Martins caving log

An integral part of a nightrun from Burrington to Cheddar and back. We did the round trip as a kind of shortcut.

My longest day of caving yet. Although we only made about 2m of progress, we dug out some huge boulders and got involved in a significant amount of dig engineering. There were some interesting draughts around Avalanche Aven

A nightdigging trip to the Nightclimber area. We failed to shift DG the boulder in Nightclimber Tube or the flake in Nightclimber Rift. Significantly, we did SSP in 37m30s and got from the entrance to the end of SSP in under an hour (57m30s).

Soloed in to meet the digging team at Corkscrew. I was amazed by what the guys had done in Corkscrew: an amazing effort. By the time I got to the digface, there was a tantalising view up left through boulders into void. The boulders just would not shift though: either with a crowbar or with a lump hammer. A quick look at Nightclimber Tube showed that DG the boulder would require a lot of bludgeoning on Wednesday. 1h40m to the Iles / Priory junction, about 2h20m on the way out.

Speedcaving trip to Nightclimber Tube. We tried to shift a boulder for 2 hours and eventually had to admit defeat. We'll return with more equipment! time to the Iles / Priory Road junction: 1h22m50s. Entrance to end of SSP in 1h04m.

A trip to show Trafalgar off to some cave divers! Much photographing was done. Nightclimber tube looked interesting this time: it will go. We returned to WW to an excellent spread of curry dishes. It was great to cave with Martyn and Duncan and after all this time.

Speed caving trip to The Bunker. SSP in 42m. Iles in 1h26m30s. We found a sound connection between The Bunker and Iles and then surveyed the north end of The Bunker.

Two nights camping at the Restaurant at the end of the Universe. Dragging two bags in and out of the cave was hard work. On the Saturday we visited a load of digs on the way to the end and had a go at DADES and Last Spit Chokes. Updweeb looked really promising and Bad Bat Choke looked longer than is suggested on the survey. On the Sunday morning, we had a look at Painkiller West which is an amazing looking passage and well worth pushing. Did a geological survey of the cave from Updweeb all the way back to the entrance series. Exitting the cave on Sunday was a long affair (two bags). The entrance series was very cold and I was pleased to get out. I was greeted at the entrance by a fantastic red moon moon rise over the north side of the Sugar Loaf. Friday: 6h50m. Saturday 11h50m. Sunday 2h + 6h30m.

A good digging trip to dig 9 in Trafalgar. Dig 9 is now about 10m long (and counting). We enjoyed two nice evenings with JS at Whitewalls on the Saturday and Sunday nights.

Henry, Duncan and I went for a walk among the shakeholes of Blorenge. On the highest shakehole, we pulled away some vegetation and some boulders and a 6m shaft was revealed. Beneath this was a sloping boulder slope leading to a chamber / passage that was about 10m wide. The base of the boulder slope will need attention to make further progress. Unusually, this cave is in gritRS, but who knows what lies below. It has to be admitted that I didn't actually descend Yoor Hole, but I did help to discover it.

Probably the best trip yet. We discovered quite a lot of nice new passage, some of which was walking, some of which was squeezing. The passage ended at dig 9. This is a wide low dig in mud. We have not started to address this yet, but we will: of that I am sure.

A storming trip where we discovered 87m of new passage heading generally towards Daren Cilau. The straight line distance to the other side is now about 80m. The passage that we found was totally excellent. The next dig looks pretty straightforward.

A nightdigging trip to Iles Inlet. RS was amazing in SSP, ticking it in under 50 minutes. We reached Iles in 1h36m (a new record). We dug 70 trays between us and advanced about 2m. We have found a cross rift in the roof, so it is decision time as to the way on. Exitted from Iles in 1h42m and then stayed the night at Whitewalls.

A great trip to Iles Inlet yielding 20m of walking passage and two digs, one of which is now 5ft deep and 5m long. We have risen through and arch and are hopeful of meeting void on the far side. This is what it's all about. The dig goes on...

A very useful Iles Inlet digging trip. We removed 103 trays of spoil and can see an arch ahead, with mud rising on the far side. Best of all, there is an echo ahead. It was heartbreaking to leave the dig after this sight. 2 hours in, 2 hours out. I also had a look at Grolsch, which still looks good and needs further attention.

A breakthrough at last. We dug out of Iles and into a 4m high, 2m wide phreatic passage. Our sTBp along this was cut short by a sand sump ahead, but this will be sorted on future trips. Excellent to make a breakthrough in Aggy. SSP now seems to comfortably go in under an hour (56min in, 58min out).

