Caving near SWCC Christmas week?

[tonyfurnell]

Yes yes, it's short notice I know :-[ but is anyone doing much caving around the West Beacons next week, Mon/Tue/Weds (22nd-24th)? I'm an English caver from the Irish caving scene; some of you might know me from past Irish symposia and stuff, I'm a member of Queen's University Belfast CC and the Shannon Group.

I happen to be staying with my parents next week in Garnant (10 miles from SWCC) and since I've not made it down any Welsh caves yet I thought I'd see if I could either tag along on a current trip, or see if anyone would be up for doing a couple of trips with me? I'd be fit for at least one long (8hr or more) trip, but would settle for whatever I can get!

I won't be bringing SRT to save on weight on the flights, but I doubt that'll exclude me from seeing some excellent cave...

 

[cap n chris]

IIRC there's only really one SRT-worthy cave in S. Wales (Pwll Dyfn) so your lack of SRT kit won't be a drawback in the slightest as there's MASSES of horizontal monsters there. If you can get a leader then a beaut is a trip into Dan-yr-Ogof; you should be able to get trips into OFD, Agen Allwedd, Daren Cilau etc. pretty straightforwardly.

 

[Les W]

If you are still around on New Years Day I will be caving in OFD, you are welcome to join us there. 

Les

 

[Tony_B]

From the dates you suggest this won't be much use to you, but SWCC is usually pretty busy between Christmas and New Year; people usually start arriving on Boxing Day and the numbers increase during the week. You'll be welcome to turn up, if you're still around, and there will be plenty going on.

 

[tonyfurnell]

Thanks for the replies folks -- damn.... so no one caving before Christmas Day? I'm leaving in the early hours on the 27th...

I could extend my request to Boxing Day as well though if there are more likely to be people around then?

 

[Tony_B]

Tony, in previous years no-one much has turned up at SWCC until Boxing Day evening or the morning of the 27th. However there are some local members who might fancy a hangover cure on Boxing Day...I'll ask around.

 

[tonyfurnell]

Thanks a million Tony -- I'm heading over tomorrow (Sunday) so I might end up only packing half my gear if there's still a high chance of not going caving! It'd be a bummer to carry it all over just to carry it all back again.

 

[gav2pac]

Garnant hey! im just a mile down the road in glanamman lol. Llygad Llwchwr is only a few miles up the road and my mate knows it very well, takes groups of young kids in (youth worker). let me know if your interested then il ask him

 

[tonyfurnell]

Well I managed to get a fine round-trip down OFD yesterday, many thanks to SWCC members for accommodating me at such short notice!

I was treated to a tour taking in Gnome Passage, the Northern Lights series, Maypole inlet, a good chunk of the main streamway, Top Waterfall, the Trident, Swamp Creek, Salubrious Passage, Chasm Passage and The Big Chamber Near The Entrance. And probably some other stuff in between that I've missed out. A great intro to the cave, thanks!

@gav2pac: Sorry I can't really make any more caving while I'm here, will be spending the rest of my time with the folks -- cheers for the response though! My parents have been walking up that way before, within 200m of the resurgence and hadn't realised that there was cave nearby. Description on the Wiki sounds like fun, I'll have to fit a quick trip in whenever I'm around next.