Looking for recommendations in NE Wales..

P

Pete E

New member
Hi Folks,
I am looking to dip my toe into some very easy caving with my 9 year old grandson..
Basically I am looking for any easy/walk in caves in NE Wales that would be safe for a complete newby to take his grandson in...I have an interest in amatuer archaeology and he has had his interest piqued about the "stone age" in school, so I would like to show him some caves where artifacts bones ect have recovered.

So far we have been around the BA copper mines ( not "stone age" and not caves, I know!) in Llandudno and he loved it so I was looking for other places to visit.

I used to do a fair of out door pursuits when younger, and tried caving, but didn't really like it as I am claustrophobic to a degree. Add to that I am now the wrong shape for serious caving, and you can see I am looking for caves (or rock shelters?) we can basically walk into and just get back anywhere from a couple of meters to say 20m or 30m max...I am not interested in venturing deep underground so even if presented with a large cave complex I would only venture a short way in...

Please excuse me if these forums is for serious cavers only, it's just I thought folks here might be able to point me in the right direction..

Regards Peter

Ps Given the very gentle nature of what we want to try, would folks recommend helmets for us both? I have a couple of head lamps that should be suitable, plus a couple of suitable handheld torches as back up if required...
 
ChrisJC

ChrisJC

Well-known member
Not a cave, but a mine - Penarth is walk in and very nice for a mooch about. Between Llangollen and Corwen.

Helmets an absolute must.

Chris.
 
Ian Adams

Ian Adams

Active member
UCET (United Cavers Exploration Team) are very active over all of North Wales ... It is likely your post will be picked up here but you can also try;

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:D

Ian
 
Ian Adams

Ian Adams

Active member
I totally failed to offer any suggestions;

Poacher's Cave
Spar Mine

Both are easy and require very little to explore (well, there are ladders) ...

:)

Ian
 
P

Pete E

New member
ChrisJC said:
Not a cave, but a mine - Penarth is walk in and very nice for a mooch about. Between Llangollen and Corwen.

Helmets an absolute must.

Chris.
Click to expand...
Thanks Chris, I thought I knew the area around Llan and Corwen fairly well, but I have not heard of that....I will do some googling!
 
P

Pete E

New member
With regards helmets, I have a JSP 4 point Linesman's helmet already set up for a headlamp, which I assume will do to me started..
For the little fella, he needs a new helmet for his bike and other stuff, so I was thinking of something like this:


Not looking to spend a huge amount on anything too specialist at this point, so something that doubles up for his bike would be ideal...
 
ChrisJC

ChrisJC

Well-known member
Any sort of helmet will do, but it's important to have it. Even experienced old mine explorers still bang their heads on the roof at times!

I'm not sure that Poachers is a suitable start!, it's a crawl in, then a ladder pitch in a rift. It's OK after that though.

There is some more interesting slate stuff in Glyn Ceiriog too which is walk in.

Chris.
 
P

Pete E

New member
ChrisJC said:
Any sort of helmet will do, but it's important to have it. Even experienced old mine explorers still bang their heads on the roof at times!

I'm not sure that Poachers is a suitable start!, it's a crawl in, then a ladder pitch in a rift. It's OK after that though.

There is some more interesting slate stuff in Glyn Ceiriog too which is walk in.

Chris.
Click to expand...
Cheers Chris...Funny you should mention Glyn Ceiriog as I had relatives there when I was a lad, and I visited a couple of those slate caverns.

The main ones were up above the village itself although I don't remember exactly where, plus there was another on the right of the road between the Glyn and Pandy..as I recall it was basically in the grounds of somebodies house...there was also what I think was a natural cave up on the hill/craig that overlooked Pandy...I had forgotten all that until you reminded me!
 
M

moorebooks

Active member
You could try Llanmynech Ogof , that is now known to be bronze age, with romans evidence tooand more recently a victorian mine shaft

Mike
 
P

Pete E

New member
Thanks Mike, I will take a look at that...

Just another question for the members here concerning another cave I have heard of, know as Lynx Cave near Bryn Alyn. Somebody has very kindly offered to show me this, hence my interest. I have read a little bit about it, but don't see it mentioned in the A to Z on here? Just wondering if it's known by another name?

Regards,

Peter
 
E

Edwardov

Member
Pete E said:
Thanks Mike, I will take a look at that...

Just another question for the members here concerning another cave I have heard of, know as Lynx Cave near Bryn Alyn. Somebody has very kindly offered to show me this, hence my interest. I have read a little bit about it, but don't see it mentioned in the A to Z on here? Just wondering if it's known by another name?

Regards,

Peter
Click to expand...
You’ll find it here, https://cambriancavingcouncil.org.uk/registry/CoNW/CoNW.htm

Though be warned, a lot of the grid references are incorrect. I supplied corrections to Cris but he is no longer with us unfortunately.
 
P

Pete E

New member
Just a quick follow up to my original post. Today, thanks to the kind assistance of John Blore, my grandson and I had chance to have a mooch in Lynx Cave. John is a keen amateur archaeologist who has excavated the cave extensively over the last 50 or so years.
Listening to him explain what they found in there was fascinating. My grandson loved it and wants to look around a different cave next time...
 

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E

Edwardov

Member
Glad you found it and enjoyed it. I actually spent a good hour trying to find it based on a dodgy grid reference quoted online on Saturday.
 
P

Pete E

New member
Edwardov said:
Glad you found it and enjoyed it. I actually spent a good hour trying to find it based on a dodgy grid reference quoted online on Saturday.
Click to expand...
Luckily for me John knows the area like the back of his hand. Even though I have been there once, I doubt I could find it a second time if I were on my own..There is thickets of hawthorn and other shrubs which pretty much conceal the entrance untill you are on top of it..
 
E

Edwardov

Member
So looking on lidar data for the area, there are the linear exposed sections of bedrock (left side of the image). Only two or so are above the tree line and the rest are in the "jungle" below. I suspect Lynx Cave is more to the right of the image as I scoured the left linear area totally.

Can you remember if it was in a wide linear section of bedrock or a section that was a bit more concealed?

Screenshot from 2023-08-30 08-03-32.png
 
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