Ogof Fynnon Ddu, South Wales

After and extra hour in bed because the clocks went back last night, we were up at around 8:00am and had breakfast. Karen, Keith myself and Jess drove up to Penwyllt while Boyd, Dave, Robert, Phil and Holly also drove up. Our party planned on a quick trip to the Trident and the Judge via Salubrious Passage while the others also planned the same destination via Edwards Shortcut and Selenite Tunnel. I headed up to the entrance with the key and had trouble getting it into the lock but after a few minutes trying, managed to unlock the gate. It was only just after 10:30 am - unheard of earliness for OCC! It was cloudy with some light rain as we had arrived at Penwyllt but had stopped raining as we got changed.
We headed into the cave and all met at the top of Gnome Passage and Dave and Boyd took some photos with Keith as a subject as we waited. After this our group headed down past the Wedding Cake and Corkscrew Squeeze down to Salubrious Passage. Soon we were at the Trident and Judge and decided we might as well have a look at Maypole Inlet so head via The Cross Road to the 4 way junction (President's Downfall I think it has been nicknamed after a SWCC Committee Member had a bit of a mishap there). We turned around and headed back towards the surface and had a quick breather at the climb up from Salubrious Passage and then headed for the surface. We met a party of 3 including Ben Stevens of SUSS/SWCC who I had chatted to earlier in Penwyllt Common Room as Boyd was show the others where they had been, during yesterday's trip, on the survey. We were back at the surface just a few minutes after midday after just over an hour and a half underground! There were patches of blue sky and a weak sun trying to get through the remaining cloud. We got changed, I had a shower, and we returned to the bunkhouse to collect our stuff and after saying goodbye to Jenny, who had spent the time working on her laptop, we headed for home arriving some 4 hours later at 5:15pm.

Pwll Dwfn, South Wales

Karen and I drove down to South Wales giving Jess E. a lift to arrive last night at Crai Bunkhouse. Boyd and Jenny were there along with Phil W., his niece Holly and his friend Robert. In the morning we waited for Keith S., Dave P. and James H. to arrive after we had cooked and eaten breakfast. Karen spotted a red deer stag on the horizon on high ground behind the bunkhouse and if you went outside, you could hear it roaring.
They all arrived by 10:00 am and Dave, Keith, Karen and I drove to Dan yr Ogof car park while Jenny went to the coast to go birdwatching and the rest joined Boyd for a trip into OFD via OFD1 and Cwm Dwr. We had seen a notice at the camp site car park entrance addressed to "Walkers" saying you must register at the show cave ticket office before parking or pay a fine, so we drove over to the show cave car park to check on whether we needed to register. The guy at the ticket office said we just had to go to the coffee shop and ask for a red dragon for each car and display these in the front window. The girls in the coffee shop wrote out camp site tickets and charged £3 per car... and no dragons! Anyway we went back to park at the camp site and we displayed the Welsh flag Karen hand copied and laminated in my car and the camp site tickets in both cars.
We changed into caving gear and walked up to Pwll Dwfn. Once at the entrance, Keith went in first so that he could do the SRT rigging followed by Dave, Karen and myself. As Dave dropped down the entrance two ponies, which had been grazing nearby, came over to investigate and then wandered off! We heard Keith saying that the pitches were already rigged, which seemed strange as it was only just 11:30 in the morning and we saw no other cars parked in the car park. Karen helped me down by placing my feet on footholds on the wall but by using these, I couldn't get down because my legs were too long and Karen used her hand to support a foot while I tried again with no luck. I had no trouble in the past and couldn't understand why I was having problems now until I stood on her back as she stooped and I just slipped through! That's what the problem was - on previous visits I had just poked my legs through and slid down the small slab and was soon standing on a boulder some 6 feet below.
Anyway, we followed Keith and Dave on downwards into the cave. At the third pitch we found the other party's rope was coiled at the top of the pitch so they were obviously not in the cave so perhaps were digging. Soon we all were at the bottom of the last pitch where there was a small diving bottle and some small items of gear and scaffolding and other gear at the sump. So somebody was digging down there and had left their ropes.
After having a look at the sump, which was very low, and the fossils in the wall at the bottom of the pitch, we started heading out with me in front. Karen and I waited for a tackle bag to be passed through (there had been one for each of us on the way down) and once one had arrived, I headed for the surface. At the entrance I poked the tackle bag up through the hole and took off my small personal bag and did the same with that. I then stood on the boulder and poked both arms and head and chest through the hole and stood on a cup-shaped foothold on the wall behind and stood on that leg. I then walked both feet up the wall behind and just slid up the slab and was soon up. It had just gone about 10 past three (so we had been about three and half hours underground). I waited for Karen to arrive and suggested she did the same and she also was soon up. We waited for Dave to arrive and then passed the remaining gear out and I chucked them onto the grass behind me.
We walked back to the car and got changed. It had been overcast all day and luckily just as we had finished changing light rain started to fall. We relocated the cars to the show cave car park and went into the cafe for some cakes and coffee or tea. Afterwards we returned to the bunkhouse for more tea and wait until 7:00 pm before driving to "The Lion" up the road in Deffynog which Boyd had rung up during the day to book a meal for us (except Robert, Holly and Phil who ate at the Bunkhouse). The food was good and very reasonably priced. Afterwards we had a few drinks and returned to the Bunkhouse and eventually went to be just before 11:00 pm.

