Llygad Llwchwr 2 flood risk?

Huge

Well-known member
Thinking of going to Llygad Llwchwr 2 on Sunday and I know it acts as a flood overflow to the main Llygad Llwchwr stream so my question is, will it be safe, given the forecast for thunder storms? Only been there once before, in very dry weather. Given that the area near the entrance is quite low, I wouldn't want to get trapped inside if the stream starts flowing!

Forecast for the area is for rain this morning, dry this afternoon and most of/all of tomorrow, then showers and thunder storms starting either Saturday night or Sunday morning, continuing through the day.

Appreciate any advice from someone who knows the cave a bit better than me, cheers.
 

rhychydwr1

Active member
I wrote the book :eek:

I would definitely advise against going on Sunday.  It is raining today, will rain tomorrow and will rain on Sunday.  Try and find a nice dry cave for Sunday.  ;)
 

walshy155

New member
I've done Llygad 2 many times as I live local, i have done it in heavy rain there's no risk from heavy rainfall although you will be crawling through an active river passage as soon as you descend into the passage, the main upper levels will all be dry and to be honest this is the only part of the cave that is worth visiting, the only danger is the bottom of the entrance shaft where coursing water is slowly undermining the scafffolding shaft, the bottom of the shaft is also a boulder choke but is stable. Be careful in the higher passages as there is very large boulders and they are very unstable in the roof. Also take care not to damage anything, even though I have recently discovered that there is alot of damaged formations which is unfortunate...
 

Huge

Well-known member
Cheers walshy155.

It's been suggested by another local caver (via Minion - it wasn't you was it?) that it would be best to avoid the place on Sunday. It was only the bit at the bottom of the entrance shaft/choke that I was concerned about. It sounds, from what you say, that it doesn't become impassable, only 'sporting'.

Looking for an alternative to Little Neath, which was the original plan given the good weather forecast earlier in the week! Got a couple of other ideas anyway.
 

walshy155

New member
No problem, no it wasn't me on minion. I would completely avoid Little Neath too, Llygad 2 is a cave which you can fall back on if the weather is unsettled, I did Llygad 2 a few years ago when we had torrential rain and terribly high winds I suggested to a friend we do the cave to see the outcome from the very heavy rainfall and strangely the river level wasn't that bad although we did get our hands and knees wet, we both came to conclusion that the levels weren't massively high as LL2 is an overflow passage. Be sure to check out the impressively decorated tight passages, they are amazing...

Also Llygad 1 is okay in rainfall just don't do the river passages for obvious reasons, I visited Llygad 1 around the same time as mentioned above and all I can say is the river chamber were very impressive to say the least...
 

Huge

Well-known member
Thanks again walshy,  I feel happier about suggesting it as an alternative now, combined with a trip in LL1.
 
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