Trip Report

Carreg Boeth 25th Jan 2009


Mick arrived around 8:00am with Marc (with a “c”) arriving about the same time to rig the shaft to descend. The rest of us were happy to let them and duly arrived over an hour later to ensure they had finished.



Captain Mike went down first and located two established re-belay points at an adit level where he constructed a “Y” hang



One by one we descended to the adit level which was interesting in it’s own right as although it was not a long adit; it was small, with a squeeze and soon pinched out.



Jonny complained again about his shoulder and insisted on showing us the problem with his shoulder bone.



Once down to the adit level, we all began the descent to the lower adit (passing a couple of other minor adits en route).

At the bottom we first headed right where the passage way went for some good distance although we had to endure some minor difficulties

And a hole in the floor ….



As well as varying amounts of “deads” which, although were being held up with wooden stemples, were probably more stablised by calcite that had frozen them in situ. We did not want to find out.



Along here we discovered another adit to the right with a small stream running along ….



Which ultimately came to dead end with a “bottomless” pool. We could not determine the depth of the water and as the stream was running freely into it (without backfilling), we assumed it to be a sump.



We returned back to the main adit where the “deads” were becoming much more precarious and we did not all pass through. In any event, it proved to be collapsed further although, interestingly, the passage had been driven from the opposite direction to which we were following it.

We returned to the shaft and headed off along the left adit and quickly came upon the “sand dig” which we had been advised about. There was already a “hoe” there but the passage was not filled with “sand”, it was filled with deads and mud and any “hoeing” which we might have wanted to do was pointless.



Mike crawled along but it went no where and there was no chance of removing the fill (and no where to remove it to).

It was at this time that Doug (the only one to bring his bag from the shaft) decided to have lunch. In fairness, he burst open his bag of “Bombay mix” (the extent of his lunch) and handed it around for all to enjoy. The Bombay mix was indistinguishable from the dirt, sand and grit which covered our hands and we ate heartily.

Marc, however, decided to make a sandcastle with the sand



We returned back to the shaft to begin the ascent where John found a new safety device to clip his cows tails onto



Impressed with his skill and abilities, he stuck his tongue out at us to demonstrate this



One by one we began the ascent with Mike heading up first





Followed by the rest of us one by one (except Mick who had bugggered off to watch football)












Whilst waiting for the team to materialise from the shaft, Mike and Ian had a quick scoot around and found an entrance ….



But where is it and where does it lead ……

Until next time