Issue 302: behind the cover

Over the last few years, some friends of mine have been exploring an endless maze cave system in the Northern Dales. After several trips to the cave with them, I had come to the conclusion that it was a terrible place and told them so. It consisted of over 7km of passages that were generally muddy, small and all looked the same. But in late 2024, they enthusiastically invited me again to take a few pictures of some recently discovered decorated sections. Reluctantly I agreed to tag along.

We spent a couple of hours taking photos before beginning to explore and survey the ongoing passages, which unexpectedly got bigger and prettier. Scouting around for the best way on, I dropped down a climb and peered into an impressively large and well decorated chamber. I stopped here looking in awe at what was in front of me and waited for the others to arrive so that we could explore it together. It turned out to be one of the best days of caving I have ever enjoyed.

We called the chamber Annapurna, as the cave had just passed 8,000m in length.

Paul ‘Beardy’ Swire