Adrian's Explorations (Adrian Paniwnyk)

Pelobates No. 86 February 2007 

Pelobates – Croydon Caving Club Magazine, Number 86 

ISSN: 0260-7956 

Editorial Team: James Thorne, Linda Vidler, Richard Vidler 

Email: editor@croydoncavingclub.org.uk 

WWW: www.croydoncavingclub.org.uk 

Cover: Formations in Ogof Capel by Richard Vidler 

Croydon Caving Club Page 2


Contents 

Editorial (Abe Sent)................................................................................................................4 

Club Diary 2007.....................................................................................................................4 

Cottage News (Chris Crowley)...............................................................................................4 

Adrian's Explorations (Adrian Paniwnyk)................................................................................4 

Crowbar Hole, NGR SN 9010 1464....................................................................................4 

Rusty Horse Shoe Dig – Black Mountain............................................................................5 

New Quarry Cave..............................................................................................................6 

Ogof Pig Melin (Yellow Beak Cave), NGR SO 2625 0800..................................................8 

Ogof Nant Rhin................................................................................................................10 

Dragon's Demise (Chris Crowley).........................................................................................12 

Trip Reports.........................................................................................................................13 

Ogof Capel (Chris Crowley)..............................................................................................13 

Forest of Dean, 17-18 June 2006 (Neil Montgomery).......................................................13 

DYO Regained (Chris Crowley)........................................................................................15 

Mendips, 9-10 September 2006 (Neil Montgomery).........................................................15 

Smith's Armoury at the Third Attempt or “Caving, Alpine Style” (Steve Murray)................17 

Caving in China 2003 (Jenny Drake)....................................................................................18 

Introduction......................................................................................................................18 

Getting There...................................................................................................................18 

Da Keng..........................................................................................................................19 

Postman's Holes..............................................................................................................20 

Furong Jiang and Furong Dong........................................................................................21 

More Caves.....................................................................................................................22 

Lou Chi Ao Kou (Xia).......................................................................................................22 

Dong Ba Derig.................................................................................................................23 

The Long Trip Home........................................................................................................23 

Tian Xing 2004. What Happened Next!............................................................................23 

Caption competition.............................................................................................................24 

SECRO Rescue Practice at Hanover Mine, Emmer Green, Reading (Richard Vidler)..........25 



Editorial (Abe Sent) 

Welcome to another eagerly awaited issue of Pelobates, again produced Croydon Caving 

Club's very own editorial team. 

We have a veritable feast of speleological articles for you including exciting new discoveries 

from Adrian Paniwnyk, rescue training, stories of China and a large helping of trip reports. 

Chris Crowley also bids a fond farewell to Dragon. 

Thank you to all who submitted material and we hope you all enjoy it. 

Club Diary 2007 

Below are some dates for your diary. More will be added in the coming months so keep an 

eye on your email. 

Easter weekend 6 th to 9 th April 

Spring bank holiday 5 th to 7 th May 

Whitsun bank holiday 26 th to 28 th May 

NAMHO 15 th to 17 th June 

KOF 30 th June to 1 st July 

August bank holiday 25 th to 27 th August 

Hidden Earth TBA, September or October 

Bonfire weekend 3 rd to 4 th November 

Christmas dinner 1 st to 2 nd December 

Cottage News (Chris Crowley) 

The main news is that we have raised the cottage fees by 50p to £3.50 for guests and £2.50 

for members, the first increase since foot and mouth. This is necessary to cover very large 

increases in oil, gas and electricity costs and is in line with what other clubs have had to do. 

This will apply from September 2006. 

Thanks to Jean Grange for giving us an antique brass fender for the fire and Neil & Annette 

for finding and transporting another fridge. Please avoid bringing large milk containers as 

these do not fit well, cause damage to the door and prevent others from getting their stuff in. 

Please put your food etc. on the shelves in the kitchen whenever possible as leaving them 

on the worktops makes cooking difficult and is sometimes a fire hazard. Also, please do not 

leave your wash kit in the kitchen as some people don’t like this; I will see if I can find space 

for another shelf in the wash room. 

Items wanted: set of stacking chairs, petrol rotary mower. 

Adrian's Explorations (Adrian Paniwnyk) 

The following article details digs and exploratory work that I have been involved with Tony 

Donovan and Roy Morgan over the past year. 

Crowbar Hole, NGR SN 9010 1464 

I am quite sure that this cave on Pant Mawr would have disappeared into obscurity had it not 



been for the efforts of Tony Donovan and Roy Morgan. When Chris Crowley, Trevor 

Pritchard and myself dug into this cave on 17 th November 1990, I subsequently wrote, “All in 

all, this cave is not a contender for a way into the Pant Mawr master system.” 

Well, as I write this in Autumn 2006, my initial pessimism may be proved wrong. A year or so 

ago, Tony unblocked the collapsed 8 metres deep entrance shaft and installed scaffolding. In 

1990, I reported a further 8 metres of rift dropping down from the base of the shaft which 

was too tight to enter. Now, in 2006, Tony and Roy have after much effort enlarged the rift 

and at the bottom and broken into a short section of phreatic type passage trending in a 

westerly direction. This passage quickly ends with a small but perfectly formed aven heading 

back to the surface. 

From the base of the shaft, the passage appears to carry on in the other direction, i.e. to the 

South East. However, a boulder choke formed at the base of the entrance shaft blocks an 

easy entrance into this. As you can imagine, Tony and Roy are doing their utmost to 

engineer a route through this. 

On a positive note, this cave does possess a definite outward summer draught and it is 

hoped that even if the mythical Pant Mawr Master System is not found on this occasion, a 

reasonable bit of cave may be discovered. 

Stop press. On the 22 nd October 2006, the boulder choke was passed to gain a small 

passage beyond which takes a small stream and 

the draught. Further digging will probably be 

required to make progress along this. 

