we passed this and made our way over the calcited slopes to the base of the second boulder choke. At this point Barry climbed to the top of the pitch to lifeline the rest of us up. The first part of the climb to the second boulder choke is an iron ladder followed by a handline and steel plates bolted to the walls, sadly the steel plates appear to have been installed for those of a greater than average leg length, so some of us were unable to make full use of this innovation! Beyond the head of the pitch is the second boulder choke which is “generally arduous and uncomfortable” but eventually gives way to larger passage. However the start of the larger passage comes with the added attraction of glutinous mud which made progress uncertain, however no one, nor even any footwear was lost to it’s sticky grasp. Thankfully the mud relents to give way to the beauty of the calcite floored Travertine Passage and it’s lovely gour pools. Then following another acquaintance with mud we reached the magnificent Hall of the Mountain King, which it seems impossible for any photographs to convey the sheer size of. Here we rested and decided what to do next.
Although we had thought of going further, my stamina was not holding up very well and so we decided to to return but examining other attractions on the way out. This was started by Karol and Sebastian going to look at ‘the tight bit’ at the beginning of the third boulder choke. Then on the return route we stopped near Travertine Passage to look at a large stalagmite flow that covered the height of one of the passage walls. There was a fixed rope in place and Barry used that in combination with an assemblage of etriers, karabiners, and slings to scale the slope from where he was able to tell us of all the sights we were missing. We then resumed our return route. On the way out I managed to slip in the second boulder choke and narrowly missed Barry as I popped like a cork from a bottle, Karol practiced his Italian hitches and Grant found a luxuriously padded rung on the iron ladder through the first boulder choke. Once we had reached the pool by North West Junction we washed as much mud off as possible and to complete the process Karol and Sebastian went to immerse themselves in the waters of North West Junction - apparently it was cold.
We emerged into the sunlight of a warm afternoon at about half past two. Then after we had changed into dry clothes and the walking party had joined us we celebrated Barry’s recent birthday with some magnificent cake!
Agen Allwedd - 2nd November 2019
The club trip into Aggy was all set. Unfortunately, Pauline and Barry were unavailable, so admin and leadership duties fell on others. Adam stepped up and had sent out the email to rally the troops and, as luck would have it, everyone turned up in the allotted place at the right time! Coming out to play this month were; Paul, Pete, Steve, Aaron, Isaac, Adam and Grant. This was a good number and meant that we could stay as a single party without needing to split into two groups.
The weather forecast was not good. Most websites were forecasting wind and rain all day and, we set off to travel to Llangattock, this looked to be accurate however, once we arrived at the carpark and found a slightly wind sheltered area to park, it didn’t feel too bad. Even the rain held off while we got changed and performed the usual eating rituals (cheese butty, cake, fruit etc.)
Paul had a CSS parking pass (courtesy of his joint memberships) and Isaac was the lucky beneficiary of this as he’d driven. The rest of us walked along from the car park and we all gathered outside Whitewalls. The weather, strangely, was fine. This lasted throughout our walk to the entrance however, there were more important things on our mind… the Rugby World Cup final was on and England were playing South Africa. Sadly, as we walked along the tramroad, it became clear that England were not going to rise to the occasion this weekend. By the time we got to the entrance, there were only 5 minutes of the match left and South Africa were on a roll, scoring tries left right and centre. It was time to turn off the BBC Sounds app on our smartphones and focus on caving again.
We’d kept options open for the trip. We had Aaron and Steve with us who are both relatively new to caving so we chose a trip into Baron’s Chamber and then, all being well, a nose into Flood Passage as the primary focus of our efforts. If things were going well after this, we’d decide what to do next at the time. We had thoughts of Keyhole Passage however, the weather forecast on surface had been so dire that we were uncertain whether we’d get past the BC2 obstacles due to water.
Once we were past the logbook, we stopped to leave kit in the usual place; this consisted of wallets, car keys, phones, waterproof coats etc. The first cache was placed and then Grant reached into the hole in the sidewall to place his waterproof bag. As he released it, a gentle flop, flop, flop was heard and, on inspection, he discovered, to his horror, that the bag had rolled down the hole beyond his reach – and the hole was too narrow to get into. Oh dear (or words to that effect)! Immediately, ideas began to bubble about how to retrieve the bag. None of them were particularly practical. Then, a thought flashed across Grant’s mind, “Where did the hole go?” A quick peek around the corner soon solved that question. The bag had rolled down the hole and had almost been re-deposited back into the main passage. Phew! Issue over. Let’s get caving!
