Helped along by the unseasonal sunshine we made an early start for the Battle of Britain series in Dan Yr Orof, South Wales. Arriving in good time in the otherwise empty car park we were quickly changed and into the cave. In the Hard Cheese airbell Andrew set about replacing the hand line on the climb whilst I followed the line I laid last time. The visibility was very poor and after tying off a new line onto the old one I was unable to find the way on in the murk. A current could be felt and the particle’s in the water confirmed the flow. The line was untied and a return was made to the airbell. Once I was out of the water we headed off to the small chamber we visited last time to have a bit of a dig.
In the chamber we tested Andrew’s new camera on the formations before the humidity built up. We then started digging to get beyond the point we reached last time. The soft floor made this easy and we soon got a look at the small chamber beyond. It is formed by a cross rift and has solution pockets in the roof. On the far side, a couple of metres away the roof dips down to meet the sandy floor.
At this stage we were not sure if we wanted to take on this site, so we carried on digging to create a trench in the floor to make room for a spoil boat. This again proved easy so we agreed to give the place a go. A snack break followed in the well decorated first chamber. Drinking a carton of orange juice and eating a cereal bar surrounded by straws with the rumble of water in the background was magical, even the ever-present cave grit tasted good.
Before leaving we went through to Gwynne Saunders Hall to collect an old digging boat from a high level passage above the flood line. Exiting after the boat had been dropped off at our dig we found the sun was still shining and the car park was still empty. Where were all the other cavers?
Back at Andrew’s house, after a longer than usual trip, our absence had been noted by someone who looked a little lonely.
😆 Hello there little guinea pigs! What are their names? 🙂
That “Magical” lunch spot sounds great (not sure that grit can ever taste good though).
We must have almost passed on the motorway; Paul and I were coming back from Pembroke via the A449, M50, etc…?
Good work, Did you have a look in Gents while you were down, or did you decide BoB would be drier
The yampies will be down digging the brickworks in a couple of weeks weather permitting….
They are called Caspar (mink colour) and Montgomery (Monty) they are Sue’s and very spoilt 🙂 Nearly as much as our two sons (well OK more).
A few more BOB pictures http://a-m-ward.blogspot.com
Andrew