Rusty Horse Shoe Dig – Black Mountain 

This cave is situated approximately 500 metres 

to the north west of the cave Sink y Giedd, one of 

the main sinks for Dan yr Ogof. 

It can be seen that much effort has been put in 

here in the past. An oil drum entrance drops onto 

the top of a free-climbable 4 metre deep shaft, 

most of which looks as if it has been blasted. At 

the base of the shaft is a tight dog-leg passage, 

which then leads to a short section of horizontal 

passage with a fractured left hand wall and a 

boulder choked scaffolded right hand wall. This is 

the current dig terminus. 

Recent work in the cave in 2006 has involved 

digging in a bypass to the dog-leg passage. Prior 

to this, at least six men were required to bring 

spoil to the surface via the contortions of the dogleg 

passage. Now a reasonably straight pull from 

the dig face means that only four men are now 

required. As well as this, spoil is coming out with 

much greater ease. 

Subsequent to getting the dog-leg bypass, work 

has now begun to enlarge and shore a way 

Adrian Paniwnyk in a phreatic tube near the 

entrance of the new cave. Photo: Adrian 

Paniwnyk 



towards a stream which can be heard a short distance 

ahead. This presumably is the stream that sinks on the 

surface close to the entrance. This stream has not been 

traced to Dan yr Ogof, but it is assumed, due to its 

proximity to sights which have been traced, such as 

Sink y Giedd, that the water sinking at Rusty Horse 

Shoe also goes to Dan yr Ogof. 

On the two times I have visited the cave, it has been 

draughting strongly. Also, Rusty Horse Shoe lies within 

the Dowlais Beds, as does Dan yr Ogof. Sink y Giedd, 

being further to the south, lies within the upper Penwyllt 

Beds. Thus a greater vertical distance will have to be 

covered to gain the underlying Dowlais Beds. This does 

not mean that a lot of effort will be required, but it is 

hoped that even if the hypothetical “Giedd” system is not 

found, a reasonable bit of cave will be revealed. 

New Quarry Cave 

A new cave has been exposed by quarrying activities. At 

present, it is about 90 metres long, ending in a boulder 

choke but likely to get substantially smaller when they 

start quarrying into it. Obviously there is no official 

access to this site. 

The overall trend of the passage is to the South East with crawling size strike passages and 

a larger down-dip passage. The cave is situated near and above other known caves which 

are situated at the base of the limestone / lower limestone shales. It is interesting to note 

that the alignment of the cave is similar to earlier caves found in the quarry but now totally 

quarried away. Most of the passage found in this new section of cave seems to be phreatic 

in origin, but the down dip passage seems to show vadose modification (see photographs). 

The cave possesses a few formations and it is interesting to note that many of these are 

translucent and ice-like. Maybe this is due to leaching out of minerals with depth? 

The new cave is almost certainly related to a large section of passage entered a year ago, 

running parallel with the quarry bench, i.e. NE-SW. This has now been quarried away but a 

few remnants of it can be seen as you approach the new cave along the quarry bench from 

the SW. 

It should be noted that work to remove the cave has already begun, with the quarrying away 

of some of the bench near the entrance 

necessitating a difficult traverse. Presumably in 

the near future the entrance will be left “hanging” 

half way up the cliff face. However, hopefully it is 

not all “doom and gloom” for this cave. The down 

dip sections of the cave puts the known end of 

the cave beyond the quarry boundary fence and it 

is very unlikely that it will be extended further as 

this would mean the quarry could be seen from 

the south. Providing that the way in has not been 

totally obscured, access should be gained if and 

when the quarry stops operating. 

Roy Morgan in vadose modified phreatic 

passage. Photo: Adrian Paniwnyk 

Roy Morgan in the new cave. Photo: Adrian 

Paniwnyk 





Ogof Pig Melin (Yellow Beak Cave), NGR SO 2625 0800 

The Ogof Pig Melin (OPM) caves are situated in a small quarry to the south of Blaenavon 

adjacent to the A4043. Rifts in this quarry prior to digging all draughted strongly and it is for 

this reason that Roy Morgan turned his attention to this site. 

By far, the most extensive of the caves is OPM 4 (see survey). There were a few false starts 

here, as this was the last site in the quarry to be dug. OPM 3, although not marked on the 

survey is slightly to the north of OPM 1. It has received a bit of digging attention but does not 

really get underground at present. 

The first site to be dug, OPM 1, starts as a rift but ends in a pot with a draughting choke at 

the bottom. This was only abandoned by Tony when it was deemed too dangerous to dig 

and having looked at it, I agree with him! In order to bypass this, a surface dig was started, 

OPM 2, but this was again abandoned when the rift at the bottom became too tight and 

loose. 

Fortunately, digging OPM 4 has proved more fruitful. After enlarging a rift for some distance, 

a chamber was gained. Looking at the survey, it is probable that OPM 1 connects through 

here but of course through the suicidal boulder choke. From the chamber, a dig down and 

then back up has gained a larger chamber or passage. It is really at this point that one of the 

cave's more unnerving features begins to make its presence felt, i.e. a preponderance of 

break down blocks and blocks handing from the roof and ceiling which look as if they might 

break down on top of you! It is in this chamber that Tony, in an attempt to sort out what he 

calls the large blocks “hanging from the roof like Christmas decorations”, installed some 

serious bits of steel work. 

At the back of this chamber, an excavated crawl gained a way into another passage heading 

south, yielding the largest chamber within the cave. This passage again would be very nice 

indeed, were it not for the large quantities of hanging death within it. However, draught tests 

seemed to indicate that it was heading out of the surface and it ends in the obligatory 

suicidal choke. 

