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Out and about with Dudley
Caving Club
Some
trips and events which took place in April, May and June 2006
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Ogof Draenen,
Pwll Du, South Wales
Saturday 1st April 2006
A trip to the Waterfall Series - highly
recommended, but certainly not a novice trip.

Dave Williams in Knees Up Mother Brown |

Colin in 6th Heaven Chamber |

Aragonite Crystals in 6th Heaven Chamber |

Aragonite Crystals in 6th Heaven Chamber |
Present: KEd, CJe, BMa, CWe & DaWi |
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Manor Farm Swallet,
Charterhouse, Mendips
Saturday 8th April 2006
A pleasant teatime trip for the Dudley team who were
joined by Jo Campbell (ex-Dudley) and Stuart W to an interesting and
under-rated cave. Deanne enjoyed her first experience of SRT in a cave
and commented it was her best trip to date. Exited at 8pm to spend the
remainder of the evening in the Hunters, followed by the wedding barrel,
thanks to Hazel and Adrian.
Present: MCl, EPo, DeWi, DaWi |
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Hunters Lodge Inn
Sink, Priddy, Mendips
Sunday 9th April 2006
A lazy start to the morning, followed by a crawl under
the Hunters pub thanks to J'Rat and team's hard work during Foot and
Mouth disease. This is an interesting cave with plenty of formations,
significant bone discoveries and is very handy for pre and post trip
liquid refreshments.
Present: MCl, EPo, DeWi, DaWi |
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OFD2,
Penwyllt, South Wales
Sunday 9th April 2006
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Mark Rollinson in the OFD 2 streamway on
route to Top Waterfall |
For Mark's first trip I decided to head up to Top
Waterfall rather than just the tourist routes in Top. He coped quite
well, seemed to enjoy it and will be joining as a provisional member.
Present: BMa, MRo & CWe |

Mark Rollinson in the OFD 2 streamway on route to Top Waterfall |
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Daren Cilau,
Llangattock, South Wales
Thursday 20th April 2006
A trip to the Antlers taking in Urchin Oxbow
and White Company on the way. We also had a look at Man
in the Roof. Chris thoroughly enjoyed his first visit to this
notorious system although tales of people trapped by their legs in the
Vice did cause a just little nervousness.
Present: KEd & CWe |
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Giants Hole,
Castleton, Derbyshire
Saturday 22nd April 2006
The standard round trip with out that many deviations
(we only got lost once or twice). There was a fair amount of water
in the system, due to the volume of rain they had had in the area over
the past few days. The only real problem we had was that after we
had de-rigged the ladder pitch on the way out, it was observed that the
tackle bag was still at the bottom of the pitch - oh dear someone has to
go down again!
Present: ACr, AGr & MWa |
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Eglwys Faen,
Llangattock Escarpment, South Wales
Saturday 29th April 2006
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No trip report submitted
Present: MCl, BMa
& EPo + Guests |

Main Chamber Eglwys Faen |
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OFD2,
Penwyllt, South Wales
Sunday 30th April 2006
A Bank Holiday trip to the famous Columns and
then out via the Labyrinth and the Trident and Judge.
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Derek Robertson at the Columns |

Derek Robertson at the Columns |
Present: MCl, KEd, BMa, EPo, JRa, DRo & DeWi +
Guests |
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Milwr Tunnel, Olwyn Goch Shaft,
Rhydymwyn, Flintshire
Sunday 21st May 2006
No trip report submitted
Present: PAn, MCl, EPo + Others |
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Cwm Dwr,
Penwyllt, South Wales
Saturday 27th May 2006
The trip included a visit to The Smithy and
Piccadilly.
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Marco Edwards in Piccadilly
Present: MEd, AGr,
BMa, MWa & SWa |

Marco Edwards in Piccadilly |
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Caves of the River Neath Valley,
Breconshire
Sunday 4th June 2006
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Chris Webb - Little Neath River Cave |
Little Neath River
Cave A trip on a very warm day through the canal to the
second sump and returning via the canal bypass. The warmth of the
water entering the cave filled the passages with fog, somewhat
spoiling the splendour of some of the larger river passage.
Cwm Pwll y Rhyd
A trip down the valley to the lesser caves started with a short
foray into Cwm Pwll y Rhyd, but the smell of decaying matter soon
forced our retreat.
White Lady A
short trip in one entrance and out the other, some nice limestone in
such a short section of cave
Town Drain A
quick trip to the end and back in this very linear cave. some
impressive scalloped limestone passage in the first 100m or so. Will
be back with the camera. |
Present: BMa & CWe |
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Caves of the Clydach Gorge, South
Wales
Sunday 11th June 2006
We headed to the lay-by above Nant Rhin and scrambled down to
the stream. I could see from the road that there'd been a bit of a
mud/rock slide. The nice new entrance to Nant Rhin seemed to have
partially collapsed and was half blocked with rubble, including a couple
of small dislodged scaffold bars sticking out of a pile of rocks in
front! I shifted a bit of the rubble out of the way, and went in
to have a quick look as far as the streamway. Just inside, the boards
and scaffolding are still intact and solid, and beyond that, the cave
'proper' is fine, but I think a lot more rubble and mud will wash down
in front of the entrance next time it rains heavily, needing shifting
again. We didn't go in any further.
Next we rapidly dispatched every inch of available passage in Ogof
Clogwyn. [Nice shelving! :-)]
Finally we motored along the rifty passage in Shakespeare's Cave
and got soaked to the skin in the (remarkably cold) ducks up as far as
the sump.
Present: MRo & CWe |
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Ogof Draenen,
Pwll Du, South Wales
Sunday 18th June 2006
A trip to Gilwern Passage and then on to the
Galeria Garimpeiros Extensions. The intention was to see how
Chris performed in the 30m duck in the Gwter Fawr Streamway and then explore
Breadfruit Boulevard and the Saint Giles Series.
Unfortunately the duck was heavily silted and none of us could
physically fit through!
Present: KEd, BMa & CWe |
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. Sell Gill Holes,
Penyghent, North Yorkshire
Sunday 18th June 2006
SRT & rigging practise. Short 'yomp' across the Dales
up to Sell Gill. Entered via the dry way. 3 pitches into main chamber.
Present: MCl, EPo & DeWi plus Mike
Peters (Craven Pothole Club) |
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Brickworks Dig,
Penwyllt, South Wales
Weekend 24th/25th June 2006
A very successful weekend. On Saturday we were
able to remove the infill which had fallen out of the cross rift and
make a little forward progress under the arched roof.
On Sunday we added another few feet to the system. In the
afternoon we managed to drop a boulder out of the roof which revealed
some "black space", but after much excitement we found after a few feet
the infill was back up to the roof.
The Dig Team: PAn (Sun only), MBo, MCa, KEd, BMa, MNo
(Sun only), DRo, GSm, JSm & ASt |
Photographic Credits: All pictures by Brendan
Marris
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