Access is controlled by CCW. Warning notices have been placed at each entrance giving contact details but in practice if you want to go caving on the reserve you just go and there is no need to contact anyone in advance. Carbide is banned. Use the small car park at the main entrance to the reserve (south of the turlough) and don't park at Pant-y-Llyn terrace (row of cottages north of the turlough) as it may upset some of the residents.
A couple of years ago the CCW had plans to gate all the caves but I managed to get involved and persuaded the local warden that this would not be a good idea. I even became a voluntary warden myself for a while until I got cheesed off with the senseless bureaucracy of it all. Although access is now open the CCW do not want to publicise caving in the area. In fact, one of the things I finally fell out with them about was the fact that they did not want any access details published in Descent. Another stumbling block was that although they were happy for my own group of friends to carry on digging in the caves they did not want other people to be able to do so, a situation I was unable to tolerate.
Despite rumours to the contrary, the lower entrance to Ogof Pant-y-Llyn has not collapsed. There is now a third (tight and awkward) all-weather entrance, discovered (along with 50 metres of new passage) four years ago but not widely publicised. Grwp Ogofeydd Garimpeiros are currently digging within the main cave and at various other sites within the reserve, the potential for further significant discoveries remaining high.
If anyone contemplating a visit requires further info before their trip by all means feel free to contact me (I live a couple of miles away). Otherwise, just go there and enjoy the caves - they are well worth seeing.