It is at this point that the way on into the hill appeared to be lost. However, on a very cold 

day over Christmas 2005, Roy located the draught coming out of a very small rift opposite 

the squeeze up into the southerly trending passage. Dutifully, a way along the rift was 

enlarged to eventually gain a small stream passage, which initially raised enthusiasm a good 

deal. Sadly, this passage is bedevilled with the same problem the rest of the cave suffers 

from, i.e. Large amounts of hanging death. I have not been right to the end, but Tony reports 

that the terminal choke again contributed to stability problems and not aided cave formation 

– this dolomitisation gets more prevalent as you move east. 

On a positive note, the draught at the end of the cave is as strong as ever and the cave lies 

between the two theorised continuations of Ogof Draenen, Rifleman's stream way and Luck 

of the Draw passage. Sadly however, it looks like the dig within this cave has been 

abandoned at present. 





Ogof Nant Rhin 

The survey of the cave down from the relatively new top entrance to the Aven d'Oznog pitch 

has been completed and drawn up by Roy Morgan. Looking at the survey, it looks very tight. 

Nant Hafod pot may be associated with the Kerplunk area of Nant Rhin. 

It should be noted that the bottom entrance of Nant Rhin is in a pretty poor state after a 

runaway lorry on the Heads of the Valley road crashed down on top of it! 





Dragon's Demise (Chris 

Crowley) 

As most of you will know the Dragon 

caving shop in Abercrave has now closed 

and the proprietors have either retired or 

moved on to pastures new. I have always 

thought that selling gear to cavers and 

making a living out of it was a fraught 

prospect – after all many of us started 

caving at university as it was a low cost 

activity (apart from the beer drinking). At 

one time an essential part of caving was 

cruising army surplus outlets for footwear 

and garb that would last as long as 

possible and cost as little as possible. 

During the '80s it all changed and purpose 

made clothing and equipment appeared 

from a variety of manufacturers and outlets 

to supply the booming numbers of cavers. 

The last few years perhaps foreshadow a 

return to former times as the number of 

new cavers seems to have declined drastically for a variety of reasons as older ones retire. 

Anyway, I am sure that I can say for all Croydon members that we miss our “Dragon 

diversion” on the way to OFD with Dudley’s cheerful welcome and offer of tea and advice. 

We wish them well in their new ventures. 

P.S. thanks for the barrel! 

Photo: Richard Vidler 




Trip Reports 

Ogof Capel (Chris Crowley) 

This cave is at the bottom of the Clydach Gorge and until 

recently has only been accessible to divers (and more 

recently not at all due to the choke having collapsed), 

however it was reopened by Tony Donovan et al. I first went 

in the spring with Tony and Adrian Paniwnyk and was so 

impressed by the thousands of fantastic speleothems that I 

decided to organise a return trip with camera gear. 

After changing near the Drum & Monkey pub we descended 

a scree path to the bottom of the gorge where the cave 

entrance could be seen at the top of an iron ladder. The large 

phreatic tube soon diminished to a Tony-sized dig passage 

with a few sharp bends which eventually bypassed the 

entrance sump. 50m after this was the choke which had 

obviously only been re-opened with difficulty followed by the 

gate. Unfortunately the key had got gritty on the way in and 

although it opened the lock the key would not come out .This 

was a known problem and I had been asked to bring the lock 

out if it happened; the lock has now been changed. 

The passage immediately after the choke did little to 

encourage the others who had not been there before, 

however it eventually opened up to a reasonable sized 

passage crammed with helis and stal. A short side passage 

off to the right was even more wonderful. The way on was 

through a low wet section and up a thrutch into even more 

decorated passage. On and on this went until we reached 

the canal section which involved a minor head duck which 

led onto the petrified forest. 

Unfortunately at this point things stared to go rather pear-shaped light-wise and in spite of 

redistributing spare light sources we decided not to press on to the bitter end (which 

apparently drafts strongly). The return took some time due to the care necessary to avoid 

damage to the formations and unfortunately when I got out I discovered my film had stopped 

winding on halfway through, so I only got 12 pics. Well worth a visit to see some of the best 

stal in the UK. 

Forest of Dean, 17-18 June 2006 (Neil Montgomery) 



This was my second year going on this club trip and once again base camp was established 

at Alan and Janet's country retreat in the heart of the Forest of Dean. Tents were erected on 

the front lawn before heading off to the ‘wonky donkey’ for evening refreshment. This meant 

that there were no ‘wonky’ tents to admire on Saturday morning this year. 

The sun enforced an early rise, failure to rise meant you were cooked in your tent. This of 

course did not lead to an early trip down a cave; we are after all Croydon... Over and after 

breakfast many discussions were had as to where we would head in our featured cave for 

the weekend ‘Slaughter Streamway’ or ‘Wet Sink’ to some. Results of the discussion were 

highly detailed: we’ll turn left or right when we get to the stream way, it had only taken us 



one and a half hours to decide this! 

Heading to the nearest parking spot to the cave we found it invaded by lots of teenagers out 

on a hiking / orienteering trek. They did not appear to appreciate our fine caving physiques 

as we got changed and soon moved on; let’s hope there was no permanent trauma for them. 

Our arrival at the cave entrance was a welcome relief as it was a very hot day; not one to be 

wandering around in a furry suit, let alone the rest of your caving gear. 

The cave itself has all the technical bits first. The descent was done via a series of fixed 

ladders in quick succession, the only interlude being a short crawl and ‘mouse aven’, which 

apparently this time contained a dead vole. A 

short climb down after this led to the main 

course, a 10-12m (depending on the guide book 

read) ladder pitch down to the stream level. 

With us all down safely a decision was finally 

made and we headed off down-stream. We 

followed this for some fair distance, leaving it at 

Sump 1 and rejoining again after Sump 2 via a 

dry route. By the time we got down to Sump 3 

the general consensus was to turn around and 

try to complete the round trip by following one of 

the side passages we had seen earlier. 

This would be a good point at which to mention 

that our only reference material down the cave 

were people's memories (notoriously vague) 

and a quick, scaled-down drawing of the cave 

survey onto a post-it size piece of paper. Full 

credit to Steve for it being accurate (he is after 

all the librarian) but it was rather susceptible to 

water. After some fumbling around at the upper 

end of coal seam passage, we emerged into the 

upper levels of the Chunnel. Here we found that 

the route for the round trip was clearly marked, 

if only we had been going the other way round! 