The trip into Baron’s Chamber was uneventful. The newbies did a great job and progress was steady. We stopped and admired scenery en-route. This included counting the odd bat here and there. Soon we emerged from BC1 into Baron’s Chamber and stopped for cool down and a chat. Luckily, Steve had spent some time prior to the trip, preparing a laminated copy of the Aggy survey. This got referred to frequently as we kept confirming where we were and highlighting where we were heading. One thing that did become clear from these checks was that Flood Passage was nowhere near as far in as we’d thought and soon. We arrived at the junction in the stream.
In years gone by, Paul has seen this confluence with water powering out across the passage and smashing into the far wall. With the weather we’d been having recently, there were high hopes that we’d similar conditions today. These hopes were further stoked by the depth of water we’d already encountered on our trip in. Tin Pan Alley and the, usually tiny, stream in the entrance series (Ogaf Gam) were much wetter than usual. Sadly, when we finally saw Flood Passage it was rather anticlimactic. There was good flow but nothing spectacular.
This spurred us to travel further towards the start of BC2. Adam and Steve scouted forwards but the rest of had second thoughts and soon we’d all agreed (after calling Adam and Steve back) that this was a good point to turn around and head back towards the entrance, exploring side-passages as we went. This proved to be a fine decision. Back at Flood Passage, Paul pointed out the ‘way in’. It involved a short climb up out of the stream and into a higher-level side passage. It looked awkward.
Soon Adam and Isaac had decided that the challenge of getting in needed to be conquered. A few heaves and they were in and away. The rest of us looked up and wondered if it really was as easy as it looked. It was! Very soon we were all (except Paul who was relaxing near the confluence) clambering along Flood Passage. It was very impressive. A lovely phreatic, keyhole shaped tube with a strong stream running at the bottom. We explored quite a distance before individually deciding that it was time to turn around. A few interesting areas were spotted; in particular an aven about 10m high with what looked like a reasonable climb to get into it. This was mentally noted for a future trip.
Continuing our journey back towards the entrance, we soon came to Queer Street. This again is a fine passage although tapes have restricted access to it to prevent damage and interference with some ongoing bat logging work. Having devoured most chocolate bars by then, except of course for the huge supply carried by Isaac, we decided to keep going back to the entrance.
Paul set a brisk pace and soon our newbies were commenting that they hoped they’d be leading people out at similar speeds when they were 82 years old! The bags were still where we’d left them and soon, we were back on the escarpment. The weather was still ok, slightly drizzly, but ok.
As usual, the walk back took 30mins or so but everyone appeared to have a great day. We’d also enjoyed having Aaron do a spot of GoPro’ing during the trip. He was kind enough to share his video a few days later. It had been a super trip. The flexibility we’d had about where to go was pleasing. Nobody felt rushed o
and we’d been able to pace things so that everyone enjoyed themselves. We’d even ignited our interest for further exploration!
Looking forward to our next trip.
The weather forecast was not good. Most websites were forecasting wind and rain all day and, we set off to travel to Llangattock, this looked to be accurate however, once we arrived at the carpark and found a slightly wind sheltered area to park, it didn’t feel too bad. Even the rain held off while we got changed and performed the usual eating rituals (cheese butty, cake, fruit etc.)
Paul had a CSS parking pass (courtesy of his joint memberships) and Isaac was the lucky beneficiary of this as he’d driven. The rest of us walked along from the car park and we all gathered outside Whitewalls. The weather, strangely, was fine. This lasted throughout our walk to the entrance however, there were more important things on our mind… the Rugby World Cup final was on and England were playing South Africa. Sadly, as we walked along the tramroad, it became clear that England were not going to rise to the occasion this weekend. By the time we got to the entrance, there were only 5 minutes of the match left and South Africa were on a roll, scoring tries left right and centre. It was time to turn off the BBC Sounds app on our smartphones and focus on caving again.
We’d kept options open for the trip. We had Aaron and Steve with us who are both relatively new to caving so we chose a trip into Baron’s Chamber and then, all being well, a nose into Flood Passage as the primary focus of our efforts. If things were going well after this, we’d decide what to do next at the time. We had thoughts of Keyhole Passage however, the weather forecast on surface had been so dire that we were uncertain whether we’d get past the BC2 obstacles due to water.
