Dan yr Ogof - 22 Mar 2007

Thursday March 22nd 2007

Members present: Andrew Gilmartin,  Chuck Holder,  Dominic Galliano,  Gary Douthwaite,  Matt Ewles

In case you weren't aware, Dan is a Showcave which requires a leader to take you around (Unless you want to pay a fiver and stick to concrete paths). Sitting in the cottage on a Wednesday night enjoying a quiet beer was interrupted by a knock at the door. A random caver who appeared to want a cup of tea dropped by. Her name was Helen and she claimed to be a Dan leader! Names were drawn from a hat and the merry team set off the following day.
We arranged to meet Helen at the cave at 12:45. I'll be honest, I was sceptical that she would arrive. After 45 minutes of playing 'throw the stone', 'stroke the cat' and 'build the sandcastle' our trusty guide arrived and we changed into wetsuits.
Entering the cave involved climbing over a turnstyle and going in through a wooden door. How novel. After stomping through the tourist bit we entered the water and started the cave proper. After the crawly bit we climbed down a fixed ladder and the group decided that we would like to do the round trip. I grabbed a bouyancy aid from the pile because there is some swimming involved in the green canal. The round trip cicuit didn't take that long (about an hour). There were many pretties to take photo's of. Much excitement was derived from sitting in a tyre inner tube. Made our way out. Total time underground must have been 3hours tops. very fun successful trip, but I can't help feel that some of the excitement is lost when you have a leader who definately knows the way.