The weekend’s surreal moment then happened. 

We were once again fumbling around trying to 

complete the round trip and rejoin the 

The main ladder pitch in Slaughter. Photo: Neil 

Montgomery 

streamway. The words ‘a decent survey would help here’ were spoken, to which the reply 

was ‘here’s one on this rock!’. Sure enough there was, albeit rather damp, a detailed survey 

of the cave carefully folded up on a nearby rock (it was far better than any in the guide 

books). A quick look at this got us back on our way and to the bottom of the ladder pitch 

again. 

At this point Andy, having had all the fun of abseiling in on his SRT gear, had the less 

pleasant task of ascending said rope first to belay the rest of us up the ladder pitch. At the 

top of the pitch there seemed to be as many ways off the ladder onto the top ledge as there 

were cavers. Let it not be said that caving does not allow freedom of expression. With the 

ladders and rope stowed away it was a short trip up the fixed ladders to return to the surface 

and the full heat of the day. 

Having got changed we did have some difficulty in finding a watering hole open in the middle 



of the afternoon. However, finally refreshed we 

headed back to base camp for an evening 

barbecue and, of course, more refreshment. 

Sunday morning start was just as early and 

rumours of a dig were going round. Doubts 

about the caving potential of the dig were later 

confirmed. Once finished the dig consisted of a 

trench approx 18ft long by 2 ft deep and looked 

suspiciously like a trench for concrete 

foundations. Various objects of high 

archaeological interest were uncovered and will 

be donated to the regional museum. 

After suitable refreshment (of the non-alcoholic 

type) we set off for an afternoon's walk visiting 

several old mines and quarry workings up the Bix Slade. We did a brief pirate trip down Bix 

Slade Stone Mine, which after the small entrance passage is huge inside – very impressive. 

With our clothes suitably muddy we retuned to the cars before setting off on our various 

journeys home. 

The magnificent 7 cavers present were: Neil Montgomery, Chris Crowley, Steve Murray, 

Andy Todd, Adrian Paniwnyk, Alan Ockenden, Rob Damon, and not forgetting Janet who 

kept us all in order for the weekend. Many thanks for letting us stay at your house for the 

weekend. 

DYO Regained (Chris Crowley) 

Although I had been a DYO ‘leader’ for many years, following the advent of foot and mouth 

and a new warden system which required difficult insurance conditions and a much larger 

annual payment I had let access lapse. This year however I finally managed to regain 

‘warden’ status as it is now called and led two visits. The first of these was not very 

successful as when we got to the entrance lakes there was only a small airspace and as the 

weather wasn’t stable had to abort the trip. We did however follow the river in for as far as 

possible and looked at some of the other ‘sights’, so the day wasn’t a complete failure. 

Another trip was attempted on the August bank holiday and this was more successful. I took 

a party on the round trip, more or less remembering the route; the cold viscous water of the 

green canal proved to be the usual challenge and Annette Price made an unexpectedly 

rapid descent of the Elephant's hole using Neil Montgomery as soft(ish) landing deflector! 

The trip had to end by 4.00pm as there is now some involved procedure for getting a key to 

get out after the show cave shuts so the trip wasn’t as complete as I would have liked. More 

trips next year. 

Mendips, 9-10 September 2006 (Neil Montgomery) 

A quality survey of the Slaughter Streamway. 

Photo: Neil Montgomery 

An intrepid crew set off for the Mendip hills to visit a couple of the local caves. Up this time 

were August-Longwood Swallet and GB cave. However the weekend started as all caving 

weekends in the Mendips should with a Friday evening visit to the Hunters’ Lodge. There 

Chris, myself and the Peacocks (Claire, Charlie and Sue) gathered before heading for our 

weekend accommodation at the Wessex. 

Saturday we were up and ready to go pretty early, entering the cave around 11.00am. Steve 

had driven down for the day to join us. August-Longwood does present its challenges and 

we all had different reasons for heading down there. Claire and Charlie had never visited the 



cave, Chris and I wanted to complete the 

round trip (after an aborted attempt 

earlier this year due to water levels) and 

Steve was on a refresher course having 

last been down this cave in the '70s. 

The entrance being somewhat difficult 

Steve and I were sent in first to rig the 

ladder just after the entrance chimney 

and flat out squeeze. We regrouped at 

the bottom of this ladder before setting 

off on the round trip, down the dry route 

and back via the wet way. 

More tight rifts and a delicate traverse 

had to be negotiated before arriving at 

the head of the second pitch. I recalled Neil in GB Cave. Photo: Charlie Peacock 

from our last visit that this is known as 

swing pitch. When nearing the bottom of the ladder it swings ‘conveniently’ straight into the 

main water flowing down from above. Fortunately this time the water was a more pleasant 

temperature and did not give you a severe case of ‘ice cream head’, allowing you to finish 

the ladder descent easily. 

From the bottom of the pitch we descended a sloping rift with water cascading down it until 

we joined the main streamway. We followed this upstream, climbing all the time until we 

reached the near surface choke. We backtracked and headed off downstream a short way. 

We turned round when the crawling in the streamway was continuous. Later from the survey 

I saw that this does open out again into some oxbows and will need to be visited next time, 

weather permitting, as this section of the cave floods 

to the roof! 