Once we were past the logbook, we stopped to leave kit in the usual place; this consisted of wallets, car keys, phones, waterproof coats etc. The first cache was placed and then Grant reached into the hole in the sidewall to place his waterproof bag. As he released it, a gentle flop, flop, flop was heard and, on inspection, he discovered, to his horror, that the bag had rolled down the hole beyond his reach – and the hole was too narrow to get into. Oh dear (or words to that effect)! Immediately, ideas began to bubble about how to retrieve the bag. None of them were particularly practical. Then, a thought flashed across Grant’s mind, “Where did the hole go?” A quick peek around the corner soon solved that question. The bag had rolled down the hole and had almost been re-deposited back into the main passage. Phew! Issue over. Let’s get caving!
The trip into Baron’s Chamber was uneventful. The newbies did a great job and progress was steady. We stopped and admired scenery en-route. This included counting the odd bat here and there. Soon we emerged from BC1 into Baron’s Chamber and stopped for cool down and a chat. Luckily, Steve had spent some time prior to the trip, preparing a laminated copy of the Aggy survey. This got referred to frequently as we kept confirming where we were and highlighting where we were heading. One thing that did become clear from these checks was that Flood Passage was nowhere near as far in as we’d thought and soon. We arrived at the junction in the stream.
In years gone by, Paul has seen this confluence with water powering out across the passage and smashing into the far wall. With the weather we’d been having recently, there were high hopes that we’d similar conditions today. These hopes were further stoked by the depth of water we’d already encountered on our trip in. Tin Pan Alley and the, usually tiny, stream in the entrance series (Ogaf Gam) were much wetter than usual. Sadly, when we finally saw Flood Passage it was rather anticlimactic. There was good flow but nothing spectacular.
This spurred us to travel further towards the start of BC2. Adam and Steve scouted forwards but the rest of had second thoughts and soon we’d all agreed (after calling Adam and Steve back) that this was a good point to turn around and head back towards the entrance, exploring side-passages as we went. This proved to be a fine decision. Back at Flood Passage, Paul pointed out the ‘way in’. It involved a short climb up out of the stream and into a higher-level side passage. It looked awkward.
Soon Adam and Isaac had decided that the challenge of getting in needed to be conquered. A few heaves and they were in and away. The rest of us looked up and wondered if it really was as easy as it looked. It was! Very soon we were all (except Paul who was relaxing near the confluence) clambering along Flood Passage. It was very impressive. A lovely phreatic, keyhole shaped tube with a strong stream running at the bottom. We explored quite a distance before individually deciding that it was time to turn around. A few interesting areas were spotted; in particular an aven about 10m high with what looked like a reasonable climb to get into it. This was mentally noted for a future trip.
Continuing our journey back towards the entrance, we soon came to Queer Street. This again is a fine passage although tapes have restricted access to it to prevent damage and interference with some ongoing bat logging work. Having devoured most chocolate bars by then, except of course for the huge supply carried by Isaac, we decided to keep going back to the entrance.
Paul set a brisk pace and soon our newbies were commenting that they hoped they’d be leading people out at similar speeds when they were 82 years old! The bags were still where we’d left them and soon, we were back on the escarpment. The weather was still ok, slightly drizzly, but ok.
As usual, the walk back took 30mins or so but everyone appeared to have a great day. We’d also enjoyed having Aaron do a spot of GoPro’ing during the trip. He was kind enough to share his video a few days later. It had been a super trip. The flexibility we’d had about where to go was pleasing. Nobody felt rushed o
and we’d been able to pace things so that everyone enjoyed themselves. We’d even ignited our interest for further exploration!
Looking forward to our next trip.
Pant Mawr Pot – 4th August 2019
Today we had two caving trips on and a walking group. We met up at SWCC for about 9.30am and after using the facilities at SWCC we started to get kitted up ready for the long walk over to Pant Mawr Pot. This is when Pauline realised that she had not packed her caving suit, so I did a quick trip home and back to retrieve such item. Once I had returned, everyone else was already here. So we soon got kitted up and was ready to go. Our group consisted of Barry, Pauline, Grant, Adam and Isaac. We left the other OFD2 group still getting changed as we had a good hour walk before we get to the cave; luckily enough the weather was being kind, although warm and dry there was still a bit of a breeze keeping us a bit cooler.