A very prodective trip on a wet day. We have no gone under the arch in Iles Inlet and have been digging up through coarse sand on the far side. Finding an airspace on the far side was a real boost!

More useful progress in Aggy. We dropped the floor of Iles by another couple of feet and progressed forwards through into what seems to be an arch. Things are looking promising. Nice to get out into the summer evening sun (much nicer than a foggy winter's night snowstorm).

A fairly mellow digging trip to Iles Inlet (Priory Road). We dropped the floor by nearly a metre and have found an area where we can push a crowbar in horizontally (exactly the plan). Exited via High Traverse and the Grand Circle (in total, the Grand Circle took about 4.5 hours).

A burly digging trip to Mudtime / Maytime. We dug through the U-tube to find 20ft of new passage and a perched sump which will require draining before further progress can be made.

An exploration trip to various sites at the end of Priory Road. JS and I made 1.5m progress in Grolsch (I dragged) while MW made 7m progress up the P6 roof tube (to a tantalising sight ahead). I explored The Bunker with RS and was surprised to find a tall narrow unclimbed rift almost at the end of the dig. Prospects remain good. Totally spanked on the way out. Totally.

A stellar trip. We broke out of the Oregano Trail into a slab filled chamber and then terraformed our way into a really well decorated passage. Maybe 30m of cave were found in total. We have a good draught and there is open void in one direction. A significant breakthrough. Details on www.willerup.com/oydc

We had a go at the Maytime U-tube dig, which is no longer considered to be a U-tube, but a 1m deep (or more) passage with a very gloopy muddy floor. We think we can see passage ahead, but further digging will be required to confirm this. I got muddier than I ever thought possible: it was dififcult to walk around in my oversuit covered with mud to a depth of 1cm all over. We carried two cylinders down Resurrection for the divers.

Ceremony of the lagers. I was going to go all the way to HRC, but thought better of it when I got to the pitches. All ready for the big trip on March 12. Shot out of the entrance series in 33 minutes.

A supplies mission (50m rope and a chisel) to the botTB of the ladder pitch. There was another team in OyDC which somewhat reduced my sense of isolation. The entrance series took about 40 minutes each way. BCNNTE in about an hour.

A very interesting trip to The Bunker at the end of Priory Road. RS climbed The Bunker aven to find a sanded up tube heading towards vertical draughting tubes at the top of P6. I explored the north route in The Bunker which is covered in stals, has a slight draught and looks extremely promising. The CSS annual dinner was a great finish to a fine day underground.

A fantastic trip to the amazing Maytime series in Aggy. The Maytime streamway is fantastic and there are some fantastic passages between SSP and Maytime. We tickled a tube dig near the sump, but couldn't really tell whether it would go. SSP went in 58.5 minutes on the way down (with a bag). TB was suffering from 20 hours of caving this weekend by the time we exited.

Dug 41 trays from Grolsch leaving a totally enticing view ahead. We then set to work on Iles Inlet (also looks promising). A long trip.

An amazing introduction to Daren digging and the Rock Steady Crew. We dug Abject Groveller passage off 12 o'clock High, removed maybe 250 trays, made more than 10m of passage and have hit void at the other side. Outstanding. Soloed out of the cave from 12 o'clock High. A truly fantastic weekend. Definitive.

A quick trip to the Music Room (end of Main Passage) to try out RS's neck. A successful pleasant trip.

A trip to Grolsch passage with Pete. We removed 10 trays and 1 boulder. We were slow on the way in, but shot out in 2h18m. Pete did amazingly well. SSP 4 times in one weekend is mentally tiring.

An extremely interesting and very burly trip exploring the far reaches of Priory Road. There are some amazing drafts in roof tubes in The Bunker area that seem to be pretty localised. We had a do in The Cathedral and also discovered that Iles Inlet is actually an outlet (which may be significant).

An excellent trip. One of the very best YS potholes. This pot is an SRT caver's dream: beautiful long P bolted pitches down fluted shafts. A fine return to the vertical underworld.

I helped out the ATLAS team in a dig off Old Wells Road. This looks exceptionally promising with a clear view ahead to a 15 foot high vertical rift and void with a good echo. Apres cave in the Hunters consisted of a discussion about OyDC exploration with some of the pioneers over a pint of 1664 and bread, cheese and onions. Any trip with a breakthrough of these dimensions (even a MD cave) gets 3 stars.

