About a month ago, I and three others did a through trip in OFD, in which we came out of the Cwm Dwr entrance. I was at the rear of the team as we crawled our way through the challenging restricted section known as Dim Dwr. The three in front had passed through pushing cobbles towards its exit and when it came for me to pass through I was faced with a wall of cobbles. Unable to crawl over, or push them ahead I resorted to screaming for help until one of the team finally came back and dug out enough at their end so I could push the remaining cobbles out of the way to exit. Would be fair to say ..read more

Digging team: Luke Ashton, Andy Freem, Antonia Freem, Duncan Hornby, Peter Kokelaar, Gareth Smith & Claire Vivian Other contributors: Val Bednar, Alun Freem, Piers Hallihan, Paul Tarrent & Phill Thomas Photos by: Andy Freem, Antonia Freem, Duncan Hornby & Claire Vivian Llethryd Swallet is a cave found on the Gower peninsula that takes an active stream and became blocked in 2003. A team has been working on gaining access into the system for the last 3 years. Initial attempts focussed on an alternate way in, which became known as Barns Cave and is documented in an earlier blog. Al ..read more

Team: Duncan Hornby, Simon Lowis, David Mullin, Claire Vivian, Clive Westlake, Tomasz Zalewski Dates: 28th August 2021 Passage in Little Neath River Cave. Photo by Tomasz Zalewski. So the 28th August 2021 was a big day for SWCC, it was the 75th anniversary celebrations. With many friends meeting for the first time in probably over a year there was much caving to be done before the hog roast and Brian’s shiny cock award... Brian's long service award, conceived by the late Chris Grimmett. Photo by Graham Christian. Whilst many ventured into OFD a few of us took advant ..read more

Team: Lisa Boore, John Roe and Claire Vivian  Trip Date: December 2020 Like me, you will undoubtedly all have walked past this hole at some point when you've visited OFD2. It is on the left between the mini traverses behind Big Chamber and the passages in to upper Arete Chamber, so really near the entrance to OFD2.   The pitch, just around the corner from Big Chamber  With our evening trips we have been looking at going to areas in OFD none of us have been to before and connecting places via unusual routes. Having seen this pitch, but never been down it, this fitted the bi ..read more

Team: Duncan Hornby & Claire Vivian Trip date: 4/5/21 & 6/5/21 So... I've finally reached the big 5 'O! Tradition dictates getting friends, family and all my caving chums together for a big party. Unfortunately for me, COVID stomped on that idea and although lockdown restrictions have eased up, there is no way I would be allowed to party with my friends... ? Thankfully Claire came to the rescue, saved me from a lonely birthday and dragged me underground (to be fair I didn't need much persuasion). Over 2 days last week we visited 3 caves on the Mendips. So by way of kick starting t ..read more

Here's Caver Keith's traditional annual caving roundup video. It contains some previously unseen footage. It’s not been the most prolific year for the studios in terms of videos completed, but it has been a very good year in other ways. Keith's completed a couple of commissions, gone back to his roots, won a prize and an award, completed a behind the scenes video which had been in the planning stage for a couple of years and got his best ever viewing figures on YouTube with over 10 million caving video views in 2019 ..read more

Team: Chloe Francis, Duncan Hornby, Tim lewingdon, Helen Stewart & Claire Vivian Trip date: 25/1/20 A few years ago Claire and I had the privilege of supporting a Freem filming trip beyond the sky hook at the top of Midnight Passage. It was quite an adventure and a part of the cave system I had certainly not visited before. Last weekend a team of 5 got together to have a crack at the same route and hopefully lay down the foundation for future exploration in that part of the system. Helen, Tim and Claire had all passed through this section of the system on alternative routes but only Cla ..read more

With a record breaking 30 people to arrange trips for, this weekend was a huge one. We had 18 people completely new to caving and 11 who were within their first year of starting caving with SWCC. Meeting bright and early on Saturday morning to kick the weekend off. 8 separate trips took place on Saturday to different parts of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu. With the streamway high, all trips stayed away from the water but with over 35 miles of cave to explore, there was still plenty for them to do. Tomasz, Luke, Bev, Bob and Judit raring to go. Emily, Antonia, Bill, Josh and Malcolm ..read more

Team: Tash Brudenall, Jess Burkey, Keith Edwards, Jane Sarginson, Claire Vivian. Now where do cavers go when they aren't caving? I bet that's the question you are all asking yourselves. The answer for us at least is Alton Towers on the wetest day of the year so far! Fast and thrilling rides with the added fun of painful rain hitting you in the face as you zip through the air from 0-100kmph in 2.5 seconds on one ride. We only made the mistake of sitting in the front row in the heavy rain on one ride - and feeling like we'd been through a pressure washer afterwards. What rain? This is Alton T ..read more

Team: Chloe Francis, Duncan Hornby, Stephen Johnson, George Linnane, Sanita Lustika, James Meredith, Paul Meredith, Helen Stewart, Phil Thomas, Claire Vivian, Hwyel Protheroe-Jones Dates: 18-20th October 2019. Authors: Chloe Francis, Duncan Hornby & Claire Vivian Sludge Pit Hole team in a part of Main Rift passage. On arriving at the MNRC hut we were greeted by the hut warden, David. We were able to obtain a variety of keys which gave us the opportunity to pick and choose our trips. Then for some, it was an obligatory visit to the Hunters Lodge! A sneaky shot of Chloe ..read more