Joe.Bones
Member
Agen Allwedd - Corkscrew Chamber
30/04/16
Hungry, hot and hunched over I sat inhaling the bad air. I need to get out of here quickly.
It?s Friday, 4:28 pm and I finally click submit on my report, grab my rucksack and escape the engineering computer lab and its broken air conditioning. A few heads quizzically turn, observing this person in hiking boots stomping out of the room with a bag three times the size of theirs. In five minutes I?m at the caving stores and packing my kit, awaiting the rest of Newcastle Uni cavers to arrive. Fast forward to 6pm and we complete our compulsory Morrison?s pit stop for food and beer and I?m piloting our nippy minibus down the A1. Then I hit 62 mph and the engine limiter kicks in. Balls.
Six and a half hours, an exhausted ?I SPY? alphabet and a change of driver later, we complete the rally stage ascent of Llangattock to arrive at Whitewalls. Beers are opened and we celebrate the first UNCC South Wales trip in current memory.
Saturday brings gorgeous sunshine and a trip to Agen Allwedd. There are two teams, ?Outer Circle? and ?Corkscrew?. Once through the quite enjoyable entrance series, admiring and avoiding the numerous roosting bats, the first boulder choke is passed and we regroup in Baron?s Chamber. We stomp along the impressive Main Passage, wave goodbye to the outer circle team and carry on to locate the Southern Streamway. After a wrong turn into trident series we retraced our steps and found the way on (down to the left three times).
Our destination is Corkscrew Chamber and its renowned formations, with a possible return path up the Main Streamway to complete the grand circle. We were fairly well armed with descriptions from Selected Caves, a survey and directions extracted from an old ULSA trip report.
The Southern Streamway is a kick in the back of the knees after the agoraphobic Main Passage, and soon becomes a monotonous blur of crawling and stooping for well over a kilometre. This is punctuated after 400m by a rest at the second inlet to fill my Nalgene as the others drink from an insitu Thunderbirds mug and limestone saucer. Only a quarter of the way there and I was already hurting. This is my first caving trip in over two months and I?ve lost all of my hard earned efficient cave progression, though after a few collisions it is beaten back into me. A long while later the passage finally gains some vertical development and the going is more pleasant. Shortly the waterfall is reached and descended on a knotted rope, and we press on another 15 minutes.
Leaving the streamway up the next insitu rope up and along a traverse leads to a dusty crawl. A T-junction follows and we turn left, then right down an old dig. This brings us to the Ribbed Vault - an aven with impressive scalloping. Conservation tape blocks the way on to protect the pretty bits behind the vault, circumvented by a dip down the right and an immediate left before some sediment formations that look like worm casts. There is easy crawling through sandy passages from here and brief respite in tall avens. Once we hit Priory Road the walls are highly crystalline, sparkling all around us as we carry on looking for the large spoil heap on the left which marks Isles Inlet. We pass a blue rope leading into the ceiling that we assume is The Cathedral mentioned on the survey, close to our destination. Rounding the corner we spot the long sandcastle of spoil at Isles. Sitting atop the sandy pile, chocolate snacks fuel us for what may be some arduous wriggly bits and water stops my mouth feeling as desiccated as the passages.
Once in the inlet I meet the first helpful road sign I?ve seen in caves. ?Deep Excavations? is worth taking heed of as we suddenly drop 2m down a square hole cut in the sandy floor. This is one of several U-bend digs that are passed; some have rather steep exits that require passing on the back. Eyes closed for me avoids raining sand in my contacts. The digging here is actually phenomenal and even enjoyable to pass through, I wish I?d taken some pictures. After the U-bends comes the awkward but manageable 90 degree corner squeezes which require a bit of rolling over half way to get long legs through. Some more flat out sections are passed with no issues, other than being eroded by the sandbags that my furry suit and wetsocks have become.
At an oxbow, a low right sandy crawl leads to our first glimpse of the fantastic formations in the ceiling. There are straws, masses of helictites and spiny urchins, all in perfect white. In addition, the walls are full of crystals and shine brilliantly. It?s difficult to move here with delicate formations adorning floor, wall and ceiling so it?s just as well we took our time, taking in the awesome sight akin to a coral reef.