Two nights camping at the HRC. On Saturday, I finally saw the Blue Greenies, had a look at Chokes Away and went for a trip out to Starbar Chamber (which is remarkably close to REU). I helped clean REU by carrying two BDHs and a ladder back to the HRC. I am now confident about carrying two bags to the REU, so that will hopefully be a base camp for future operations.

Grolsh Passage keeps going on. Six months ago we were walking to Grolsch on warm sunny days, today we walked in in the snow: beautiful but cold. We got to The Beach in a speedy 2 hours and dug for 3-4 hours. I manned the spoil heap at the back which was a burly job as it involved multiple trips up and down Grolsch to ferry the trays. We got 22 trays out which was a good effort for 3 people. I was surprised to measure the length of the passage as 27m: clearly progress has been made. Either jetlag or the burliness of dragging made the exit a tiring affair. The walk back to Whitewalls (with TB's parents who met us at the Aggy entrance!!) through the slushy snow was a cold affair.

A digging trip to the terminal choke (Rifleman's Choke). Seeing this dig made me realise what a fantastic prospect Grolsch is in Aggy. I tried to stay as far away from the dig face as possible for safety reasons. It was good to go in with the original Draenen pioneers. Ogof Draenen is OK, but it is in no way comparable to the glorious caves of LL.

My last caving trip before the KIMM. We dug 8 trays from Grolsch passage. I was on dragging duty and felt like I was getting a good rhythm going. Unfortunately, RS was suffering the after effects of an Aramark sandwich, so we didn't do quite as much as we would have liked. RS left Severn Beach about 15 minutes before I did, so I had a fairly nerve-wracking exit down Priory Road hoping that my light wouldn't pack up on me. We stayed at Whitewalls overnight.

2h01m to Severn Beach. We dug 6 trays of spoil from the Grolsch dig. The view ahead looks promising with about a foot of airspace. Digging with two people in Grolsch was hard, but we will get the system sorted out!

We dug out about 2m more passage. We are back in better airspace with the possibility of a passage going left. The next trip should be interesting.

Another digging trip. We removed 50 trayloads of spoil and made 1.5m of progress (Grolsch is now 22m long). I particularly enjoyed the dragging: burly work when the passage is this long. I had a look at The Cathedral which was extremely interesting and will be worthy of an evening trip. I thought SSP would never end!

Another committed digging trip in Grolsch Passage. We made 3.5m of progress and removed 71 trays of spoil. I was at the dig face at the end for about 1h30m. The onward view is more promising than ever. Had an excellent evening in Whitewalls afterwards (1am - 2:30am!) being recounted all the ins and outs of LL and Ogof Draenen caving (over a few cans of lager).

And the ream goes on. We passed the Willerup impasse by digging down. We made another 2 metres of progress and dug things a lot deeper. I was quite pleased to get some quite large boulders out when I was at the digface. The view ahead looks promising and the draught seems to have strengthened.

We are getting to the end of the reaming section of Grolsch Passage. At the end, I entered a zen spoil removal state: this was a good job as the spoil trays were coming thick and fast. The spoil heap is now looking fairly full. We are enlisting non-conventional forces (JS and Arthur) to enable further progress. I removed a huge boulder from the floor of Severn Beach (with a lot of help from MR). The boulder has now made an excellent table.

A major digging trip to Grolsch Passage. We removed about 50 trays of spoil and made about 3m of progress. Best of all, we made it to The Horseshoe for lasties.

An excellent first digging trip into Aggy. We made about 10m of progress of which about 4m was new passage. We dug out 15 tray loads of sand and RSs. We were refreshed with fine cakes and Grolsch in Severn Beach.

RoRS's birthday cave. MW speed-rigged to the botTB. TW and RS went back at Oxlow's West Chamber to prepare RS's birthday party while MW and I pushed on towards Giants. I thought we had it in the bag after a very tight and wet crawling section, but we were stopped a matter of metres from Giants in the Chamber of Horrors: the passage appeared to have sumped. Still and excellent and burly trip that is going to achieve project status.

A trip to see the dig in Priory Road (which looks very promising). Southern Stream still took an hour in each direction. Will we ever master this passage? Priory Road itself is a fantastic section of cave (40m from SSP to Severn Beach).

We had planned on getting to Dweebland, but the threat of high water in Ankle Grinder caused us to abort that mission (we were informed by heyphone that it had rained 30mm overnight, when we got out it was lashing down). We took 7 hours on the way out due to exploration of Source of time and the Misfit / Divide area. There was the sound of a huge river in the Divide: we thought MW had made a breakthrough. There is clearly a lot of exploration to be had in the Misfit / Surveyors area.

