Trip date: 15th - 16th August 2026
It's been a while since any club member blogged about a trip or something club\cave related. So here is a short blog of adventures from another valley! With yet another heat wave cooking us it seemed appropriate to head underground to cool off. This time based at CSS Whitewalls, Claire and I decided to try out two trips I had yet to do: Ogof Draenen via Ogof Tarddiad Pwll Du and the North West inlet in Craig a Ffynnon.
Ogof Draenen via Ogof Tarddiad Pwll Du
Since Caving Wales obtained access to this alternative entrance to Ogof Draenen I’ve been itching to give it a go. Import advice on how to access the cave is provided in this very useful visitors guide, although the “obvious” tracks were a lot harder to find when the bracken was 2m tall, but we did eventually find it!
Our primary objective was simply to find the entrance and get in it, with that achieved we explored a tiny section of Draenen (turns out we had gone completely wrong with route finding) and our secondary objective was to try and find the traditional gated entrance and exit via that making it a nifty through trip. We spent about 5 hours underground but if you know the route and were simply heading for the exit I can’t imagine it would be much more than 3 hours.
So here are a few photos taken along the journey.
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| The finger post pointing the way on and the obvious track to a style… |
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| Within the entrance series in Ogof Tarddiad. |
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| One of two ladders that needed negotiating. |
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| Flies cemetery with the freaky human shaped stal in the distance, or was it a Weeping Angel? |
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| Claire deliberately found the hardest way on into Pen-y-Galchen passage, and no I did not follow! |
After exploring Flies cemetery and a section of the Pen-y-galchen passage we entered the more familiar parts of Draenen.
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| Impressive cracked mud floor, Draenen. |
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| We were aiming for Gilwern Passage but took the wrong turning and started heading downstream into what we now believe was the main stream. Some nice formations on the way. |
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| Two happy moles, me especially as I had forgotten what a tight squeeze there is coming out. |
North West inlet in Craig a Ffynnon
The entrance is usually a very uninviting cold dip which I’ve always given it a miss thinking I must do that one day… With low water levels the inlet is significantly less miserable and the way on leads to some surprisingly large passages and nice formations. The trip took about 2 hours in and out, with plenty of photo stops.
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| Craig a fyynnon entrance - one has to walk under this huge boulder to enter the cave, and seriously nothing seems to be holding it up! |
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| Claire at the entrance of North West Inlet. On our way back out we saw tide marks that suggest this can sump. |
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| Narrow section before you enter the big stuff. I suspect in wet conditions this is significantly deeper? |
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| What's not to love about Craig a ffynnon mud? |
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| Duncan next to some nice flow stone. |
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| Claire at some formations. |
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| Impressive straws at the far end. |
Finally a short video of Claire losing the plot...
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