The many reef-like formations in the ceiling of the passage
http://Some of the fantastic Urchin formations continue the sub-sea theme[/i]
At the end of the pretty section I assumed we would find the squeeze into Corkscrew Chamber. Instead I ended up going down a steep sandy slope, past a digging bucket and found myself head first in the dig face. Retreating out we find an insignificant rift by the sandy entrance crawl, unnoticed earlier due to being blinded by the stunning calcite.
The Courtesan can just be glimpsed at the top and a quick wriggle up at 45 degrees pops out in a chamber, right by the most impressive formations I?ve seen. There are other delicate urchins and stals here too and a good while was taken photographing and staring. Once we had our fill of pretties we headed out to re-join the Southern Streamway, six and a half hours after entering the cave.
[img height=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b4-c0wMVQkA/Vy9G1UHWImI/AAAAAAAABQk/LmRANOaNMAIsCsXgJmPsO6CHVLjo-n-5wCCo/s512/P1070102%25283%2529.jpg
The Courtesan and its helictite/stalactite top
Our original plan was to complete the grand circle, heading back up the invitingly sized Main Streamway, but unsure of the time required and possible route finding issues we decided to head out the way we came in. The Southern Streamway is even more monotonous going uphill, and dehydration was setting in from the Saharan conditions of Isles Inlet. It took an hour and a half to reach the second inlet and rehydrate as fatigue started to set in. We spared a thought for the digger?s impressive feat, imagining doing our trip plus a day of digging. We were back in the Main Passage in half an hour, enjoying the sensation of striding out in wide open passages and soon exited the cave in good time. Plodding back to the hut my sandy feet received the exfoliation of a lifetime, the shower after was bliss! I gratefully shovelled a giant plate of Bolognese down my neck, probably with the same enthusiasm the corkscrew breakthrough was dug with.
A superb trip with some of the finest formations and digging efforts I have ever seen. My thanks to the work of John Stevens and co. for opening these gems and to Dr. Footleg of ULSA for posting his trip report that guided us there.
Materials used:
ULSA
CSS
30/04/16
Hungry, hot and hunched over I sat inhaling the bad air. I need to get out of here quickly.
It?s Friday, 4:28 pm and I finally click submit on my report, grab my rucksack and escape the engineering computer lab and its broken air conditioning. A few heads quizzically turn, observing this person in hiking boots stomping out of the room with a bag three times the size of theirs. In five minutes I?m at the caving stores and packing my kit, awaiting the rest of Newcastle Uni cavers to arrive. Fast forward to 6pm and we complete our compulsory Morrison?s pit stop for food and beer and I?m piloting our nippy minibus down the A1. Then I hit 62 mph and the engine limiter kicks in. Balls.
Six and a half hours, an exhausted ?I SPY? alphabet and a change of driver later, we complete the rally stage ascent of Llangattock to arrive at Whitewalls. Beers are opened and we celebrate the first UNCC South Wales trip in current memory.
Saturday brings gorgeous sunshine and a trip to Agen Allwedd. There are two teams, ?Outer Circle? and ?Corkscrew?. Once through the quite enjoyable entrance series, admiring and avoiding the numerous roosting bats, the first boulder choke is passed and we regroup in Baron?s Chamber. We stomp along the impressive Main Passage, wave goodbye to the outer circle team and carry on to locate the Southern Streamway. After a wrong turn into trident series we retraced our steps and found the way on (down to the left three times).
Our destination is Corkscrew Chamber and its renowned formations, with a possible return path up the Main Streamway to complete the grand circle. We were fairly well armed with descriptions from Selected Caves, a survey and directions extracted from an old ULSA trip report.
The Southern Streamway is a kick in the back of the knees after the agoraphobic Main Passage, and soon becomes a monotonous blur of crawling and stooping for well over a kilometre. This is punctuated after 400m by a rest at the second inlet to fill my Nalgene as the others drink from an insitu Thunderbirds mug and limestone saucer. Only a quarter of the way there and I was already hurting. This is my first caving trip in over two months and I?ve lost all of my hard earned efficient cave progression, though after a few collisions it is beaten back into me. A long while later the passage finally gains some vertical development and the going is more pleasant. Shortly the waterfall is reached and descended on a knotted rope, and we press on another 15 minutes.
