Wales II
Ben Richards, James Perry, Chris Hayes, Thurston Blount, Lamya Adam, Lair Hanzen, Rian Austin, Serita Chan, Ling Jin, Abiola Abidoye, Nawaf Alamro, Maria Maiorova, Zachary Lim, Kyan Cox, Dominic George Staines, Tymon Bakalarz
Friday
A rapid getaway from stores. Canoe chaos, they had two minibuses loaded with freshers, 12 other vehicles meeting them later and all were staying in the tiniest Imperial hut during. Oh, and all this during Storm Boelo.
One petrol station later and Thurston jumped out to fill up the minibus with engine oil. A can of radler detonated at this exact moment.
“I accidentally lubricated the entire engine”
- Thurston
We went to an exciting new Sainsburys that turned out to be the McDonalds one. I successfully lobbied Lamya to purchase an enormous pumpkin.
Halfway towards Wales we bumped into Perry, in the carpark of the enablement centre.
Darude sandstorm was forgotten on the bridge, but to make up for this Thurston blasted Duel of the Fates at full volume as we barelled down the Heads of the Valleys.
We received a WhatsApp saying that a telegraph pole had caught fire near the hut and that all electricity was down. Apparently, the fire brigade did not bother to put this out and instead watched and roasted marshmallows. We arrived at the hut to zero power and had a catch-up with those who had arrived via coach and Chris before heading to bed. just as I was going to bed in the early hours of the morning, the lights in the bunk rooms all blasted on. rudley informing us that the power had thankfully returned.
Ben
Saturday
OFD II; "Wet Not Miserable": Thurston Blount, Lamya Adam, Serita Chan, Abiola Abidoye, Tymon Bakalarz
A classic tour of OFD II via Edward's shortcut, frozen river and goodness knows what else.
OFD II; "I Like Wet: James Perry, Chris Hayes, Lair Hanzen, Ling Jin, Maria Maiorova, Dominic George Staines
A classic tour of OFD II via the mini columns, Edward's Shortcut, and a quick visit to Maypole Inlet - although not as far as the main streamway given the high water levels.
OFD II; "Paparazzi": Ben Richards, Rian Austin, Nawaf Alamro, Zachary Lim, Kyan Cox
The weather was, err, how to say, not ideal. A raging storm outside meant that the forecast showed 100% rain until 9pm. This did not disappointment. I was not woken up for breakfast thankfully. Once again no eggy bread under the tyranical rule of Lamya. Thurston made new shiny trip guides bound with cord. These were very good.
I assembled a crack team and handed out bothy bags so that we could walk through the howling storm. The horizontal rain and relentless wind were quite a faff with the bothy bags, but successfully we reached the entrance with them and managed to make it into the cave in one piece.
Once in the cave, we only got slightly lost in the brickyard and then continued on down the corkscrew and down Salubrious Streamway. I did not want to do Edward's shortcut, as I knew it would be a massive faff with rigging ropes now that it has bolted, and therefore we zoomed past the Judge, Swamp Creek, and the Trident before stopping for a lights-out session and snacks in Selenite Tunnel, followed by the first of many photo sessions of that day. These turned out quite well.
After this, we continued on past Shattered Pillar and onwards to meet the others who were coming out of Edward's shortcut on their way in from the other side. After exchanging greetings, we then went to the frozen river, then back, taking photos by Shatter Pillar as well as the cross rift. After going back up Salubrious Streamway, we popped out of Arett Chamber, took some photos in Big Chamber by the entrance, and then headed back out into the storm to brace the elements.
Finally, we made it back down to the hut. Most of the time was spent staring at our own feet. Thankfully, having a GPS watch, I didn't even have to use my eyes, other than looking 1 m ahead out of the bottom of a bothy bag.
Arriving back at the hut, we found Lamia putting 72 eggs into a pot of tomatoes, and then proceeded to make pumpkin carvings while being serenaded by a banjo for the rest of the evening while I edited some photos. Many people were buffed with the car buffer, including the top of Thurston's bald head. The squeeze machine made an appearance, complete with one individual oiling themself up, and all were merry into the early hours of the morning, playing a prolonged game of contact.
Ben
Sunday
Edward's Shortcut derig + OFD I bimble: Chris Hayes, Lair Hanzen, Zachary Lim
Sunday breakfast was extremely efficient. This was because Lamya thought that she had only overslept by 40 mins, but that actually because of the clocks going back she had overslept by 1 hr 40 mins.
A rapid derigging of Edward's shortcut followed by them running down to join the OFD I photo crew just in time to get some snaps.
OFD I Step + Powel's Trip of a Lifetime: Ben Richards, Thurston Blount, Serita Chan, Nawaf Alamro, Kyan Cox
After the heavy drenching the day before and the long trips underground on Saturday, not everybody was up for a caving trip on Sunday. Some people stayed back at the hut, and others went for a hike over the mountain, given the weather was now very lovely. However, a crack squad returned to venture with Thurston and I to once again venture into the OFD system.
This time, we decided to go to OFD1, a cave further down the valley, as it was very easy and would be a good opportunity for me to get some photos. Wandering down under the brilliant blue sky, it was hard to remember the horrible storm of the previous day.
Getting into the cave, we zoomed through the walking passages, passed countless pretties, and took a look at the main streamway at the step. It was indeed a lot higher, at about 1 m level, based on the graphs, but significantly lower than the 2.5 m it had reached the day before with the huge storm.
On the way out, we took some good photos of the various tunnels and tubes, as well as going completely mad and taking all series of crazy photos at Pluto's Bath, including:
- Chris fishing Thurston out of the water with a carabiner
- Thurston carrying Kyan over Pluto's Bath on his shoulders
- Thurston jumping into Pluto's Bath in a variety of different ways
A mandatory trip of a lifetime to Powell's Cave on the way back and another viewing of the legendary charred electricity pole topped off a lovely quick Sunday trip that was so ridiculously efficient that we arrived back at the hut at not even 3 pm, giving us all time to faff around to our heart's content. I managed to wash my kit, and the others managed to eat some toast before Lamya cracked the whip and we all cleaned up the hut, ready to head back to London.
I am not a handbrake
- Lamya, 2026
On the way back home, Dylan and Thomas phoned to say they've broken down on their Kyaking trip. Apparently the clutch snapped and they're stuck in Shrewbury, with all their boats on the roof. Should have gone caving.
I pursuaded Thurston not to crash just to hit the Bella Ciao timings on our return. He did a fantastic job - perhaps the best Bella Ciao timing I've ever seen.
A fantastic weekend: good vibes, good people, mixed weather, fantastic caving, fantastic photos, great pumpkins. Bring on Yorkshire!
