Sterling Adventures

We were planning to spend the whole long weekend in South Wales, with running the first day followed by two days of caving with Brendan. Unfortunately, things didn’t get off to a good start when I left my headlamp at home on Saturday, and didn’t realise until Abergavenny. The result was a short run up the Sugarloaf, and then the long drive back home again. We were just pulling in to our road when Brendan replied to our earlier text to say he had a spare headlamp!

Rachel and Brendan at the start of the Inner Circle.

Sunday morning the weather was pretty nice as we drove back to South Wales, but by the time we reached the SWCC hut at Penwyllt, the cloud had come in and the showers had started. We opted for Pant Mawr Pot, on the hill above the hut, and set off into the mist. After about an hour’s walk, and only a short search, we eventually found the entrance shaft and descended.

Pant Mawr is a nice trip, mostly following a stream, but with the occasional boulder choke forcing you out of the streamway and then back to it. There are also some very nice formations—I guess the hour’s walk from the hut, plus the challenge of finding the entrance is enough deterrent to preserve features quite close to the entrance. Anyway, we had a very nice potter around, went all the way to the terminal sump, checked out a couple of digs, and a spectacular side chamber filled with straws and helictites, and in some cases straws growing on helictites! Sadly there won’t be any pictures until Brendan gets back from holiday.

The entrance to Agen Allwedd. Such a promising start!

Monday morning dawned with more rain, so our planned trip into Dan yr Ogof wasn’t going to happen. Instead we opted for a trip into Agen Allwedd, the first time for Rachel and I. Brendan suggested the Inner Circle, so off we went. Overall, it was a fun trip, with a good collection of challenges to keep things interesting, but I can see why ‘Aggie’ isn’t that popular—we were in there for seven hours and although the caving was fun, there wasn’t really a destination. There were a few nice formations in the Turkey streamway, the ceilings in the sand caverns were interesting, and the Dome of St Pauls and Swiss Village were both well worth seeing, but I’d rather go back to the helictites in Pant Mawr Pot than visit them again. Perhaps we’ll go back sometime to see the Courtesan.

Rachel examine's the fantastic mud formations of the Swiss Village.

After getting out of Aggie we stopped briefly in Agen Eglwys so Brendan could take some pictures, and then checked out Fell Swoop, the old WMCEG dig. There’s actually a surprising amount of passage in there, although it’s mostly filled with mud. Perhaps one day we’ll give it another look.

A pretty bit of flow in the Turkey Streamway.