25th October 2003
People present - Duncan Jones, Pete Dale, Adam Cooper, Sarah Cooper

Friday evening

Got down to wales by around 10.30pm "erm Adam were on earth are we? " I asked. We had gone from civilisation to the middle of nowhere in a matter of seconds.. God it was dark!

Made Toad in the Hole as a midnight feast whilst we waited for Pete and Dunc to join us. Eventually they turned up, just as our tea was about to catch fire. We didn't realise how late it had got by the time we had finished eating and catching up on 2 months gossip. Anyway we went n fought over who was having which bed ( n who was sleeping in the cot..Dunc!) which seemed to result in a sword fight between two members using the only available weapon to hand, a hoover pole ( see the members only bit of the website for the pic!) After learning some interesting new facts out of an intellectual publication (FHM magazine!)and eating all of Petes Iced buns, we all went to bed ( no, not together before you start!) to get some kip before the big trip down OFD2 the next day.

Saturday daytime

Woke up around 7.45am by the sweet sounds of a mobile phone ringing.......no I aint repeating my exact words at being awoken so early! :-) After a huge breakfast ( nowt better to start the day than a huge bacon and sausage butty followed by some yummy croissants!) we decided that we really ought to get kitted up and actually go caving. It was the first time that I had worn my new oversuit which looked horribly new. Dunc did try to slap some mud on it to make it look a bit more well-loved.

We walked up the short walk to the cave, it was uphill all the way. Well I never make out that I am exactly fit at the best of times but well that walk nearly finished me off. I had hoped that having two off-road vehicles between the four of us might have meant that we were going to ride to the cave entrance but alas it wasnt to be ;-( By the time i got to the cave I was about ready for a pint of Bernies Best Homebrew and a sit down!

We got into the cave and that was when the fun started.
In that cave there are lots and lots of boulders to negotiate, some are wonderful to slide down and I soon got my oversuit looking like it was belonging to a hard seasoned caver not to a girly new beginner like I really am!

There were some really nasty climbs down OFD2, (well nasty climbs if you are a novice caver, they were easy for the lads who had had loads of practise!) some which to my untrained eye looked completely impossible. Pete, Dunc and Adamjust flew up them like walking up a set of ordinary stairs. I don't think it helped too much me being a bit on the short side, at least when you have long legs you can reach up to the higher hand holds which makes climbing far easier! At one point i fell flat on my face which bashed into my shins ( I still have the bruise to prove it even now!)

There were a few tricky bits in the cave, one particularly nasty drop where the lads just seemed to slither down without a muffle of hesitation, I was lucky, I got to use the rope on the way down and a ladder on the way back up. There was one marvelous bit which to me seemed like a slippery mud bath at a 30 degree angle from the floor, Pete n Dunc just ran up it, Adam helped me up, he held my hand all the way,(awww!) I was really worried about falling right off and landing in a crumpled heap on the floor.. I had visions of cave rescue needing to be called and ending up on national tv etc etc! ( I know, I tend to over-dramatise the situation!)

There were a couple of traverses to tackle, one of them I managed, the other one I declined to do.

Pete and Dunc found a really interesting crevasse to play over.(see pic in gallery) Adam and I decided we would have a bit of a picnic whilst they played over this great big drop ( I kept well out of the way of it, I decided I would really rather not know how big a drop they had to fall down! It was 23m or around 70ft apparently! ) I know, I know, I am a chicken! Adam and I went a bit further on to get warmed up after spending too much time sat down watching Pete n Dunc on the crevasse and we found some mud to model, Adam made some kind of cave creature to go with the collection already down the cave ( see pic on the humour page)

We went a bit further and found a nice crawl to do, at one point I had the oh so pleasurable honour ( cough!) of pushing Mr P.I. Dale by his wellies thro the tight bit only to find that it was a lot simpler to go over the top of the tight bit rather than down thro it! Pete went thro it, everyone else went over it! :-) lol

We made our way out after I had refused point blank to do the tiny traverse to get to The Judge and the Trident! I thought I would like to go back down OFD2 sometime soon...... ( little did I know quite how soon I would return down it!, more on that story in a mo)

Anyway we had a nice relaxing walk back down to the cottages, and after a wonderful,long, hot shower we all had a drink before making our tea!

Off-roading: test drive which is tops the Landy or the Fronty?

Adam and Pete decided that they were going to do the ultimate offroading challenge, which is the best the Landy or the Fronty, which seemed to involve going up and down the same bit of the quarry next to the cottage in a range of gears ( especially reverse!) and which led to one of the vehicles getting a bit stuck when it grounded out! Dunc took some cool pictures of this including one entitled "Get out of my Way" where both vehicles are fighting for the same bit of roadspace!

