I wanted a fast group so I could do the round trip of OFD 1 good and proper, familiarising myself with the route while not being out too late. Compared to my peers my knowledge of OFD is woeful and I was eager to put something under my belt. So for this trip I was raring to go. First I chose Nem, as despite how she spoke of herself in terms of navigation ability, she’s a very able caver. She was uncertain, wanting to know what other trips were on offer, but was interested. Next was Baldock, who seemed to express exactly the same sentiment. He wanted a brain-off trip, so me navigating suited him just fine, though as he’d done the route yesterday, I was relying on him in case I buggered it up. Those two both agreed to join in the end, Nem inviting along Dan Runcan as well, who I was happy with. Baldock set up our callout and I told everyone to be ready for 11:30am. This gave us quite a bit of leeway. That being said, we faffed. Baldock most of all. Nem and Dan sat on the swing and I stood there was we waited for him to finished prepping himself.
The drying room of SWCC cannot be overstated, by the way! It’s simply marvellous, all my kit pracitcally bone dry for this fine Sunday. Thanks to this we were all nice and warm on our walk down to the entrance, after Baldock finally revealed himself. On the way he was commenting on the beauty of Wales and how the colours were distinctly Welsh. Indeed, I could tell the hills were not of the Dales; it was more green grass than brownish rush. There was more to it than that of course, but I cannot see it now as I am back in Leeds. I’ll hve to be there to describe it. Hopefully soon. Meanwhile, Nem complained about the long walk and the prospect of walking back up those hills after we were done, though I reminded her that the walks to caves in the Dales were often longer.
We came to the cave entrance and I managed to open the padlock after only a few tries, it being quite sticky the day before. Opening hte door, I clipped it back on to the metal loops and asked Baldock to check. He confirmed I’d done it wrong. Oh well!
When we were all in the cave I went bounding off! No more would I have to wait for freshers! We were all speedy in the first section, running through the main passage, into flood passage and to the toast rack! Due to my energy, I got jolly warm! Nem said it was like I’d been let off a leash! It was true, in a sense. We swiftly got to the junction where we’d turn right to the Step. Baldock pointed out that forwards was the crawly return route from Bolded Traverse. So, as I’d done the day prior, I took the sharp fish-hook bend right, down towards the climb to the Step. With joy I thundered through the streamway, elated that I didn’t have to slow or worry. I remembered that this time were were to go up the metal steps to the right and soon we reached them, having traversed over the barred steps with ease. Time for Lowe’s Passage.
I climbed up the steps and crawled through the crawl, caving through to the climb that we’d back from the day before. We climbed up to the left, reaching a larger chamber with a turn right and a turn left. The survey demanded that, for our journey, we go right. So right we went!
Going through I was constantly stopping, wondering if we were in Pi chamber already. Each time I was wrong and opted to keep going, following the advice of my comrades. At times I sat down proper to take a look at the survey and description, Baldock standing there with a knowing smile.
Soon after this we crawled hands and knees through a bedding plane and recorded a dusty chamber. Straight on was what looked like a tube, a flat out bedding plane crawl to the right The latter didn’t seem like the right way at all so I consulted the description, becoming increasingly aware that I had no idea where we were. The way I was reading it, we should be in starlight chamber, the opposite way to where we’d been moving. That couldn’t be right! I asked Nem for help, handing her the description while Baldock sat down with the most shit-eating grin I’d seen. Eventually he asked if I’d like a hint, though he’d only give it in the form of a riddle. Nem pointed out that we’d go through a series of bedding planes, though we’d only been through one, so she suggested going through this next crawl. Earlier, in this chamber that is, Baldock said he’d follow me if I went the right way. Now I journeyed through the bedding plane crawl. From the entrance, it appeared as if it didn’t go, but now that I was here I was glad to see it did! Baldock, to my joy, followed and I crawled as fast as I could, remarking how Merryn could crawl at insane speeds. I asked Dan about her, seeing as they’d both been Bristolian cavers. Apparently she was a notoriously fast crawler. It made me feel slightly better about my lackluster-by-comparison crawling speed.
After this crawling we came to a grand rectangular chamber, something I’d remembered Chaddock talking about. He’d mentioned that it immediately preceeded Pi chamber. In the centre of this chamber was a huge gaping hole which were sure to steer clear of. Then we entered Pi chamber. As per the description and survey, I took an immediate left. Straight on from there did lead somewhere, but that isn’t what I was looking for. I hopped down a climb and immediately looked behind me. A hole! A goal! Helter Skelter, as the survey says. It involved a lot of sliding down, which I always find the best when we are going through those tight holes. At some points, all I was doing was pushing my thighs out to slow my descent!
We soon came to the Bolt Traverse, more akin to Via Ferrate than caving. We zipped along and I saw some Southampton members at the other side! Though they’d not yet come onto the traverse. They were also suprised that we could come through this way. I told them our numbers. We turned right before we met them proper and Baldock later pointed out a path that would take us to Airy Fairy. I decided to do it, following him. It was similar to Bolt Traverse, but far more thrutchy! Apparently Rob Watson had done it without cowstails, something I could very easily believe. We eventually slide back down to the Streamway and we thundered our way back to the Step.
Somewhere past this, however, I went the wrong way. I knew it by the passages. It was all too low and I’d not been there before. So we retraced our steps and it was the fish-hook turning! Knowing where I went wrong, I walked down the passage, saying with confidence it was the way.
It wasn’t.
It was where we’d just left the streamway.
Having made a right fool of myself, I went the right way and all was good with the world. We poppoed out of the cave about 1 hour and 45 minutes after we’d entered. I’d wager that if we had secure navigation, we could have got it down to an hour!