Sterling Adventures

The plan was for a weekends caving with Rachel and Richard, but the Bank Holiday weather somewhat disrupted our plans. Sunday was a late start following an expedition planning meeting, and we headed off up the mountain towards Pant Mawr Pot, one of only a handful of potholes in South Wales. The rain would not cause us any problems in the cave, but would drench us on the long walk to it and make it invisible until we were only a few metres away from it. Having two champion orienteers with me ensured that when we arrived at the desolate moor that contained the cave, I had a scouting team to send off and search for the correct shakehole. It was not long before Richard had located it and we could rig the 18m pitch down into the cave.

Pant Mawr Entrance pitch from a previous trip

A significant amount of water was coming down the pitch and Rachel and Richard suffered for photographers art under the cascade while I took several shots.

Cascade below the entrance pitch

We followed the noisy streamway and negotiated the large boulder chokes where the roof of the passage had collapsed into a jumble of large rocks.

The Sabre formation in the main passage

Some time was spent faffing with flashbulbs in the Great Hall to illuminate and photograph this huge chamber. It took a bout 6 attempts before we managed to get all three flashbulbs to fire in the same shot.

Rachel and Richard in The Great Hall

The highlight of the trip was the climb up into the Chapel, a small high level chamber that is festooned with delicate straws and helictites.

Rachel viewing the formations in the Chapel

Some acrobatics were performed by Rachel so she could be in the shot with the helictites.

Rachel viewing the Helictites

We then continued to the end of the cave where the passage narrows into small rift before eventually reaching the sump. Rachel is seen here next to the Fire Hydrant stream inlet in the lower section of the cave

Rachel at the Fire Hydrant inlet

It was raining harder when we left the cave and so we decided to finish of the day with a curry further down the valley.The Curry House was running a buffet meal – where we could eat as much as we wanted to, as the rather attentive waiter kept reminding us. We set off with a plate full of starters, I foolishly mistook the Indian cakes that were laid out for desert as part of the range of starters on offer. On they went onto my plate, to be topped off with lime pickle and mango chutney. It was much better than I might sound and meant that I started and finished the meal with cake!