Circular Walk from Hartington

The two of us decided to have a walk along a route we've done before which is from the Peak District village Hartington to Pilsbury Castle and back in a circular route.

Trip to Dublin

The day started drizzly and after the latest breakfast of the holiday, at 9am, we stayed int our room until 11am then went downstairs and checked out. We left our two large bags at the hotel and then got a "hop-on-Hop-off" tour bus for a tour around the city. Not long after the tour started, the drizzle stopped and we drove around various sights in the city with the driver giving information on the locations and cracking the occasional joke "This is d'Olier Street, named after the guy who had invented ceiling lights Sean d'Olier - you may have also heard of his Italian relation Gond d'Olier..." After doing most of the tour (you could gate on or off any of the many tour buses which run every 10 minutes after paying for a single ticket of 15 Euros for a 24 hour period) where people were getting off at the Guinness Brewery and other places, we got off at "Dublinia" at Christ Church Cathedral (Church of Ireland) were we visited a "Dublin at the Time of the Vikings" exhibition and also the Cathedral. We then walked back via Moore Street Market (Fruit and Vegetable) and got back to the hotel. We had a coffee in the bar and after collecting our bags, we got a non-top bus for 6 Euros each to the airport.

Trip to Dublin

Karen wanted to visit the National Botanical Gardens in Glasnevin so we had breakfast at the hotel then got a bus to the Gardens. Even though the Gardens weren't at their best at this time of years, there were several large greenhouses including a reasonable imitation of a rain forest with humid heat and fine spray from nozzles high in the roof! We had a good walk around the various parts of the Gardens and were amused by the very tame squirrels scampering around who would come right up to an outstretched hand to investigate. After lunch in the very well-stocked cafeteria, we visited remaining parts of the Gardens then got a bus back to the hotel.

We spent a couple of hours snoozing or reading or watching the television in our room and then in the evening headed towards the Temple Bar area at around 8pm again searching for Traditional Music. We found the Temple Bar area very lively with crowds thronging among the many pubs and restaurants and clubs. We found a leaflet in the hotel advertising a pub crawl around music pubs which started at a particular pub: "The Oliver St. John Gogarty". When we found this pub, there was a sign saying "Traditional Music" on the first floor and no mention of cover fees or anything so we headed up. We found a large bar with a noisy crowd and a band playing with a guitarist/lead singer, a banjo player, an older accordion played (whose photo was on the wall behind them) and they were playing really well especially the banjo player who was fantastic. So we bought some Guinness and stayed until the finished the first half which stopped at 11pm and the band which had been playing started packing up. we bought 2 CDs they were offering for sale. There was a break for half an hour then another lot would start playing until 2:40am, and we headed back to the hotel.

Trip to Dublin

After breakfast it was luckily a nice sunny day and we again walked down O'Connell Street past Trinity College and had a coffee in Bewley's in Grafton street. We continued on via Merrion Square and reached the National Museum. We spent several hours there seeing the many interestinf exhibits of archaeological items including beautiful gold ornaments such as Torcs, etc.
In the evening we went to The Altringham Hotel next to the river which advertised Traditional Irish Music and Dancing with 3 Course Meal for 28.50 Euros each... We turned up just before 8pm as booked and as the band started setting up I thought this might not be very good as there were two guitars and an accordion but then there was a bass guitar! The band could play but it wasn't a typical "session" type of playing. After playing several songs the singer/guitarist told lame jokes in between then spent ages mentioning various countries and getting anyone from the country to shout out. By now we had had enough and headed back towards the hotel but checked for any pubs really playing traditional music on the way down nearby streets, but didn't find any.

Trip to Dublin

We drove to Manchester Airport in the morning and arrived in Dublin in early evening. Got a taxi from the airport to the hotel, Cassidy's Hotel on Upper O'Connell Street opposite the Gate Theatre. After dropping bags into our room we walked short way down O'Connell Street for a pizza and then later on had a wall around the area as far as O'Connell Bridge.