We returned to the ladder and ascended it to continue 

our round trip, which set off directly across from the 

head of the pitch. This was where things started to get 

wet. A short flat-out crawl in water, aptly named The 

Drainpipe, led to The Grotto where the water 

cascades in from the roof. The way on was to follow 

where the water was coming from, up a narrow 

vertical rift (the Wet Chimney). This doglegged into a 

tight, flat-out crawl in the stream bed. Fortunately this 

was not too long (tackle bags were a pain here) before 

finding a more spacious climb up. We were soon back 

at the bottom of the first ladder and the challenging 

exit. Charlie and Claire headed out first with Steve and 

I bracketing Chris. Chris got through the squeeze OK 

but had trouble with the sharp right, flat-out turn. Not 

wanting a repeat of last time (just ask Chris how he 

was pulled out of the cave by his feet) Chris made a 

determined effort to get round the corner. This paid off 

and shortly afterwards we were all back outside in the 

dappled shade of the woods. 

Chris and Neil enjoying GB Cave. Photo: 

Charlie Peacock 



Having set off so early there was plenty of time to head into Wells and make some 

purchases at Bat Products along with a well-earned tea and cake. Inevitably the evening 

ended up down the Hunters' Lodge again for some more drinking, though Steve missed out 

on this having already headed home. 

Sunday saw another early start, with a planned leisurely trip down GB Cave. Having parked 

up somewhere different to usual (a more secure location next to a farm) it didn’t take us too 

long to find the cave entrance. With the survey to hand we managed an extensive 

exploration of the cave completing a round trip via several well-decorated chambers. The 

terminal sump was just a sandy bank showing just how low water levels currently are. The 

return trip was all uphill, via the 40ft pitch which was free-climbed without difficulty (again no 

water helped). I did a short exploration of the alternative entrance route (something to 

complete next time) before heading out of the cave. We were back out by 2.30 pm ready to 

pack up leisurely and then head off for the drive home. All in all a good weekend. 

Smith's Armoury at the Third Attempt or “Caving, Alpine Style” (Steve Murray) 

Having tried unsuccessfully, twice, to reach deep into the bowels – or is it up into the neck – 

of OFD III, it was pure luck that Adrian Clarke and myself were together on the morning of 

the May Bank Holiday with no particular cave in mind. When OFD III was suggested, it was 

the perfect occasion. 

Both Adrian and myself had been unsuccessful in the past; a combination of time against us, 

pure fear overcoming us, losing the way, or bad weather conditions. This time we knew that 

a lightweight “Alpine style” trip was most likely to result in a positive outcome. No ladders 

and a decision to abseil the 30' pitch and free-climb and self-lifeline on the way back would 

minimise the equipment to be carried. 

Up and out of Godre Pentre by 9.30am, not exactly a record, but good going; a few of the 

regulars left still snoring in their bunks upstairs. A few minutes before we left, trying to pack 

and cook simultaneously, I burnt my toast. The fire alarm going off for 5 minutes failed to 

bring down even one of the recumbent residents upstairs. This begs the question, “what if 

there had been a real fire?” 

Arriving at SWCC, hey, we have the cave to ourselves! The Duty Warden didn't know Adrian 

or me and we didn't know him. Fortunately, others recognised us as being part of “The 

Croydon” so it’s worth remembering your ID as you might be challenged. 

We decided to try a short-cut, so the normal route heading towards “Poached Egg” by 

going down corkscrew climb was not for us. We travelled fully down Chasm Passage to The 

Shakehole. A quick 20’ abseil down and then the awkward climb up the fixed rope at the 

other end. Within minutes we had arrived at “Poached Egg”. Yes the short-cut worked fine. 

Onwards, all the usual suspects covered, Bhowani Junction and onto the Crevasse. No 

messing about. Down, across (look for the tiny nib of rock for support half-way across) then 

abseil down the drop on the far side. 

Next landmark, “The Shambles” and what a shambles of VDLB (very dangerous loose 

boulders) as the survey says. Onto the Traverses, about a metre between the side walls, 

most of the time the footholds are okay as long as you concentrate. A drop of 20 metres or 

so underneath does tend to concentrate the mind wonderfully and they go on for maybe 60 

metres. At the third time over, they don't strike the fear that they did on the first attempt, but 

are still deserving of respect: there is no simple practical way of passing and a fall here 

would have such serious consequences. Put that out of your mind, you'll get over it! 

The squeezes presented no real problems, and after that it was a quick traverse across the 



exposed Maypole Bridge, then into the refreshingly cool streamway. Long awaited, because 

I was wearing a full wetsuit for this trip. Now for any cavers reading this, if you have got this 

far in the cave, with decent weather conditions, it is just a bit of a slog for an hour and a 

quarter or so from here to get to the end of the cave. Superb stream passage, sandy oxbows 

and some great water cascades, quite enjoyable if you are suitably attired. There are a few 

impressively high avens in some of the sections here. 

As you get to the further reaches, towards the end of the cave, there are flood tide marks 

indicating that some of the passages here must become impassable at times. Eventually 

Adrian and I reached the obvious end of the cave, Smiths Armoury itself. Some huge 

boulders and a big chamber. Where to dig for a potential way on? Nothing obvious. 

The return trip after a suitable rest passed without incident. The Traverses, which seemed so 

intimidating to me a few months before, had been tamed. They still deserve a lot of respect 

as they have to be passed without protection. We climbed and self-lifelined the 30 foot pitch 

on the way out. Then we took a different route out via Salubrious Streamway just for a 

diversion. 

Caving in China 2003 (Jenny Drake) 

Introduction 

Most cavers have been aware for many years of the huge 

caving potential of China. In the '80s the first Western 

cavers went out there with the China Caves Project, a joint 

endeavour with Chinese karst scientists. They brought 

back tales of huge shafts, river passages and miles of 

cave, all explored no further than generations of farmers 

could reach. In the last few years the Hong Meigui Cave 

Exploration Society, founded by American Erin Lynch, has 

pioneered cheap expeditions to remote areas of the 

country. A member of my “other” caving club, Matt Ryan, 

had been living in China for eighteen months or so and 

caving with the Hong Meigui. In 2002 they discovered and 

explored the deepest cave in China, Qikeng Dong to -920m 

near the village of Tian Xing in Chongqing Municipality. I 

hadn't been on a caving expedition for several years and 

had got the urge again. On one of Matt's infrequent visits to 

the UK I discussed with him the possibility of coming out for 

a month. He told me that Hong Meigui were returning to 

Tian Xing in September and October of 2003, just a couple of months ahead. There were 

some strong leads that could connect a system called Dong Ba to Qikeng Dong. There was 

also a deep surface shaft, Da Keng, that had been explored to -80m in 2002. From the end 

of the rope the shaft disappeared into the depths and dropped rocks fell free for six seconds 

before hitting anything. How could I not go? 