Dunc and I decided that it was time the SWCC mascot plastic donkey was removed from the tree so up I went to get it! I know, I know! climbing trees at my age!!!! ;-) tut tut!

The Great BRCC Table challenge 2003

Adam started on the beer and promptly began organising party games including who can cave round the dining room table without touching the floor ( see pictures!) Dunc and Adam did quite well, Pete ended up in a giggling heap on the floor ( told you cherry coke was bad for ya!;-) ) We had just decided that we were going to go and have a piggy-back race round the car park when we got collared by the guy from the cottages who we thought was going to tell us off for daring to use the quarry as an offroad track when he told us that we were needed to help rescue some people who were lost down OFD2!

BRCC to the Rescue!

So there we were, 2 of the group had been attacking the beer, I had had a fair bit of Vodka and Lilt, it was dark, it was wet and we were supposed to be compus mentus enough to go and help out with the cave rescue team!

So it was back into our caving kits ( Adam had decided that he was sick of his nice new furry suit which hadnt been as warm as the one that I had nicked off him, so he went and put my nicely sweaty suit on! yuk!) I knew that I would be more of a hinderance than a help, so i said in a bright and chirpy voice.. "Oh i will stop and man the radios if you want", thinking hey I can stop at base and drink tea whilst manning the radios! Erm no that was not to be, I ended up having to get kitted up into my oversuit and some warm clothes and given a cave rescue caving lamp cos my dingy useless light had got flat batteries by this stage, as I was joining the lads down the cave!

We were all told to pile into the back of the cave rescue landrover and we did get a lift to the cave this time, it was dark and cramped ( think its what some people term " cosy" ) in the back, I always wondered what it would be like to go off roading in the dark! Its a shame they wouldnt let me drive!!!!! ;-)

We got to the cave, by which time I was starting to feel a bit of Deja vu, havent I been here before some other time ? I wondered!I was given a radio and shown how to use it, and told that I would be stationed at the entrance of the cave to keep the base team up to date with whatever was happening in the cave! Adam thought it was highly amusing that my call-sign was Dragon One, seen as though for the last 9 years he has been referring to me as The Dragon!! I ended up sitting just inside the cave with the wind howling round the entrance, ( good job I had had the foresight to pop my library book down the top of my oversuit so I have something interesting to read whilst I was waiting seen as tho it could have been a long long trip!)

The Lads got split into teams of two, each to search a different area of the cave. It only took about 10 mins to find the group, Dunc's team found them not too far away from Gnome Passage. So a quick message relayed back to base to say that everyone was safe and it was a nice leisurely stroll back down to the cottages ( can't believe they didn't come and collect us after all our hard work!!!!)

Wheres the cot gone???

We ended up reading our books and magazines and having a natter in bed for a bit, Dunc fell asleep and so Adam and Pete decided that seen as tho Dunc was not going to sleep in the cot, they would stick the cot on him, which ended up them breaking the cot, and nearly dying of laughing. They put the cot directly on the poor lad and tucked him up. I hadnt heard Dunc growl until he woke up and discovered he was wearing a cot!!!! ;-) I dont blame you mate i would have growled too if i had discovered that the latest fashion accessory was a wooden cot!!!!! lol

Lazy like a Sunday Morning!

Well after the excitement of the previous day no one was in a great rush to get up on sunday morning, we had put the clocks back the night before ( or at least the rest of the British Isles had! we hadnt cos we forgot!) No-one had any way of telling the time, except for on Petes mobile so we had to wait till Pete regained conciousness to find out whether it was getting up time or not.... we then discovered he was still operating on BST or was it PDT ( pete dale time!) so we wasted part of the morning bickering about what time it was..... a great start to the day!

I had a headache and decided that it wasnt often that I got to have a lie in on a sunday morning without any kids screaming at me fullstop so i snuggled back down into my sleeping bag and tried to get some sleep, until one of our party (mentioning no names) tried to drag me out of bed, sleeping bag n all! ( bearing in mind i was on the top bunk of a set of bunk beds at the time!!!) - terrifying!

Adam, Pete and Dunc then tried to work out whether or not they wanted to go caving that morning, I didn't want to go caving cos I could hardly walk after the excitement of going caving twice in one day but was more than happy to stop back at the cottages to read my book, my magazine or go for a walk, but no that wasnt to be, some wires were crossed whilst making the arrangements which ended up Pete n Dunc legging it back to Lancashire and Ad going to a cave for a scenic ride out! Me and Adam ended up walking down a stream somewhere near Little Neath Cave before heading for home!

Thanks lads for a good weekend... when are we going again???!!!!