Ogof Clogwyn & Ogof y Ci Access and safety update

Allan

Member
Messages from Richard Hill regarding some local caves:

Ogof Clogwyn
Previously we sent out an email suggesting that people do not use the stone (larger) of the culverts at Clogwyn due to rockfall. Richard has been to have a look. There has been some small rockfall and the large retaining wall is deteriorating and there is a massive amount of old stonework upstream of the culvert that will one day fall down, but the South Wales Local Cave Leader panel last week agreed that if organisations feel that it is appropriate for their group and use appropriate safety methods, then access to the upstream end of the stone culvert is possible.

Ogof y Ci
It seems that there has been a change of requirement for access at Ogof y Ci. The landowners would like people to call at the farm before using the cave. They would like visits to only be during daytime.

And for the iPhone users among you:
Use Emergency SOS on your iPhone by following this link.

Steve Rayner OBE
SWOAPG Coordinator
 

Cavebaby88

New member
In regards to the Rockfall- I currently can't place it. Is it the culvert that runs from the railway tunnels (church cave) to Shakespeare's?
 

StarburstCLA

New member
Is the owner of the farm the same as the owner of Ogof y Ci? some access listings suggest its just required to ask them to park and cross their land.

The route down from the the Aberglais Inn past the bridge over the Nant-y-glais suggested on https://ukcaving.com/wiki/index.php/Ogof_y_Ci doesn't pass the farm so some clarification if you need to climb back up to the farm to ask would be good!

The wiki article will need updating with whatever the correct answer is as that is now out of date it seems.
 

mikem

Well-known member
This is likely to be the most up to date / authoritative:
http://www.cambriancavingcouncil.org.uk/cave_access.html
 

mudman

Member
Allan said:
Messages from Richard Hill regarding some local caves:

Ogof Clogwyn
Previously we sent out an email suggesting that people do not use the stone (larger) of the culverts at Clogwyn due to rockfall. Richard has been to have a look. There has been some small rockfall and the large retaining wall is deteriorating and there is a massive amount of old stonework upstream of the culvert that will one day fall down, but the South Wales Local Cave Leader panel last week agreed that if organisations feel that it is appropriate for their group and use appropriate safety methods, then access to the upstream end of the stone culvert is possible.

Err yeah, as previously requested, what culvert?
There are no culverts at the Ogof Clogwyn cave itself.
Currently, the most popular way of accessing Clogwyn is to park by the Brynmawr-end of the two Gelli Felen railway tunnels and descend the slope from the railway line.
However, if you follow the path towards Abergavenny (or go through the one of the tunnels that is open) then at the Abergavenny end, it is possible to access a couple of culverts by dropping down below the line. Are these the ones you mean? If so, then calling them the Ogof Clogwyn culverts is a little misleading as they aren't really all that close to Clogwyn, unless of course, you are referring to some other culverts.
 

mikem

Well-known member
The original message was meant for outdoor instructors who use the culverts to make a "more interesting"day out. Not for recreational cavers who just want to get to the entrance, hence the confusion.
 
The url given by mikem is not as likely to lead to up to date information as that on the revised website - http://www.cambriancavingcouncil.org.uk/restricted%20access%20caves.html
 

mudman

Member
mikem said:
The original message was meant for outdoor instructors who use the culverts to make a "more interesting"day out. Not for recreational cavers who just want to get to the entrance, hence the confusion.

Okay, so it's the culverts under the old railway line near to the Abergavenny end of the Gelli Felen tunnels?

There are also a fair few recreational cavers that use those culverts to add interest to a Clogwyn trip, especially when introducing new people to the sport so I just wanted to be clear on what culverts we are talking about.
There is a drainage level near to the Clogwyn parking that could have been the culvert referred to in the OP so I wanted to be sure that it wasn't this or some other one I'm unaware of.
 

Stuart France

Active member
It is true that the owners would like cavers to visit Ogof y Ci in daylight hours only - please respect this.

I've not deleted the old Cambrian website content yet but it's rising up my to-do list  If you have historic links to the old CCC website then they will still work, except for its home page, but the information there is not maintained.  Anyone wanting up to date information should go to www.cambriancavingcouncil.org.uk first and then select the subpage you want from there.

The normal way to reach Ogof Clogwyn on foot is to park near the old railway track and walk down through the NRW national nature reserve on a decent footpath.  Yes I know you can also get there from the A465 side and ford the river, but Costain have asked that visitors don't enter the road works while the dual carriageway work continues.

Many thanks

Stuart France
Cambrian Caving Council
 
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