Getting There 

House in Tian Xing. Photo: Jenny 

Drake 

I flew out via Dubai and Bangkok to Hong Kong. From the new airport there I followed Matt's 

instructions to the centre of Kowloon. Following a steady stream of people carrying luggage 

took me to the ferry terminal, cunningly disguised as a shopping centre. Tickets were 

available to neighbouring Macau, various islands in Hong Kong territory and to the rest of 



China. I was going to the neighbouring city of Shenzhen and its 

airport. The jet foil trip took just an hour and a courtesy bus bought 

me to the airport. I was carrying 25kg of dehydrated food, donated 

to the expedition, as well as my personal and caving kit, so I was 

very glad of the bus in the heat. An hour and a half's aeroplane 

ride to Chongqing saved me two days of overland travel and I was 

met at the airport by Matt and his girlfriend (now wife) Apple. 

Chongqing city is huge and built entirely from concrete, as are all 

modern Chinese cities and towns. It could not be described as 

pretty and in the summer has the reputation of being the hottest, 

dustiest place in China. Here we left Apple, who was travelling on 

to see her aunt. Matt and I took a four hour bus to the town of 

Wulong, the local administration centre for the area we were 

visiting. On the way we passed through a limestone gorge with 

many cave entrances, probably unexplored. The road seemed to 

be simultaneously under construction and falling away into the 

river below. 

On the opposite bank concrete piers for a new railway line were 

springing up. The pace of construction in China is incredible. New 

buildings and massive civil engineering projects seem to appear overnight. After a night in 

Wulong we made the last two bus journeys to Tian Xing, stopping on the way to register with 

the local police. The last bus climbed around three thousand feet into the hills along a 

graded track. The bus used snow chains on the wheels to negotiate the mud. 

Da Keng 

An inhabitant of Tian Xing. 

Photo: Jenny Drake 

Tian Xing is a large village in the hills. Around ten years ago they started growing tobacco 

and this has made them relatively wealthy. Many villagers now have things like twin tub 

washing machines and 250cc motorbikes. Buildings are a mixture of traditional, picturesque, 

but draughty wood farmhouses and modern, ugly and draughty concrete blocks with big roll 

front doors on the ground floor street entrance. Some concrete buildings featured fish ponds 

built into the roof as a food source. Quite how waterproof these were I never found out. We 

were staying in one of the draughty concrete houses. Unfortunately it also doubled as the 

local all night mah-jong players den and we had many sleepless nights as a result. 

The weather through my stay was starting to cool down. Most days were lightly overcast, 

with occasional days of rain. Similar in a lot of ways to Britain at that time of year. 

When I arrived only Duncan Collis (UK) and Ilya Boiku (Russia) were on the surface. The 

other three members of the expedition were underground. Da Keng had been explored to 

the base of a 280m pitch. This was followed by a 200m pitch and a couple of short drops, 

before going horizontal. A five day camp was in progress to explore and survey the 

horizontal section. 

A couple of days latter Erin surfaced and handed us the survey data. Duncan and I entered it 

into the laptop and Survex instantly calculated the vital statistics and produced a three 

dimensional line survey. We walked over to the entrance just as Vladimir Yurkans (Russia) 

and Brian Judd (UK) surfaced and we were able to inform them that they had just explored 

the second deepest cave in China! 

The following night was a party for Vladimir and Ilya, who were leaving the next morning. 

They were planning to travel from Chongqing to Shanghai by boat down the Yangtse. A trip 



of six days or so. Before Da Keng was 

fully derigged we were planing to 

photograph the 280m deep entrance 

shaft. I was tasked with organising this as 

I was supposedly the most experienced 

photographer there. That I had done 

absolutely no cave photography before 

cut no ice. The expedition had a small 

stock of huge, domestic light bulb size, 

flash bulbs. These are capable of lighting 

a chamber, large passage, or shaft. 

Before leaving the UK I had made some 

simple, cave resistant, bulb holders and 

firing mechanisms for these. We decided 

on an evening trip so that daylight filtering 

down from the surface wouldn't 

complicate the exposure. 

After a long series of abseils and 

rebelays I arrived at the base of the shaft. 

It was around 10m in diameter, with the 

next shaft round the corner and another 

six second free fall down its 200m depth. 

Duncan was with me holding a flash bulb. 

Matt was stationed 80m above us and 

Brian another 100m above Matt. I had 

three cameras with me, set on bulb and a 

variety of apertures. I gave the order to Da Keng entrance shaft. Photo: Jenny Drake 

fire over the two way radio and the shaft was filled with light and appreciative exclamations 

from everyone. Matt and Brian then had to change the very hot bulbs while hanging from 

their rebelays. Another two shots and we were done. 

I had miscalculated the amount of water I would need for the trip. I was also overdressed in 

a Dragon oversuit and furry. The caves here were slightly warmer than in the UK. This, 

combined with my lack of fitness, meant that it took me over three hours to get out. A patient 

Duncan followed me up, derigging as he went and joining all the ropes together with those 

from the lower pitches that had been pulled up by the camping team as they exited. The 

following day we returned and hauled the ropes up from a rebelay at -80m, then from the 

surface. Around 800m of rope had to come up, be taken back to Tian Xing, then washed, 

inspected and chained. 

