Any New Finds?

[danthecavingman]

Has there been a significant find in South Wales at Fiddy's farm cave then? Not that I have even the faintest idea where that is....

Dan.

 

[andrewmcleod]

I'm aware of at least one lengthy cave in my own favourite caving area which has never been reported anywhere, because the discoverers have (commendably) stuck to the undertaking they gave not to, when they were allowed access originally.

Possibly it might have been better not to have made the undertaking at all, and never to accept such terms and conditions - but I am willing to see both sides of that argument.

 

[NigR]

Has there been a significant find in South Wales at Fiddy's farm cave then? Not that I have even the faintest idea where that is....

Dan.

No, there has not (see latest Draenen thread for details). A small discovery was made over a year ago but that is all.

 

[Pitlamp]

I'm aware of at least one lengthy cave in my own favourite caving area which has never been reported anywhere, because the discoverers have (commendably) stuck to the undertaking they gave not to, when they were allowed access originally.

Possibly it might have been better not to have made the undertaking at all, and never to accept such terms and conditions - but I am willing to see both sides of that argument.

I understand your point. I guess it's up to those involved to make that judgement. Only they know the particular circumstances. Of course, sooner or later other cavers will (re)discover it. If circumstances have changed then they'll have to make their own decisions about whether and where to publish.

(By the way, to save anyone asking me privately - no, the example I referred to is not a project I've been involved with personally.)

 

[pwhole]

We had one recent dig where we informed the landowner afterwards (!), but thanks to a good relationship, they asked us to keep it quiet until it was made safe for casual visitors, which it (almost) is. And then we will publish.

 

[Huge]

This recent enough?

Digging into new passage in Draenen yesterday. Unfortunately, it was only 12m of flatout crawl, to a T junction, where it closed right down. We won't be going back! 

 

[mudman]

12m is a big find in some people's book. 

 

[Goydenman]

Thanks Huge - 12m plus photos.....good work in my book

 

[Pitlamp]

Win some, lose some.

Keep going and you'll hit the jackpot sooner or later.

 

[Huge]

Thanks both.

A completely opportunistic find as evidenced by the lack of tools. We were making our way back out of a dead end passage and looked down an oxbow in the hope of bypassing a narrow section in the main passage. The oxbow got very tight and when turned around, looking at the oxbow from the opposite direction, there was a small arch visible, dropping into blackness. Five minutes digging and about ten minutes exploration!

 

[MarkS]

Five minutes digging and about ten minutes exploration!

12 m of passage for 5 minutes digging is a decent return! Thanks for posting 

 

[Les W]

A completely opportunistic find as evidenced by the lack of tools.

there was a small arch visible, dropping into blackness. Five minutes digging...

It's how we found the Wessex Extensions many years ago...
Due to the lack of tools we had to go back and dig through a low bit to get into Wyvern Hall. There was a lot of cave beyond that, some of it fantastically decorated, and ultimately a massive round trip. 
I'm sure there are many more such sites in Draenen still to be looked at.

 

[Huge]

I'm sure you're right Les, lots of little holes like that, that have never been looked at.

BTW, after making our huge discovery(!) at the southern end of Squirrel Rifts, we made our way into Interesting Times, the southern lower series of the Wessex Extensions, via Haggis Basher and the Long Round Trip connection. It was a first for both myself and Tarquin, who's in the photos. You showed some real dedication, exploring that area via the upper series and Didgeridoo Pitch! The terminal choke looked interesting!?

 

[Les W]

Didgeridoo Pitch was awesome, I free climbed down it because the others were faffing with the rigging. By the time they got down I had knocked off the main leads... 

 

[Trig Gledhill]

What NewStuff said. 

Seriously though, my club has a fair few digs on the go but we will most likely keep things quite, for one reason or another, until we've found the next 'big thing' in South Wales.  [emoji38]

Here's a few pics of myself and minion in one of the digs which keeps the location fairly hush hush.

Who knows what is around the corner for South Wales, I think we are definitely due some major discoveries hopefully in the next few years.

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