Wapping mine/Cumberland
Cavern, Jugholes and Carlswark Cavern Saturday 11th July 2009
This trip was arranged for
new member Tony to give him a taster of what caving is about. We
started with a nice simple mine called Wapping Mine which is basically a
walk about with a small amount of climbing which leads you up into
Cumberland Cavern. From here we moved on to Jug Holes mine which
proved somewhat of a challenge to get to as they have blocked off
Salters Lane at the Matlock end, so if you intend to visit Jug Holes
don’t approach from the Matlock side of Salters lane. This was a little
more challenging for Tony as we used the shaft to abseil into the mine
and there was a bit more climbing and squeezing involved. From here we
drove to Carlswark Cavern and did the short through trip by going in via
Eyam shaft and coming out of the Gin entrance. The water levels in
Carlswark were the lowest I had ever seen them (much to my
disappointment)
The team: AnGr (report), MeWa & ToWh
Wyvern Hall
Wyvern Hall
Ogof Draenen, Wyvern Hall Saturday 18th July 2009
We had hoped to extend the club dig this weekend but the wet
Summer meant that this had to be postponed. The Wyvern Series is an area
of this extensive system that none of us had visited before. Unfortunately
we ran out of time before we got to the end but, as you can see, Wyvern Hall is
well worth a visit. It was also an opportunity to take some video in the
entrance series and try out the latest video lighting - a LED Lenser P7.
I'm so impressed that I've bought another one
Now this in my opinion is a
cracking cave with plenty of variety. The trip starts off by
entering the lakes which are quite deep - up to your neck if you’re
lucky and if your not and you're short then you best learn to swim.
Once you're through the lakes the rest of the cave is fairly straight
forward, walking, climbing and of course the Long Crawl – which wasn’t
too bad, but the best part for me was 'The Green Canal'. This is a
notorious tackle eater where more than one person from our club is known
to have lost tackle here. This obstacle is tackled by wearing an
inner tube and swimming or bouncing your way off the walls to the far
end - Great fun.
The adventure didn’t end after we had left the cave and were on our way
home either, but that’s a story for another day!
Richard, a friend of Chris' had been caving a couple of times and
was looking for a more tasty trip and so off to Aggy we set off. Our plan was to
do the Inner Circle route and so off we set. By the time we reached Coal Cellar
passage it was clear that we would need to return so Richard could get his train
back, so we fell short of our objective.
Richard traversing in the entrance
series
Richard and Chris in the entrance series
The team: Brendan (report),
Chris & (Richard - a friend of Chris')
Ogof Dydd Byraf, North Wales Saturday 19th September 2009
A well-attended club trip courtesy of Heather. ODB is a
compact but interesting and well decorated system. Everyone agreed this
was an excellent trip.
The team: Cara, Keith,
Jessica, Brendan, Heather, Lewis & Chris
Eldon Hole, Derbyshire Sunday 4th October 2009
Keith on the way back up
An SRT training trip in preparation for Titan. I rigged the
West Wall route and Steve de-rigged while Brendan decided to take photos instead
from North Gully. This was a real confidence
booster.
Ogof Pen Eryr, Llangattock Escarpment, South Wales Saturday 10th October 2009
West Brecon CRT rescue practice. Brendan was the casualty!
For those who have visited this cave you will appreciate that getting a
stretcher through the system is a real challenge. We started at the second
corkscrew but abandoned the practice before getting to the first one - this
would have been very interesting!
Ogof Pasg and Ogof Foel Fawr,
Herbert's Quarry, South Wales Saturday 10th October 2009
Having found the entrance and then quickly finding the pitch, I
rigged the life line off a nice piece of stal, and the ladders off a large flake
of flowstone on the left hand wall very near the start of the slope. Now
this isn't the best of ladder pitches as it slopes away from you and can't see
the bottom, and when you climb down there is a section of about 5 rungs where
you can't grip the ladder so you have to be very careful. If I go again I would
use SRT - it would be easier. After a quick wade through the canal and a
bit of crawling we arrived at a chamber where the survey says 'continue through
a dig in the floor' well don't do what we did and go down the slope as it goes
nowhere - just go straight on and you will come to what can best be described as
a low tight duck, where I got a very wet ear. Just past here is the fallen
slab which trust me isn't for larger people. You have to take your helmet
off otherwise you can't see anything as your head is sideways. We were
through into Ogof Foel Fawr. The exit from here is fairly straight forward
and before we knew it we were out. All we had to do now was walk around
the hill and retrieve the ladder.
Ogof Hesp Alyn, North Wales Sunday 18th October 2009
An 8 hour trip to the first sump and back. This was the
first visit to this system by Brendan and myself. I was a cave I had
wanted to visit ever since I started caving when on one of my first visits to
the WMCEG I heard people talking about it. Heather very kindly arranged it
and Alan was our guide. The deal being that I would rig the 80' pitch
which I agreed to as it would be more good training for Titan the following
week.
Well after waiting for 20 years what was my opinion? It is another Welsh
classic, that is one likes mud, crawls, muddy crawls, pitches, muddy pitches,
and yet more mud. The mud is of varying consistency but near to the end of
the trip it is thick and sticky and clogs ascenders, making the return more than
a little sporting. Definitely one for the mud aficionados in the club.
Attended by: Keith (report), Brendan &
Heather + Alan (NWCC)
Titan, Peak Cavern, Derbyshire Sunday 25th October 2009
A fantastic abseil down Titan (145 metres deep) and then out via JH, Speedwell and
Peak Cavern. Sorry no photos.
Attended by: Keith (report) & Steve +
members of NWCC & CCPC
Keith in Steeple Aven
Tunnel Cave, Upper Swansea Valley, South Wales Saturday 31st October 2009
This was to be our second attempt to provide a trip into DYO of
the North Wales cavers. Yet again the weather foiled our plans and we instead
had a trip into Tunnel Cave through Cathedral showcave. A trip up to Christmas
Grotto and Steeple Aven proved a poor substitute for DYO.
The Team: Brendan
(report), Heather &
Keith + Evan (NWCC)
