Aggy Allwed

By Martin Beale

By Martin Beale 8 February 2001

The trip to Aggy last night was extremely successful. It was executed almost to perfection. This cave has beautifully sculpted passages and fine streamways. The intention was to get beyond the second boulder choke and out before midnight. We actually ended up beyond the second boulder choke at 9.15pm. We appraised our situation. We were clearly well ahead of schedule. The two options were an attempt on the pub or a longer trip (one of the circles?). We opted for the pub and attempted to speedcave our way out.

We were out of the cave at 10:20pm. We raced back to the car. Roy Stone and I got there at 10:40pm. We were ready when Dave and Tim showed up (10:45pm). As there was no time to spare, I undressed Dave. We bundled into the car and committed to the white knuckle ride to Llangatock. We spotted the lights of the Ship Inn. The car screeched to a halt. Dave was in there faster than a ferret in a burrow and started negotiations at 10:59pm. Diplomacy seemed to be working until Roy Stone burst in and ordered 7 pints. The atmosphere got more frosty until Roy Stone reduced his order to a mere 4 pints (still one more than the number of speleologists in the pub). Pints were duly served in silence. Dave really broke the ice with his treatise on the state of Welsh rugby. We were then welcomed to the pub and locked in. We were able to leave the pub adequately refreshed and are apparently most welcome in the future.

It is clear from this well executed trip that South Wales is our oyster. We are already hatching plans for evening trips to Ogof Draenen, Craig a Ffynnon, Circle trips of Agen Allwedd and the Antlers or Ogof y Daren Cilau.