Present: Rob, Jenny
We went caving for a week in South Wales and it was dead good. We spent a total of 33 hours underground . . . and we had 2 rest days. We did the Grand Circle in Aggy first. ‘Cos I like Aggy so much we saw a lot more than just the Grand Circle, espcially, near the Fisrt and Fourth Boulder Chokes and in Sandstone Passage. We consequentially spent rather longer than planned underground. The lights didn’t like this all that much, but luckily we had maglights so it was okay. A couple of days later we went back into Aggy and visited Midnight Passage and Turkey Chamber and managed not to get lost at all. Turkey pool was safely traversed with out getting particularly wet and lots of nice formations were seen in Turkey Streamway and Midnight Passage.
Our next trip was into Ogof Draenen and was one of the best caving trips I’ve done. We were taken, by John and Paul (from CSS) into the far reaches (ie further than the published survey) of Draenen, more people have been to the moon than there! Whilst they surveyed, we helped move rocks about until we were able to break through into virgin cave. This was very very exciting. The passage was quite big, and went on in two directions for a reasonable distance (at least 200m). The undisturbed mud floors were amazing, as were the gypsum crystals. I can certainly understand why they tape off pretty areas now and it really made me realise the impact you have on a cave, just by passing through it. After a long time we returned, with the crawls seeming far longer and tighter than on the way in. Eventually we reached Echo inlet (very very pretty) and then stomped down Gilwern Passage and back out the entrance. All in all we were underground for 13 hours and despite being somewhat knackered it had been an amazing trip.
Our last trip (after a rest day!) was into Eglis Faen and was short (2 hours), easy and fun. We heard the sump monster in Glump Sump and then came home.
Jenny Black