Ceremony of the Lagers. It shouldn't feel this hard. 55m in, 37 min out. We made it to The Bell for lasties.

A trip to the end of Main Passage and the North Wing. There are several interesting leads at the end of North Wing that need verifying with the Testo. We also found the start of Trident Passage (an alluring prospect for a burly evening trip). RS managed 2 pints of lager and 2 whiskies in the pub afterwards: all in 15 minutes!

Doesn't get to be much more of a tourist trip than this. OK, it is a showcave, but the interesting thing is that WSC is more like real caving than any other showcave I have been into. I have no qualms about entering a showcave into aHut: anyone is allowed into WSC (£6.75) which seems to be a fairer system than that employed by the cavegaters.

First SRT trip for ages. We got to Gaping Ghyll Chamber. It is clear that I need to practice some more at the SRT gymnastics.

A little through trip while on a walk on LL mountain. Eglwys Faen would appear to be the ideal beginners cave.

A definitive burly evening trip (that stretched to 3:30am!!). Southern Stream Passage was tedious (1h10m), but led us to the fab Priory Road and the end of the cave. The end of the cave certainly draughts!

Pete was a natural in the entrance series (less than an hour in both directions). A fine expedition to The Antlers via Urchin Oxbow.

A fine little cave. We got to the end of the dig which is tight but draughts really strongly. Pete did really well on his first trip. The burnt out car in the car park was a little off putting. We made it to The Bell for lasties!

An excellent evening trip to The Antlers. We are getting tantalisingly close to a sub-30 minute trip through the entrance series: 31m40s on the way in. Afterwards we retired to the Horseshoe and discussed OyDC - Aggy breakthrough plans with the speleolabs team and Martyn Farr.

Dweebland at last! We got to Updweeb and checked out the draught to Aggy with a smoke bomb. There is definitely an inward draught in Updweeb. It felt like a long, long way. Spent Friday and Saturday nights at the HRC. Exitted with two dragbags this felt really ugly and led to a time of 1h35m in the entrance series on the way out.

Ceremony of the Lagers. The first trip to our favourite cave this season. We just did the entrance series. RS absolutely shot out in 34min : an awesome effort. 45m30s on the way in. 41m on the way out.

Spaderunner the end of the cave. An extremely burly trip involving two nights of camping at the HRC. On the way through the multiple burly sand crawls on the way back from the far reaches, I was dreaming of our lager stash in that palace of a cave camp. I am now proud to say Ich bin ein Dweeblander

Made it to the Starbar Chamber junction (we were lost at the time). The push towards Dweebland was a major piece of exciting exploration. The Restaurant was a fantastic place to camp : better than I could have imagined. It feels like we are one final push from Dweebland.

Two gates on one cave is a complete disgrace. This gating business has to stop. The shafts are pretty good. We made it to the very deck via some squirming sections.

Just the entrance series. We left the 14 Australians in the cave. The dragbag really slowed things down on the way in. Exited in 37min. Celebrated our success in The Bell afterwards.

A mega daytrip to the Resturant at the End of the Universe. Acupunture Passage was a low point, but the glories of La Plaza more then made up for previous trials. We felt a long way from home for much of the trip.

A trip to Surveyor's / Misfit Passage. Misfit is a really fine passage : one of the best. We blasted through the entrance series in 34 minutes on the way in and 39 minutes on the way out. Such alacrity saw us comfortably in time for the pub after a fine trip.

A trip to the Meeting Room (off the time Machine). There is obviously a lot of cave worth exploring in the vicinity of the time Machine. We raced back for the pub, but had a shocking time in the entrance series on the way out (it felt really burly) : 1h05m. Two very cold and relieved cavers exited at 10:53. We have a new found respect for the entrance series. Training will overcome.

A nice gentle trip down to sump 2. DG had to clear the froth away before we could find the rope for sump 1.

The Grand Circle anticlockwise. This was a fine trip. The lower boulder chokes were a bit dodgy and the Main Stream was slippery. The Sump 1 area is magnificent. The going eased when we entered Southern Stream Passage (which is much easier than the OyDC entrance series).

An excellent trip : one of the very best. The rig was generally technical : it was often a struggle to find a route out of the water (especially pitch 5 - the description in Selected Caves is spurious). The cave is P-bolted to the botTB of pitch 3. As luck would have it, I had exactly the right number of bolts to see us to the botTB from P3. Meregill Main Drain is a quality cave stream.