Walk on Stanton Moor

Karen had BCA and OCC 60th Anniversary Document to do plus the weather forecast wasn't very good so she stayed at home while I headed towards Birchover and onto Stanton Moor. I followed a path leading past the Reform Tower and on to the Nine Ladies Stone Circle. After some photos I headed via the trig point towards the small quarry near the Cork Stone and had some tea from my flask.
Afterwards I followed the path down to Birchover popping out opposite the Druid Inn. I decided to have a look around Rowtor Rocks behind the pub and had my lunch of cheese and pickle sandwiches there. This ia a curious place with all sorts of carvings and even hollowed-out boulders made into rooms. Following the path past the Old Vicarage and near Rocking Stone Farm I then headed down to the road and followed the track up to Robin Hood's Stride where I clambered up to sit in a sheltered spot at the foot of one of the large upright blocks at the top. While finishing off my flask of tea I watched a bank of drizzle move in and then headed back down the track to the road and retraced my way back up the path from the road to a junction with another path which I then followed towards Birchover.




There was a ruined building of some sort with on gable wall made from a large upright boulder which had inscriptions from the 18th and 19th centuries. I followed the path until I reach Birchover Lane and then followed Clough Lane back to where I had previously joined the lane and back into the fields leading back to the footpath bringing you into Main Street in Winster opposite home.

Short walk near Winster

Karen and I headed towards Birchover intending to drop down into Clough Wood for a circular walk but I was wearing an old pair of boots (Karrimor KSBS) to try them out and found them very uncomfortable - which is probably why I hadn't worn them for years! So we headed back fro home via Birchover Lane thus shortening the intended walk.

Exmoor

Another sunny, warm day. After breakfast at the hotel we packed up and got sandwiches for lunch at the small supermarket in Lynton and drove to park near a ford in Horner Woods. We followed the stream always keeping an eye out for red deer (or any other deer) but saw none. After a lunch break at a small bridge we followed a road uphill for a short way and then a gradually-rising path leading to the top of one side of the valley and then with wide-spreading views back to the ford and the car.

Exmoor

Another sunny, warm day. We had a nice circular walk to the Hoar Oak along Cheriton Ridge which is a very wide grassy slope and after lunch at the Oak and watching a hunt go by (on horseback), returned via the Hoar Oak Water at the valley bottom back to where we had parked.

Exmoor

Another sunny, warm day. We walked via the Sparrow Walk along one side of the East Lyn to have lunch at the National Trust centre at Watersmeet. This is a good spot to see birds as they all try and swoop in and gather crumbs and leftovers from tables in the garden! Afterwards we returned along the opposite side of the valley. In the evening we had a nice meal in The Green House restaurant.

Exmoor

The two of us drove down to Lynton in Karen's car arriving at the North Cliff Hotel in the afternoon. Right next to the hotel is the Cliff Railway which is really interesting as it uses gravity to move the railcar up and down the steep rails connecting Lynmouth and Lynton which are separated by quite a difference in height. After unloading the car we walked in the sunshine along the coast path to the Valley of the Rocks and then followed past the cricket pitch and the grassy car park where there were a large number of goats and a few ponies grazing. We followed the road back to Lynton and after some tea at a cafe, returned to the hotel.
In the evening we drove the short distance down to nearby Lynmouth and had a meal at The Rising Sun.

Kinder Scout, Peak District

Karen was in Rugby for until tomorrow morning and despite the forecast of rain, I decided to go walking on Kinder Scout. I originally intended to start from Edale car park (really Grindsbrook Booth as "Edale" is the name of the valley). I arrived there just after 9:30 in the morning and found it was now £5 to park and I didn't have the right change as I expected it to be £3.50. So I moved further up the valley near Barber Booth and parked in the large lay-by - which is free!
After parking and putting my boots on, I headed up the road and left it just after a small bridge through a small gate. This led to a footpath next to the stream and through some fields to arrive in Crowden Valley. Continuing along Crowden Brook I kept near the water and could see plenty of signs of recent high water levels where gravel and sand had been swept along by the brook and parts of the path had been damaged.
Reaching the head of Crowden Brook, I climbed the short but enjoyable scramble on gritstone and popped out in the Kinder plateau. Now, despite the forecast for rain, it was misty and windy with
occasional light rain and the boggy bits were very boggy so I followed the edge of the plateau where the going was firmer until I passed through the collection of gritstone boulders known as "The Woolpacks" which have been worn by the weather into a huge variety of sizes and shapes. Not long after this I left the plateau edge and headed fro the large gritstone outcrop known as "Edale Rocks" and stopped to have lunch.
After lunch, I dropped back down from Edale Rocks and headed down the path to intersect with "Jacob's Ladder" which is the usual route from Edale via the Pennine Way long-distance footpath. Following down Jacob's Ladder I was passed by several people pushing and carrying mountain bikes, which didn't look like much fun, and dropped below the mist and wind and after crossing the old packhorse bridge, followed the path until I reach the narrow road back to where I parked the car.