A game of two halves-

At work I have a list of caves that act as a kind of 'to do' list for trips that I should really get round to doing at some point, so that, when someone says, "do you fancy a cave?" I can reply with, "yeah, shall we go to ....."

On this list is (or was) Pwll Swnd and Lesser Garth Cave.

First half-

On the 18th January both myself and Lee Renney had some time to spare in the afternoon and decided to make of most of the day and head off to the Black Mountain and make the trek over to Pwll Swnd. Getting changed in the car park on the mountain road by the quarry is always a very chilly experience, kind of like a bit of pre-yorkshire changing training! For those who haven't been it is always freezing there and the cave we were heading for is effectively in the arse end of no where and even with a gps is a bit of a pig to find. It involves an hour long walk over a hill and back up another one, then however long it takes routing around various shake holes trying to find the entrance. I must admit though, once you do find it you feel a bit silly as it feels quite obvious all of a sudden!
After kitting up in our SRT gear and getting out our descriptions (and our hopes of undertaking a really good cave trip) we set off in (which was a welcome shelter from the bitter cold outside too).
The initial entrance bit is short and you reach the first pitch without any problems, the problems start when you look down the pitch and see the narrow awkward start and then a tiny hole you have to squeeze through. Rigging was ok, making the most of a good thread and spit. After some contemplation I headed down the pitch, squeezing through the hole to land in a better space, still in good spirits and hope of finding a good cave. Lee came down  using his cows tail with an Italian hitch and seamed to get through the hole better than me. At the bottom of the pitch you have to do a short but shitty crawl, with your gear grinding on the walls, to pop out in a chamber that, despite being called 'main chamber' does not feel very inspiring. By this point I should point out to you two things. 1- neither of us were now feeling partially optimistic about the the quality of the cave and 2- both my self and lee are not really the smallest of cavers and therefore not lovers of tight crawls and squeezes.
So, where is pitch 2? Down a small vertical tube...found it, easy! That was until I tried to get in the tube. I just about got my leg into it before deciding that this was a silly idea as there was no real way of me getting back out of it on return. I tried again, but this time got wedged in at my chest and realised that I couldn't even move, not up, not down, not my legs! Luckily lee was able to grab my arms and lift me vertically out, enough to free my shoulders so I could push out of the hole....we decided this cave was crap and the only thing to do was get out!
Of course though, the way out would involve the horrible crawl and the thrutch through the hole on pitch 1! We set off, moaning and wishing we were petit cavers able to enjoy the small spaces this cave was throwing at us! (i would like to point out also, that whoever put the mettle gate on top of the vertical tube at pitch 2...why did you make it smaller and a different shape to the actual tube??)
The squeeze on the pitch was ok in the end, just slow and a bit painful. We de-rigged and headed for the exit and our chocolate bars...trying to forget about the hour long walk over a hill and over another one after that back to the car to get changed in the freezing foggy evening!
We were, for a short time anyway, excited though that the tea pot cave could be a goof alternative to salvage our shoddy trip into Swnd...if the shake hole I was trying to get into was the right one..that one is also not worth the walk or the time or the effort.
All in all, apart from a nice (ish) walk in all our caving gear, and the fact that I have been able to tick a cave off my list, I can honestly say (and recommend) not to bother going there again.

Second half-

After our dismal trip to Swnd a few weeks earlier we had managed to get some caving spirit back and planned to get a trip into Lesser Garth cave in Taff's Well. Even though this cave is about 5 miles from home I still hadn't been there and Im not really sure why I had put it off for so long.
As this was also another cave on my to do list I was hopeful that this was to be as disappointing as our previous trip to Swnd, and that there was a reason why it should have just stayed on the the to do list!
After trying to make the most of the poor descriptions laid down in the 'caves of south Wales' book which pretty much says, go to a pub, walk up a hill and to the cave which is in the woods (needle in a haystack springs to mind) we headed up the steep woodland, behind the pub to all the places that looked like they may have a cave entrance. The cave is right on the top of the hill and if you reach the top you get to see into the huge quarry which has eaten a monster hole out of the mountain, but remains hidden to the public from most places.
The open gate on the cave leads to a platform over looking the 'main chamber'. Now that is a 'main chamber'! So far we were impressed. The pitches are rigged with good resin p hangers although we also used the spits and natural anchors as we were looking at the cave for bringing groups in using ladders etc. The pitches are great fun, almost text book and would be a great place to look at rescue practice and vertical skills etc. The thing that lets the pitch down is it goes no where!
Down to the main chamber- this is an impressive size and there is some good stal and flow stone on the walls. We were impressed and having fun clambering over the boulders and trying the little challenge squeezes and passages. This would really make a fun trip for a small group of novice cavers....and it's only a few minutes from my house.
After reaching the end and clambering back out, skidding down the steep and slippery slope to the car we reflected on the trip and both agreed that it was a dam sight more successful than the Swnd trip! To top the 'Lesser Garth Cave' off has to be the fact that you park (and therefore end) in a pub! Both my self and Lee were well deserving a pint but I realised that I was wearing grey tracksuit bottoms and a grey tracksuit top...and couldn't be seen dead in a public places dressed like a chav!

So, that was my trip today - Tuesday 31st january 2012...better get this written out and sent to Ben for the newsletter!

Tom Partridge