The Grand Circle in “Aggy” is a “must do” for caving enthusiasts. Soon after getting underground you set off down a very long streamway that is never difficult but very definitely never easy either. Progress involves scrambling over and under boulders, climbing down the occasional waterfall, sploshing through water in some short sections, traversing up in the air in others, and it goes on for a long time. Eventually you follow a slightly confusing route along different passages, still with opportunities for sky diving here and there, until you reach a major underground stream. You set off up this, wading in the water, relieved at last to be able to walk rather than clamber, but your relief is not well-founded. The stony bed of the stream is extraordinarily slippery and I would challenge anyone to complete the journey to the next obstacle without falling over a few times.
The said next obstacle looks most distressing if being up to your neck, or beyond, in very cold water does not appeal. It is a wide, deep pool with, on its far side, a waterfall over an alarming overhang that is going to have to be climbed. Within the pool, however, lies a happy surprise. For those in the know, if you walk beside the wall to your left you discover a hidden ledge a few feet below the surface of the water, and there are handholds in abundance on the wall. When you have shuffled along almost to the waterfall you discover a neat set of holds that you can climb beside the fall. Beyond there, progress gets easier as the streambed is less slippery and the only snag is a short, narrow section where you really do have to swim unless you are very good at traversing on smooth walls. There are still more passages to follow, and one or two slightly alarming climbs, before you find you are back close to the cave entrance.
The Grand Circle is the biggest of three round trips you can do in Agen Allwedd and, quite apart from the fun of every part of the journey, it is satisfying to know you have found the way – even if, as on this occasion, there were some erroneous excursions and backtracking on the way round that I avoided mentioning until now. If you pop out of the entrance gate into the wide world within eight hours of when you first entered it, your performance has not been amiss. Our team passed the test.
Not that I was there, actually. The forgoing description is based on what was reported to me that evening, together with my experience of doing the same trip with a GOC group a few months ago. I was with party number two in Ogof Draenen, which was not discovered until 1994 in a mountain that was believed to contain none, and is now Britain’s second most extensive cave. Our aim was a modest one, in such a vast network of passages – to find our way to the curiously-named “Hearts of Olden Glory” and a bit beyond.
The first few minutes in Ogof Draenen have their damp moments. Very soon after getting underground we crawled more-or-less flat out in a passage carrying a small stream. When the stream disappeared down a wide crack that we needed to descend, all appeared at first to be well, as the crack is wide enough to squeeze down beside the water rather than in it. Regrettably, once you are into the crack you discover that the way on leads from the other side of the waterfall. Your only option is to crawl through it.
Before long, though, we were in high, roomy passages. There was no need for lengthy crawling for the rest of the trip but an occasional boulder choke had to be crawled through. The most wearing thing was clambering over and around long stretches of slippery boulders. Gilwern Passage was on our route. It is half a mile in length and probably split roughly evenly into bouldery sections and stretches of easier walking. It is followed by a tight squeeze into another passage where, for a long section, we waded and slithered along a mud-and-water-filled channel in the mud floor, to avoid damaging precious formations. But, of course, that was a reason to be there – to see the formations. They do not compare in quantity to what you might see in a French show cave, but some of the ones that are there are splendid. As remarkable as the visual attractions of the cave were the auditory ones towards the far end of our trip, where something about the shape of the passage or the smoothness of its walls makes it generate long and loud echoes. Well, you know what happens when people find echoes. We made hooting noises, clapped our hands, and ventured briefly into song.
Then we calmed down and scrambled, shuffled, and grovelled our way back to the surface.
