It was an unordinary weekend in July when 10 of WSG’s finest set off to Caerllwyn for the weekend in search of glory and Caving. Our target: Ogof Agen Allwedd, or to her friends, more commonly known as Aggy.

With England playing in the Euro finals that sunday we were filled with the hopes of achieving the impossible; and so being baited on by our brethren by what must only be considered a right of passage, four of us decided to take on the leviathan that is the Grand Circle.

Our crew were set. Ben Woodhead was to be our captain and navigator. Kiran Crawford was the all-important transport and evident MVP as the day went on. Camille Rantz McDonald, whom this was to be her fourth ever trip underground. Finally myself. I like to think that I also contributed something to the team (I got some blurry photos) but no bards shall sing my tales this day.

The others were to do a much calmer trip through Aggy to the Music Room and had made the deal that they would be In charge of the BBQ upon our return.

With an estimated round trip time of (at least) 7-8 hours we were told to plan for 10 and there was a clenching as our call-out time was set for midnight. But nevertheless we arrived at CSS’ Whitewalls, geared up, and headed off with a lovely 30 minute walk through the Beacons before we got to the gate and got underground.

The Grand Circle, as the name suggests, is a big loop with the singular entrance feeding us in. The trip began simple enough. Spirits were high with the promise of caving, a big bag of snacks for the journey ahead and the idea of a BBQ upon our heroic return. Surely the cave can’t be that long? Surely we’ll smash it out in record time? Must have been some old cavers going really slow…

Initial progress was strong. We made it through Entrance Passage in what to me felt like a record. We swiftly popped up in Baron’s Chamber and began to make our way around the circle clockwise by heading for Main Passage.

After about 20 minutes of scrambling through a ½ height passage it became apparent how grating this section was. Not tall enough to stand tall, boulders and obstacles too large to simply crawl through, it was here that I began to recall the warnings of our compatriots that had done this trip before. It was here too that we realised their gung ho excitement for the trip didn’t match their attendance, as they had both quietly switched to the Music Room expedition at the eleventh hour the night before. Cursing their names (some more loudly than others) we found the Southern Streamway. Any qualms about Camille’s green status were quickly stifled as she glided through the cave. Often taking the lead of the group whilst I had taken to crawling on my belly through the cold stream where possible to act as a reprieve from the aching scrambling.

The next major milestone was reached in the spring of fresh water coming out of the rock. It was earmarked safe to drink in our notes and flagged by a Thunderbirds cup that is left in-situ for weary cavers. Official Merchandise of the cave and perhaps a premonition of the thunderous Euros cup that the boys will hopefully be holding up in less than 24 hours. Refreshing ourselves with the treat of drinking some of Wales’ finest was the offering from the Cave Gods we all needed, helping bring us back to life and get us through the last of the passage.

Up a rope (Camille’s first Cowstails experience) and crawling through a very sandy, rather tight dig that didn’t quite seem like it should be considered finished, we arrived at Synchronicity and were met by two friendly cavers whom we joined for lunch.

Sharing progress and trips for the day, we were quiet when coming to terms with being 4+ hours deep and “a bit less than halfway through the cave”. As I lay on this sandy knoll thinking about my life choices these lads were positively cheery having a mere 3 hours ahead of them on their way home from a kit dump for an upcoming dive. It was at this moment that I personally unlocked the likely-common knowledge that a pork pie is a top tier caving snack and so overall considered this a good break to be had. Finally we were ready to go, Ben shared his pork pies with our new friends and we rolled down into the next passage.

At this we point questioned our futures against our rationale, for this was the point of no return. Do we go back through the same horrible way whence we came? Or do we press on into the unknown? It was a unanimous decision to keep going so off we went. Plus Ben told us about a skeleton.

We made quick and light work of the passage to High Traverse and said hello to Mr Skeleton, then dropped down into the streamway by way of some wonderful rigging by Ben (trip notes: take some rope). We had been warned by all parties that the streamway was inexplicably slippery and I can tell you it was expletively slippery. I can only liken it to trying to walk on ice in normal shoes. I think I tallied the most occasions of falling over like a cartoon character with 5.

A streamway highlight was a lovely little waterfall we ascended, where the next phase was marked by Biza Passage. A series of footloops tied into some existing rope allowed us to climb into the next chamber and I was again reminded of how infuriating it is to see that Camille is a natural caver as she simply floated up something that took me too many times to get right. (In retrospect: considering I introduced Camille to caving I’ve decided to take on the ‘Proud Dad’ mantle of her being an absolute natural). More cave and we were feeling like we were on the home stretch. We found the phone (or explosives) cable and sent Kiran down a small passage to make sure it wasn’t the right way. It wasn't, but following the cable down took us at last back to the stream.

With the third boulder choke under our belts, we came to a beautiful flooded passage that we waded through. Then swam through. Then screamed through. None of us seemed to recall swimming through icy water as part of the route description but heed my warning fellow caver: it’s a swim. And it’s cold even in mid-July. Despite the slip risk on the streamway once the water level dropped again, our pace was quickened to try to ensure our body temperatures didn’t drop too low and I was again fooled into thinking we were making record time (probably weren’t). Descriptions from here were to “follow round” and “take the path of least resistance” which all sounded rather easy to a man who’s been under for 8 hours. By this stage we were all ready to be out and I’ll always remember the moment Ben stopped to check the map and us three all folded and lay on the floor whilst we waited.

The sweet taste of victory and the impossible was on our tongues. We were being shown that the impossible could be accomplished and we would make it out. Enhanced by the promise of a cooked BBQ by the other squad we kept pushing. We may have lost Kiran for about 15 minutes thanks to my excitement and not double checking he saw the sharp turn and climb through the choke (again, sorry Kiran) but Ben managed to find him again. After a final snack break we ventured on for the final push.

Finally we made it through the loop and the realisation was upon us that we too were coming home. To us, the amount of time spent underground felt like the wait since 1966 and we could feel the nervous trepidation as we were nearing the end. The hints of fresh air as you round the final corners. The second-guessing as you don’t recall crawling through that on the way in and the nerves of getting lost again at this late stage were keeping me on edge. Was it this way? I could have sworn this looked different. But no, this was correct and we soon enough smelt the sweet fresh air of the beacons and pushed open the door into the twilight. And victory.

The walk back was in high spirits. We were drained but smiling and after a reprieve at the CSS made it back to the few straggling WSG crew who stayed up to stoke the fire and cook our heroic feed. When I climbed out of that hole I promised never to go in there again. But after a week of reflection. I might.

Honourable mentions must now be given to the Chelsea Spelæological Society. Before even getting underground they had already provided us with a replacement oversuit for one left behind as well as helping us resolve a problem with our keys. Not to mention their cave description which safely guided us home, or the hot showers and cups of tea when we were spat out the other the side of the cave. So a thank you and three cheers to the CSS for their warm hospitality and helping out some fellow cavers.

Summary:
Ogof Agen Allwedd - Grand Circle loop taken clockwise

Time underground:
9 hours 34 minutes

Highlights:
Ben - Spooky deep water
Kiran - Finding Ben 
Camille -Completing her longest cave trip to date with the sweet sight of a sunset
Marcus - Drinking cave water

Lowlights:
Ben - Being informed we were some way off-route
Kiran - Getting lost
Camille - Getting to hour 5 and realising another 5 were still remaining
Marcus - ½ height scrambling for 2 hours

Trip essentials:
Rope. Cowstails. Pork pies.