Caving at Dan yr Ogof

After arriving in drizzle on Friday night, as Karen and I had decided to camp, we put up my old Vango Hurricane Alpha tent on the camping spot opposite the row of old quarry workers cottages which form the South Wales Caving Club hut at Penwyllt.
We got sleeping bags and mats sorted then went in the hut to meet Boyd a few SWCC members plus a small contingent of French cavers staying for the week plus Dennis the Belgian caver.
In the morning we discovered that the sausages for breakfast were left at home and Karen managed to get the last packet of the same type of sausages at the small Spar supermarket in Pen y Cae back down the road away from Dan yr Ogof.
After breakfast the three of us: me, Karen and Boyd, drove to Dan yr Ogof car park and after checking with the show cave staff to see if a trip was possible after the recent wet weather, we got changed and headed in at 11:15 to the end of the show cave passing many tourists both on their way in and out. I've never seem the show cave and associated buildings so busy before!
We made our way past the cavers-only fence and were soon enjoying the cold water as we edged along the two Lakes Three and Four then along easy walking passages until we reached the slightly awkward climb up where some rocks bridged the passage 3 metres off the floor near some flowstone.
All to soon we were making our way along the Long Crawl and then down the ladder at the end down into Gerald Platten's Hall.
We edged our way around part of the Crystal Pool while hanging off the in-situ traverse line and wandered down Flabergasm Oxbow looking at all the wonderful straws and the small helectites decorating the ceiling and walls.
After reaching the end of Flabergsam Oxbow, we returned to the traverse past Crystal Pool and then followed the route through large and quite often well decorated passages until we reached Cloud Chamber and Monk Hall.
We had a good look at all the long and amazing straws in Cloud Chamber with Karen taking loads of photos and then made our way to the awkward climb leading to the Green Canal.
Boyd climbed up on the right making use of two blocks on the floor which made gaining a large hand-hold easier while I was going to try the route I had always used on the left. Meanwhile Karen popped underneath the section of wall and scrambled up through a gap between boulders and then through a small gap between two boulders to join Boyd.
I tried to follow but couldn't immediately fit through the gap between the boulders. Since we had already decided to stop once we had reached the Green Canal, I didn't bother with further struggling to get through the gap and clambered back down and had a Mars bar while Boyd and Karen had a quick look at nearby Hangar Passage.
Once they had returned, the three of us made our way back and were soon back at the ladder leading up to the Long Crawl. The short clamber from the top of the ladder looked a bit awkward to climb back up even though it was equipped with an in-situ handline. I waited until Karen had climbed up and was going to ask her to maybe give me a push through the small bit to help when I popped through easily after finding a higher foothold.
We were soon making our way back through the Long Crawl with me in front going fairly slowly. As the tightest and most awkward part is near the end on the way in, it is therefore at the start on the way out, the Long Crawl always seems a lot quicker on the way out!
Soon the flat-out wet section in the Cattle Tough announced the end of the Long Crawl and we were back in easy passage again.
After having a look at one or two side passages we had passed on the way in, we were soon back at the Lakes and making our way through deep water. All that was left was to pass back through the show cave and we were back on the surface at just after 14:00.
After getting changed, we decided we had done enough to earn a piece of chocolate cake in the coffee shop!