There was too much water in Fell Beck for the Main Shaft, so we did Dihedral Route instead. Dihedral still gives a lot of the atmosphere of the shaft. I was glad we weren't in the maelstrom of the direct descent.

Some fantastic decorations towards Hall of the Mountain King and some well festive deep water work at the start of Things To Come Passage. We were amazed by the railway installed to aid the dig at the end of Things To Come Passage.

An aptly named cave. This ice caving business is serious stuff. We turned back at the base of the 24m pitch due to icicle debris littering the ledge. The risks were too great and for once equipment would not overcome. We'll be back in the summer.

This cave went by the grace of God. Having won the Go airlines lottery, I was utterly committed to dropping this pot and drop it we did. A fine cave.

Speedcaving saw us past some amazing pools to the end of Kuwait Passage. We missed the pub by 10 minutes, but a return trip with SRT kit should see success next winter.

We cave camped at the Hard Rock Cafe in style with candles and lager (a bit like The Bell back home). The Rock Steady Cruise towards the Micron was an extremely arduous piece of caving on the second day. RS was leading the crawls like a mole. I speedcave soloed the exit series and ran down the hill to retrieve the cars

Not only did we establish a 7.04L beer depot after the entrance series, but we also made it to The Antlers. This has been our most effective speedcaving trip to date. The trip was really athletic and tiring : superb. We had bags of time to spare in the pub afterwards.

A fine trip combining exploratory caving and SRT. I was somewhat worried about the conditions above ground, beta on the all weather nature of Wretched Rabbit seemed spurious. There are obviously great trips to do in this cave. The Easegill system doesn't have the feeling of size and progress that Ogof y Daren Cilau has.

The trip to Busman's Holiday required absolute commitment. Busman's is a seldom visited spot and the remotest place I have ever been to.

An excellent effort from The Pres in the entrance series in both directions. Instead of turning left into Jigsaw Passage, we took a right and visited Old Main Chamber. This makes an excellent evening objective.

A storming trip to St Davids Streamway. The Bonsai Streamway was magnificent in its entirety. Visiting the Hard Rock Cafe just made me realise that there is so much up for grabs in this cave. Tired and aching limbs made the entrance series arduous on the way out, but no less enjoyable.

We made Big Chamber in under an hour and had a scout around the entrance to Epocalypse for future reference. We had gone in with a stodge drum for the HPCC gear dump, but the top leaked so we had to drag it out again. Useful lessons were learnt.

A really fine stream cave. Remarkably, we made the pub after just getting to Kuwait Passage.

A good second rig from TB. The watery sumpwards squeezes reminded me of my beloved OyDC.

A more technical rig than the dry way. Free hangs from mono-bolts at the botTB added to the excitement.

TB rigged the Lateral Cleft while I rigged the main shaft. I even got the rig right this time!

I was on a mission on the way down. We reached the sump in 1h20m. The rig is becoming familiar!

After 70m of muddy mine, we broke through into the fine cave system beneath. The Waterfall Chamber pitch at the botTB was top quality. Somewhat reminiscent of the VC.

The entrance series was extremely well executed in 45 minutes on the way in. We slowed down in Epocalypse Passage and turned round at the Antlers. We wasted an hour trying to exit from Epocalypse to Big Chamber. A knackered and humbled HPCC party trudged up Jigsaw Passage to be faced with dragging their tired bodies 58 minutes through the entrance series. Thannkfully the entrance puddle was unfrozen.

Lateral Aven was brilliant : probably better than New Atlas Direct. Disaster struck on the exit as RS took a wrong turning down High Atlas and kicked the rope bag beyond reach. A rescue mission for our kit is planned.

A magnificent cave in every respect. A truly brilliant outing. Even the freezing chest deep waters couldn't dampen my yooor to explore the further reaches of the Kingsdale Master Cave.

After 6 months of vainless searching, we finally found Ogof Pwll Swnd. After just 10 minutes exploration we knew we would have to return with our SRT kit to do this unplace justice. The HPCC will return...

A really good effort from Pete. We went to the Grolsch dig (10 trays). We raced out in 2h18m. This was the culmination of nearly 24 hours underground in one weekend!

An ultra burly trip to the end of Agen Allwedd. JS nearly backed out of the squeeze into The Bunker. I followed after enlargement. The Bunker is an extremely interesting place with some amazing drafts in roof tubes. We also spent 2 hours in The Cathedral and tested various drafts. A good exploratory trip.