It’s been four years since I last wrote up anything concerned with our activities at the Pontypool of Bust dig, so members could be forgiven for assuming that we’d given up. However a hard core of the digging team have been plugging away at the sand choke with four to five trips being made each year. As mentioned in the last newsletter we have finally made a reasonable bit of progress and are perhaps that bit closer to the hypothesised  “Mystery Streamway” that lies further to the South.

Trips to the dig, although pleasant enough in itself, can be somewhat daunting for those cavers who might be slightly less fit than they used to be or larger than the average build. Our usual routine is to drive over to Draenen from Nordrach early on a Saturday morning. From there it’s a three-hour trip into the further reaches of Pontypool or Bust (our preferred route is via the main streamway rather than White Arch) with a brief stop at the trickle of water at the start of the Crystal Maze to fill up our water bottles. Twenty minutes of crawling and thrutching and one arrives at ‘camp’. This is just before the approach to the dig so we leave all of the brew kit and our evening meal there before switching into digging mode. The final barrier is a delightful up and over squeeze in the roof of a flat out crawl. This can be rather awkward or even impossible on the first visit if you’re a tad portly, not particularly bothered or too unfit. Just beyond is the start of the dig.

Across 1998-2002 spurred on by a healthy draught we gradually excavated 30 metres or so of crawling sized passage. The digging has normally been pretty easy. The fill consists of an upper layer of dry fine sand followed by more compacted layers below. Occasionally slabs of rock have fallen off the roof and these proved harder to remove. As the dig progressed we were forced to split the haul into two sections, with one person lying at the changeover point between the two ropes. We changed positions after every 5 skips so that generally you only had to haul ten skips from this awkward position.  As the dig got longer the hardest part of the whole operation was crawling all the way back down the passage after the end of your shift.

The dig finally went on Saturday 21^st September right at the end of the session. The roof had been gently rising for several metres but twisting your head to the side it became apparent that there was more air space further ahead. I went for a furtle at the far end and dragged armfuls of sand back from the face. Five minutes of this and I could see that we were about to enter a larger section of airspace. Spurred on by Peat more rummaging was called for (Duncan was at this point snoozing on the spoil pile back at the start of the dig). Then it seemed that we had a real black space up ahead and a breakthrough was imminent. I shouted back “Duncan, you’d better get your ass up here as we’re going to have a breakthrough”. Somewhat reluctantly he crawled back down the passage to join us. I squeezed under a ridge on the roof and popped out into a small parallel rift. Peat passed up the entrenching tool and we were quickly able to excavate a further squeeze, which I forced to enter a decent sized chamber. This allowed us to dig from both sides until both Peat and Duncan could follow.

We were then able to look around. We had broken into an attractive chamber with a fine round phreatic roof. Although only eight metres in diameter this is the probably the largest chamber since the start of the Crystal Maze. The floor consists of a cone of mud with some fine mud cracks (since taped off). Obviously we started ferreting around looking for the way and eventually Duncan spotted a flat out crawl on the far side. He’d apparently got his second wind as this previously tired digger was soon enthusiastically wriggling along the crawl. After twenty metres another sand squeeze was met but we still had the crowbar with us. Duncs was soon able to scoop out enough sand for us to duck under the roof. Beyond was another small chamber but unfortunately no caver-sized way on. Ah well its back to digging again but it was fun whilst it lasted.

On the 23^rd November we made a return visit to conduct a survey and start a new dig. Peat and I spent a merry three hours taking the survey from just before the squeeze and as far as a suitable station in the new final chamber. And I’m pleased to report that we’ve added around 100 metres to Draenen. Whilst the survey was being conducted, Duncan and Paul dragged all the gear up to the dig, taping off the chamber en route, and then started the new dig. It was a familiar story of a few inches of airspace, draughting enticingly but with layers of sand and rock hindering progress. We’ll be back for more in 2003 and hopefully this time it won’t take us five years to find new passage.

 The overall trend of Pontypool or Bust is in a SSW/S direction and hence is running parallel to the main streamway, as perhaps you’d expect. The whole of this ancient conduit is filled to the roof with fill so our hope is that we will reach a point where more recent water flows have washed out enough of the sediment for us to breakthrough. We’ve collected a sediment sample to ascertain where the water flow is from. The theory is that it has come from somewhere off to the West so we’re looking for small coal fragments to back this up. But the more recent hydrology suggests that there is a Mystery Streamway in the middle of the blank chunk on the survey somewhere in the vague direction that we’re heading. The Cwm Ivor fault, running N-S, which we have to cross, will also make things interesting. So there’s a lot to go for and the strength of that draught means there has to be something there, fingers crossed.

Diggers: Peat Bennett, Bill Chadwick, Ben Cooper, Paul Craddy, Tim Francis, Julie Hesketh, Duncan Horne, Rupert Knowles, Andrew Shann
Other visitors, squeeze victims and candle warmers: Richard Carey, Joe Frampton, Simon Fryer, Kerry Howard, Reg Pain

Still digging in Draenen, 1998-2002                                               by Tim Francis

Updated 13-11-06