Postman's Holes 

The village postman had shown Brian a couple of entrances near his house and about forty 

minutes walk from Tian Xing. Brian, Matt and I went to have a look at one of these. On the 

way we picked up most of the inhabitants of a farm, plus a cow on a string and its calf, who 

followed us to the entrance. While an old man balanced precariously over the entrance shaft 

and hacked at the vegetation with a scythe, I drilled a couple of holes for thru-bolts. A long 

deviation to the opposite side gave me a free hang and I set off on my first bit of exploration 

in China. 

Around 20m down I landed on a boulder bridge in the shaft. I had an attack of the jitters 



here, poised above a drop of unknown depth, as I searched around for a place to rebelay in 

the rotten flowstone walls. Eventually I placed a bolt in the base of the rock bridge after 

finding that it was well cemented together and to the shaft walls by calcite. Another 20m and 

a deviation saw me at the bottom, unfortunately with no way on. 

Most shafts explored on expedition end like this, so I wasn't too disappointed. Matt and Brian 

joined me and we photographed the shaft and surveyed out. An uphill walk in the dark 

bought us back to Tian Xing, supper and beer. Beer, bottled water and coffee were all the 

same cost, so you took your pick. 

Furong Jiang and Furong Dong 

On the day Brian was due to start back for 

home, we took the early morning bus down 

the hill to the valley town of Jiang Kou. At a 

village part way down the bus stopped and 

we had a chance to watch an open air dentist 

drilling a customers tooth! 

A new reservoir in Jiang Kou was affecting 

the water levels at the bases of our caves 

and Erin and Dunks wanted to find out from 

the operators if the reservoir was now full, or 

due to rise further. We also wanted to get in 

touch with Mr Li of Huibang Tourism. Huibang 

run the Furong Dong show cave and had 

recently started running boat trips on the new 

reservoir. Hong Meigui had done some work 

for Huibang in the past. We were worried to 

hear that he was in hospital, but from his sick 

bed he very kindly arranged a boat trip on the 

reservoir for us. 

We misinterpreted his instructions and turned 

up at the Furong Dong cave instead of the 

jetty for the boats. After a few phone calls a 

speed boat was dispatched to pick us up and 

in the mean time we had a look round the 

show cave. 

Resurgence dropping into the newly created Furong 

reservoir. Photo: Jenny Drake 

Furong Dong puts the typical British show cave to shame. The scale of the passages and 

formations were so much grander. The cave had been very sensitively developed with 

advice from Western cavers and is highly recommended if you happen to be in the area! 

We then descended the slippery concrete path to the lake and the speed boat that was just 

nosing in to the jetty. A fast trip up the lake took us to the main departure point for boat trips. 

The dam was completed earlier in the year and the valleys behind flooded. The water level 

was such that it now floods the bottom of Qikeng Dong and Dong Ba caves. 

The lake allows easy access to some stunning limestone gorges. We saw one resurgence 

with several cumecs of water emerging and falling 40m to the lake. We believe that this has 

not been explored, but would require either a wet bolt climb up the cliff, starting from a boat, 

or a 300m abseil and swing in from above. 

The area has troops of rare Black Leaf Monkeys. These will likely be rarer still, as when 



groups were spotted the boat came in close and sounded its horns to make them move. The 

Chinese passengers joined in by shouting at them. After a long afternoon cruising the lake 

we returned to the jetty and had some lunch before returning to Jiang Kou for the night. 

More Caves 

We mainly relied on farmers to show us where there were cave entrances. Many were 

descended during the course of the expedition, some only dropping a few tens of metres, 

others going a reasonable distance. 

Lou Chi Ao Kou (Xia) 

Towards the end of the expedition, our landlord 

told us about a number of cave entrances on 

his land. He didn't think we would be interested 

as they were so small, but a couple of them 

had draughts of warm air coming out. This 

grabbed our attention and we went off with him 

to take a look. 

The first was hidden in woodland in a small 

limestone cone and descended by a couple of 

4m pitches to a small decorated chamber with 

no way on large enough to make progress. 

The second however was more promising. Lou 

Chi Ao Kou had two entrances with draughts. 

One (Lou Chi Ao Kou Shang) in chossy rock, 

the other (Lou Chi Ao Kou Xia) in good 

limestone. The better entrance was soon 

rigged and dropped into a small chamber with 

two ways on, a high level and a low level 

crawl. 

While Erin and Duncan surveyed the high level 

route I had a look at the low level crawl. This 

soon led into another chamber with a rift 

heading off and a small stream running on the 

bottom. Bridging across the rift I made 

progress past many of the common cave 

crickets and one of the not so common, but 

large and venomous red and black centipedes 

you sometimes find underground in China. 

This gave the name Long Leggedy Thing to 

the passage. 

Entrance to Sui Lin Ao Kou with person for scale. 

The rift continued till eventually a narrow pitch Photo: Jenny Drake 

head was reached. After surveying this passage we returned to the surface. 

The next trip dropped three pitches of 8, 8 and 4m. This cave had the highest entrance yet 

explored and was close to the deep potholes of Qikeng Dong and Da Keng. We expected it 

to gain depth quickly, but its character was totally different, with long winding rift passages, 

small pitches and small chambers, following a small stream. The lack of deep pitches got to 

us and one drop was named “The 260” after its awesome, vertigo inducing, 260 centimetre 

height. 



On the last day of caving the passage entered the side of a larger passage, 3m high by 10 

wide, disappearing into the distance in each direction. This cave has the potential to be the 

deepest in China and its further exploration became one of the main aims for the 2004 

expedition. 

Dong Ba Derig 

At the start of the expedition the team rigged the cave of Dong Ba in the hope of pushing a 

number of leads left over from the 2002 expedition and hopefully linking it to Qikeng Dong. A 

camp was set up at the base of the pitches, but was abandoned when the water level started 

to rise. The campsite had been a dry idyllic spot in 2002, but the change in the water table 

bought about by the new dam in the valley had left it muddy and flood-prone. In addition the 

entrance pitches can take a considerable amount of water in flood and there are a series of 

ducks after the first two pitches that regularly sump to the roof. 

