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Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 11 April 2013

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Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC) and John Taylor (EPC)

Llangattock Mountain is an area of limestone which rises behind the village of Llangattock in South Wales. The limestone here is riddled with caves and watercourses with Daren Cilau and Agen Allwed being the major systems. Daren Cilau has approximately 26 km of explored cave passage and new passage is still being found by a determined group of regular diggers. Discovered in the 1960s, Daren Cilau begins with it's tough and infamous 600m entrance crawl. From the end of the entrance crawl a number of different trips are possible including 'to the Antlers', 'to the terminal sump' and 'to the Restaurant at the end of the Universe'.

John and I traveled down to South Wales on the weekend of the CDG Welsh section AGM. After an entertaining evening in the Fountain pub and a night at White Walls - the Chelsea Speleologial Society hut - we were up at eight to head into Daren Cilau. We walked up onto Llangattock Mountain and to the small, old quarry that is the entrance to the cave. We'd been told that the first twenty metres of the entrance passage was the worst being low and particularly wet. Oversuits zipped up we crawled into the cave. Immediately it becomes apparent that this is going to be awkward! Apparently the best training for the entrance passage of Daren Cilau is to lie next to a wall in the rain doing one-arm press-ups and I wouldn't argue with that. After about a hundred metres there's a feature known as 'the vice' which is a particularly awkward piece of passage being tight and low. Towards the end of the passage there's the 'stal squeeze' which involves crawling through a body-sized hole in a flowstone curtain. Eventually we reached the end of the entrance crawl which breaks out into a large rift passage. The sense of relief amongst the party was tangible and only tempered by the fact that we had to go out the same way.

From here the cave changes character with some larger passage mixed with flat-out and hands-and-knees crawling. Before too long we arrived at The Big Chamber Not Very Close to the Entrance. Here there's a log book which we filled in with details of our intended trip. There's also a doll strung up with conservation tape which is something that I've not seen in a cave before but makes a handy landmark to identify the position of the log book. We decided that it would be nice to see the Time Machine so headed off towards St Valentine's Chamber and the ladder. The ladder takes you up from large rift passage into another series of passages twenty metres above. There's a rope and a pulley at the top so that people can be belayed up and down and you're pretty glad that there is because it's a big drop. From the top of the ladders some mixed crawling, stomping and handline climbs lead to the Time Machine - one of the biggest sections of known cave passage in the UK. I'd seen some photos of the place and was really looking forward to seeing it for myself. It really is a tremendous place. The floor is made up of large boulders and the route through is marked with reflective tape. It's one of those sections of cave that's just so big that you feel as though you're on the flanks of Scafell Pike at night rather than underground. The section of cave after the Time Machine is covered with crystals and there are also some stunning helictites in Bonsai Passage (see photo above). After much stomping, the final part being in a small streamway we arrived at the Hard Rock Cafe. This is the camp where digging teams generally stay whilst digging in the cave and is very well resourced with food, fuel and alcohol. We carried on through to the streamway at the end which was a torrent of water heading for the terminal sump. On the way back we stopped off at the Hard Rock Cafe for a hot drink and some food before making our way out the same way.

The journey out was steady up until the entrance crawl which is hard work no matter which way you look at it. We didn't rush on the way out and that makes things easier. Finally, we escaped into the cold night air and rain about eight hours after entering the cave. Daren Cilau is a great trip and one that every caver should do at least once. The entrance crawl is hard work but not too bad if you take your time and it's well worth it to see the amazing known cave and potential for exploration beyond.

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Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 11 April 2013

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Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC) and Chris Schofield (EPC)

Stayed at Stainforth Youth Hostel the previous night (which is very nice by the way, has a brilliant drying room) and since neither of us had been in Gaping Gill before decided to put that rather serious omission right. Parked in Clapham and walked up to the cave entrance in trainers (it's a long way in wellies). Trusty Warmbacs in full effect in case we were mistaken for Yorkshiremen. Once over the twin stiles spent a bit of time poking around in the bottom of a dig in the first shakehole before finding the actual Bar Pot entrance. In we went. Note to self - don't throw your tackle bag down the entrance next time because it almost disappeared down the first pitch. The first pitch is tight at the top but not desperate and once down a few metres opens out nicely down to the floor. Spiralled down from here towards the top of the second pitch. A bit of shall we say 'eccentric' rigging here led to the pitch-head proper. There's a mixture of P-bolts, Spits and Rawl bolts everywhere but found a nice hang off the two P-bolts on the RHS looking down the pitch. Past a rebelay and down to the bottom. Brilliant pitch this. Totally dry and a really nice place to be.

A friend had told me that route finding isn't a problem and so it proved to be. The climb down to SE Pot was uneventful and we motored on down through Pool Chamber (you can easily identify Pool Chamber cos it's where the water goes over your wellies) and follow the draught into the Main Chamber of Gaping Gill. Incredible place - every caver should visit at some stage and Bar Pot is a really nice simple route in.

The journey out was uneventful except for a mild battle with the 'eccentric rigging' at the top of the second pitch. The top of the first pitch just needed a bit of thinking about but was fine.

Compared to the Tatham Wife trip the previous day this was physically much easier and substantially more impressive underground scenery. A nice, dry, half day trip.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 11 April 2013

Hits: 4316

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC) and Chris Schofield (EPC)

The two of us headed up from Sheffield on the Thursday morning for a look at Tatham Wife Hole. Rope etc. had been packed in the comfort of my communal stairwell and the journey was uneventful. Arrived at Ingleton Granite Quarry Risings early in the afternoon and made our way to the cave. You definitely want an OS map for this one. The sketch map in Marshall and Rust's 'Selected Caves of Britain and Ireland' isn't very clear. It's a stiff pull straight up the fellside from the Ingleton - Grassington road but things ease once on the limestone pavement. One member of the party had opted to wear a wetsuit and regretted it on the walk up. The swallet entrance is to the west of Ingleborough, where the sloping ground meets the flat limestone pavement and is fairly easy to find in a large shakehole.

SRT kits on and we climbed down the small entrance and into winding canyon passage. This leads quickly into a chamber - Ogden's Chamber and on down to a short drop. This is free-climbable but we rigged it and carried on down towards the top of the first pitch. The first and second pitches are rigged together and pretty straightforward. From the bottom of the second pitch the going gets a bit more awkward and there's a load of stooping/crawling in fairly constricted passage. We made our way down the third pitch and The Ramp and on to the Duck. There wasn't a lot of water around so The Duck was pretty tame; just a short grovel in the water but never completely submerged. From here we continued down the fourth pitch and to the end. Never had to use any of the deviations as there wasn't enough water to warrant it. Just under 2 hours to the bottom.

We went a bit faster on the way out and exited in an hour and a quarter. There was a fair bit of frost on the ground outside the cave entrance and we headed back across the plateau and down to the road. A very enjoyable trip with plenty of proper caving rather than just swinging about on rope.