Leaving the streamway up the next insitu rope up and along a traverse leads to a dusty crawl. A T-junction follows and we turn left, then right down an old dig. This brings us to the Ribbed Vault - an aven with impressive scalloping. Conservation tape blocks the way on to protect the pretty bits behind the vault, circumvented by a dip down the right and an immediate left before some sediment formations that look like worm casts. There is easy crawling through sandy passages from here and brief respite in tall avens. Once we hit Priory Road the walls are highly crystalline, sparkling all around us as we carry on looking for the large spoil heap on the left which marks Isles Inlet. We pass a blue rope leading into the ceiling that we assume is The Cathedral mentioned on the survey, close to our destination. Rounding the corner we spot the long sandcastle of spoil at Isles. Sitting atop the sandy pile, chocolate snacks fuel us for what may be some arduous wriggly bits and water stops my mouth feeling as desiccated as the passages.
Once in the inlet I meet the first helpful road sign I?ve seen in caves. ?Deep Excavations? is worth taking heed of as we suddenly drop 2m down a square hole cut in the sandy floor. This is one of several U-bend digs that are passed; some have rather steep exits that require passing on the back. Eyes closed for me avoids raining sand in my contacts. The digging here is actually phenomenal and even enjoyable to pass through, I wish I?d taken some pictures. After the U-bends comes the awkward but manageable 90 degree corner squeezes which require a bit of rolling over half way to get long legs through. Some more flat out sections are passed with no issues, other than being eroded by the sandbags that my furry suit and wetsocks have become.
At an oxbow, a low right sandy crawl leads to our first glimpse of the fantastic formations in the ceiling. There are straws, masses of helictites and spiny urchins, all in perfect white. In addition, the walls are full of crystals and shine brilliantly. It?s difficult to move here with delicate formations adorning floor, wall and ceiling so it?s just as well we took our time, taking in the awesome sight akin to a coral reef.
The many reef-like formations in the ceiling of the passage
http://Some of the fantastic Urchin formations continue the sub-sea theme[/i]
At the end of the pretty section I assumed we would find the squeeze into Corkscrew Chamber. Instead I ended up going down a steep sandy slope, past a digging bucket and found myself head first in the dig face. Retreating out we find an insignificant rift by the sandy entrance crawl, unnoticed earlier due to being blinded by the stunning calcite.
The Courtesan can just be glimpsed at the top and a quick wriggle up at 45 degrees pops out in a chamber, right by the most impressive formations I?ve seen. There are other delicate urchins and stals here too and a good while was taken photographing and staring. Once we had our fill of pretties we headed out to re-join the Southern Streamway, six and a half hours after entering the cave.
[img height=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b4-c0wMVQkA/Vy9G1UHWImI/AAAAAAAABQk/LmRANOaNMAIsCsXgJmPsO6CHVLjo-n-5wCCo/s512/P1070102%25283%2529.jpg
The Courtesan and its helictite/stalactite top
Our original plan was to complete the grand circle, heading back up the invitingly sized Main Streamway, but unsure of the time required and possible route finding issues we decided to head out the way we came in. The Southern Streamway is even more monotonous going uphill, and dehydration was setting in from the Saharan conditions of Isles Inlet. It took an hour and a half to reach the second inlet and rehydrate as fatigue started to set in. We spared a thought for the digger?s impressive feat, imagining doing our trip plus a day of digging. We were back in the Main Passage in half an hour, enjoying the sensation of striding out in wide open passages and soon exited the cave in good time. Plodding back to the hut my sandy feet received the exfoliation of a lifetime, the shower after was bliss! I gratefully shovelled a giant plate of Bolognese down my neck, probably with the same enthusiasm the corkscrew breakthrough was dug with.
A superb trip with some of the finest formations and digging efforts I have ever seen. My thanks to the work of John Stevens and co. for opening these gems and to Dr. Footleg of ULSA for posting his trip report that guided us there.
Materials used:
ULSA
CSS