Once at the cave entrance, we put on our SRT kits and sorted kit out. Then I started to rig the line down to the ledge and onto the bridge where I could rig the Y-hang to descend, whilst I was doing this Pauline came down and rigged the ladder and lifeline, this way we all had the choice of which way to descend. At the bottom it was much more comfortable temperature wise, plus with all the dry weather there was very little water falling down with us. We left all our kit in the normal dry alcove around the corner, and then started our trip. With there not being much water around it was easy to walk in the stream without getting wet feet, we managed to get through the first boulder choke and were quickly at the second choke where we climbed up and into Straw Chamber with a traditional photo shoot, it was then down again and out of the choke, now not far until the climb up to the Vestry, So with dumping our bags here we started the climb up, and the calcited slope is always entertaining, The Vestry is still as pretty as I always remember, with it’s amassing array of heliticts with various lengths up to about 9 inches long. We then descended the Calcited slope carefully as you do not want to overshoot the end, then we climbed up into the Organ Loft with it’s lovely calcite wall and some nice deep holes into passage below. Then we made our way back down into the main passage and retrieve our bags before continuing onwards and through the final third boulder choke and into the Great Hall. This is where the passage got a lot larger, at the Fire Hydrant the water was still spurting out well, although we have seen it under much more pressure. Now the passage was still large but feeling a lot darker as all the walls and roof had a covering of mud which is where it fills with water and just leaves this residue as the water disappears over time, but we were able to continue today and eventually get into the narrow passage which ends in a small sump.
From here there was no way to go but to now start our return trip, at the end of the Great Hall we stopped for a snack, but when we set off again the others obviously did not see Barry and Pauline going down through the Boulder Choke so they took a scenic trip somewhere else, but as we noticed that no one was following us, Pauline went back and made vocal connection with them and we were then reunited again. The rest of the trip was uneventful and we were soon at the base of the entrance pitch. It was now time to put our SRT kits back on and start the ascents. I was up first, so then transferred myself over the life-line the ladder. It was pleasant on top as there was a slight amount of drizzle in the air. Adam was last to SRT up, so he de-rigged on route and I packed ropes etc. As we were running slightely behind time, Pauline and Isaac went ahead to remove our ticket off the Call Out board whilst the rest of us packed all the kit away and followed on. Once back at SWCC the OFD2 trip had been a success and they had gone, but we meet up with some of the walking group. So it seems that we all had a good day out.
Once at the cave entrance, we put on our SRT kits and sorted kit out. Then I started to rig the line down to the ledge and onto the bridge where I could rig the Y-hang to descend, whilst I was doing this Pauline came down and rigged the ladder and lifeline, this way we all had the choice of which way to descend. At the bottom it was much more comfortable temperature wise, plus with all the dry weather there was very little water falling down with us. We left all our kit in the normal dry alcove around the corner, and then started our trip. With there not being much water around it was easy to walk in the stream without getting wet feet, we managed to get through the first boulder choke and were quickly at the second choke where we climbed up and into Straw Chamber with a traditional photo shoot, it was then down again and out of the choke, now not far until the climb up to the Vestry, So with dumping our bags here we started the climb up, and the calcited slope is always entertaining, The Vestry is still as pretty as I always remember, with it’s amassing array of heliticts with various lengths up to about 9 inches long. We then descended the Calcited slope carefully as you do not want to overshoot the end, then we climbed up into the Organ Loft with it’s lovely calcite wall and some nice deep holes into passage below. Then we made our way back down into the main passage and retrieve our bags before continuing onwards and through the final third boulder choke and into the Great Hall. This is where the passage got a lot larger, at the Fire Hydrant the water was still spurting out well, although we have seen it under much more pressure. Now the passage was still large but feeling a lot darker as all the walls and roof had a covering of mud which is where it fills with water and just leaves this residue as the water disappears over time, but we were able to continue today and eventually get into the narrow passage which ends in a small sump.
From here there was no way to go but to now start our return trip, at the end of the Great Hall we stopped for a snack, but when we set off again the others obviously did not see Barry and Pauline going down through the Boulder Choke so they took a scenic trip somewhere else, but as we noticed that no one was following us, Pauline went back and made vocal connection with them and we were then reunited again. The rest of the trip was uneventful and we were soon at the base of the entrance pitch. It was now time to put our SRT kits back on and start the ascents. I was up first, so then transferred myself over the life-line the ladder. It was pleasant on top as there was a slight amount of drizzle in the air. Adam was last to SRT up, so he de-rigged on route and I packed ropes etc. As we were running slightely behind time, Pauline and Isaac went ahead to remove our ticket off the Call Out board whilst the rest of us packed all the kit away and followed on. Once back at SWCC the OFD2 trip had been a success and they had gone, but we meet up with some of the walking group. So it seems that we all had a good day out.