During the rest of September and October there was never a long enough spell of good 

weather where we felt happy to risk another camp down this cave, so we reached the end 

and the need to pull out the camp equipment and the 800m or so of rope on the pitches. 

This was done in two long trips, the first taking fifteen and the second eleven hours. 

For several months after I found prussiking in the Dales and Peak District a breeze as the 

pitches always seemed to be so short and so few in comparison. The last day was spent 

washing and inspecting the pile of rope and packing all the gear for the trip out. We finally 

finished at 2.30am, ready for a 06.30 start loading the bus. 

The Long Trip Home 

Travelling across China by bus and train with four people and forty nine tackle sacks, 

rucksacks and so on was an adventure in itself. This quantity of luggage exceeds anyone's 

definition of a reasonable amount for four. After much negotiation and arguments with 

officials, broken trolley wheels, mad dashes to bus and train stations, etc we traveled the 

700 miles or so from Tian Xing to Guilin where Erin and Duncan are based. The highlight of 

the trip was a twenty five hour long sleeper train. Lying in your pit and watching China slowly 

roll by is definitely the way to travel. Each carriage had its own guard and there were people 

selling food along the corridors, as well as proper restaurant cars. 

After helping move the gear up the four flights of stairs to Erin and Duncan's apartment Matt 

and I traveled on to Matt's home in Yangshou, an hour's bus ride away. Yangshou is famous 

for the limestone tower karst scenery around it and is a major tourist destination for both 

Chinese and foreign visitors. Despite this and the growth it has seen over recent years the 

town itself is still pretty charming. I spent an extra day there, rather than in Hong Kong as I'd 

planned, cycling, eating out and doing a spot of climbing on one of the limestone towers. 

Finally Matt saw me onto a sleeper coach to Shenzhen. These are relatively expensive, but 

another fine way to travel. A luxury coach, fitted with beds instead of seats. After negotiating 

the early morning Shenzhen rush hour by bus I arrived at the internal border with Hong 

Kong, had my temperature remotely measured by infra red camera for SARS symptoms yet 

again and was soon on a train for Kowloon. 

I spent the day doing tourist stuff around Kowloon and Hong Kong Island before taking the 

bus out to the airport and my evening flight home. 

Tian Xing 2004. What Happened Next! 

Hong Meigui came back to Tian Xing in 2004. I wasn't able to go this time as I had just 

blown all my spare money trekking in India. Lou Chi Ao Kou has been explored further to 



-588m at the top of a large pitch and still has the potential to be the deepest cave in China. It 

is a difficult cave compared with many in the area and the depth has been hard won. Further 

extensions were made to Da Keng and many more new caves were entered and explored. 

For more information on this and other Hong Meigui expeditions visit 

http://www.hongmeigui.net/ 

Regular expedition updates also appear in Descent and group members have presented at 

Hidden Earth. My own pictures from this expedition, including the Da Keng entrance shaft, 

can be seen at http://www.photojenic.co.uk/home-page/china-03.html 

Caption competition 

Send your captions for the picture below to the editor. You never know, you might win a 

prize. 




SECRO Rescue Practice at Hanover Mine, Emmer Green, 

Reading (Richard Vidler) 

Linda Vidler, Adrian Paniwnyk and I attended the SECRO rescue practice in Reading on 

Sunday 8 th October 2006, the venue being a mine located in the undergrowth of an old 

people's home garden. Approximately 25 people attended the rescue practice from clubs 

including Croydon Caving Club, SWCC, Wealden, and several other southern caving clubs. 

The entrance shaft consists of a 40 feet fixed ladder down an old air shaft; the main shaft 

having been filled in and lost. A recent collapse nearby may soon be confirmed as this lost 

shaft. The mine has a high ceiling (approximately 15 feet high), with several large chambers 

connected by roomy passageways. Although the understood purpose for the mine was chalk 

mining, there are many inconsistencies with this theory. For example, much of the mined 

material has been left behind in the mine and dumped. Other areas show shelving around 

the walls, but these are not related to beds of chalk. Considering that the main use of chalk 

was in brick manufacture, the reason for these features remains unknown. 

The practice rescue was split into two sessions; first aid with casualty assessment and pitch 

rigging and hauling. All CCC members were in the casualty assessment section first. We 

had to find two casualties, diagnose their condition, treat them if necessary and finally move 

them to the pitch. Our casualty had an apparent lower spinal injury and a leg fracture, with 

appropriate ketchup and ham acting to give the situation reality. By use of a first aid 

assessment sheet, first aid kit and other miscellaneous items, we stabilised our casualty and 

secured her into a stretcher. We had a caving paramedic overlooking the two groups to 

assess our performance (he thinks she would have survived our efforts) and provide a 

debriefing session after our rescue attempts. He was very positive and we learned a lot from 

this session regarding communication and efficient rescue procedures. 

The second session consisted of the pitch rigging and hauling section. To haul the casualties 

up the pitch, we rigged the tripod over the pitch with a 3 to 1 'Z' rig. This system enables a 

small group of people to lift easily a large weight with very little space at the pitch head. 

During the session we learnt the principles of the 'Z' rig and the art of communicating up and 

down the pitch. 

The debriefing after the practice brought up a number of improvements that could be made, 

but the overall impression was of a successful practice with most participants learning 

something new. At this point I must reiterate one item: don't depend upon other people 

learning these lessons! Although the primary purpose of these lessons is to improve the 

skills within the rescue group, you may need this knowledge yourself at ANY TIME. This 

knowledge could save your own life or your friend's life whilst waiting for CRO to arrive! [So 

true. I was once hauled out of Bar Pot by CRO with a hauling rig that my fellow cavers had 

rigged. Ed.]

Adrian's Explorations (Adrian Paniwnyk)

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