Pendine trip 13/01/2019
Unless otherwise stated, camera, setups, lighting, edits and gallery effects by Tarquin. Modelling and lighting at various points will be Phil Knight and Pete Bolt.
The main cave in the area is of course Ogof Marros (and this visit was after a digging trip there), but there are some other small caves in the area too, which is what this gallery concentrates on.
The entrance to Greenbridge Cave, which lies directly underneath the road - the green bridge is the dry valley above the cave, visible here. This cave is one of the longest in the area after Ogof Marros, at just over 100 metres long. Ogof Marros is a very short distance up the same valley, and the two caves share the same resurgence. This cave clearly takes a huge amount of water in flood, but it is created from small streams running off farmland, while Marros takes the main stream.
Modelling by Phil and Pete
The passage immediately inside the entrance is very big, with evidence of impressive water flow. Several bats use it as a roost though (we saw greater horseshoes and probably whiskered bats), so it clearly cannot flood to the roof.
Modelling by Pete and Phil, lighting by Tarquin, Pete and Phil
Side passage with lots of little loops. This gets used by adventure groups to send children through the maze.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin and Phil
The largest passage in Greenbridge Cave. This is so inviting, like maybe the cave will be big. But it is very short lived.
Modelling by Pete and Phil, lighting by Tarquin, Pete and Phil
Sadly, the passage then abruptly changes size, and shrinks down to a crawl, adorned with sprouting seedlings washed in from the farms. Eventually, this becomes flat out, then clogs with gravel. A short side passage has been pushed through tight crawls. This cave has the same feeling as Town Drain; a cave with massive potential, and definitely there is some big passage beyond, but the regular flooding keep refilling it with rubble. Extensions will be hard won.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin and Phil
Shortly before the end, a side passage on the right leads up into a larger passage. This is made very difficult by a steep slope coated in slick mud.
The side passage has some formations and awkward twists and turns, ending in a collapsed washout. Maybe there is an older route here that is larger than the stream route. But extensive digging will be required.
Gilman Point at sunset. This is seen from Pendine, the town and beach made famous for land speed records.
Caves above the cliffs. The big opening is Pendine Bone Cave.
Modelling by Pete and some random tourists
Dolwen Point Caves, with the gorgeously coloured limestone. These appear to be just sea caves, but they are formed on silt-filled rifts, showing that the sea is just invading older solutional caves.
Twin entrance of the largest of the Dolwen Point Caves.
Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin, Pete and Sol
Branch choke at the top of the cave.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin and Phil
Entrances to Pendine Caves No. 4. These are the largest entrances of the caves in the area.
Sunset through the mouth of the caves.
Modelling by a pair of seagulls
Large passage.
Modelling by Phil and Pete, lighting by Tarquin, Phil and Sol
Mud choke at the back of the cave. This is very clearly cave mud - most likely glacial silt. The caves end wherever the waves have failed to wash the silt out of the solutional caves. There is no chance for extension, since the caves are likely to be filled with silt for hundreds of metres back from the cliffs. These fragments are all we are likely to ever see.
Watery passage linking the caves.
The Bleeding Cave (named after red moss growing around the entrance). This is an impressively tall canyon passage, rising some 10 metres above the beach. It is very clearly not a sea cave. The upper entrance is an intersected oxbow, and also enters directly into the same passage. The Pendine Cave No.5 entrance is up to the right of the obvious entrances.
Just inside The Bleeding Cave's entrance.
Modelling by Phil and Pete, lighting by Sol, Tarquin, Phil and Pete
The tall canyon passage after the entrances have joined, and the passage has started twisting. The floor changes here, showing that the sea's influence is reduced, and the cave is solutional. There are several possible avens and passages far up in the ceiling. Most are likely to have been checked out already.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin and Phil
The Bleeding Cave also ends at a silt choke. There is also a colony of greater horseshoe bats that use the cave as a hibernaculum, hanging just 2 metres up on the silt. This is a definite surprise, given that the pounding from the sea should be pretty intense in this cave, but nearly 75 metres from the mouth of the cave, apparently the waves don't cause a problem.
Modelling by Pete and Phil, lighting by Tarquin, Pete and Phil
Remains of a sunken forest outside the caves. Those brown marks in the sand, and the long brown trunk, are all that remains of a prehistoric forest that grew here before the sea levels rose.
Modelling by Pete
The entrance to Greenbridge Cave, which lies directly underneath the road - the green bridge is the dry valley above the cave, visible here. This cave is one of the longest in the area after Ogof Marros, at just over 100 metres long. Ogof Marros is a very short distance up the same valley, and the two caves share the same resurgence. This cave clearly takes a huge amount of water in flood, but it is created from small streams running off farmland, while Marros takes the main stream.
Modelling by Phil and Pete
The passage immediately inside the entrance is very big, with evidence of impressive water flow. Several bats use it as a roost though (we saw greater horseshoes and probably whiskered bats), so it clearly cannot flood to the roof.
Modelling by Pete and Phil, lighting by Tarquin, Pete and Phil
Side passage with lots of little loops. This gets used by adventure groups to send children through the maze.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin and Phil
The largest passage in Greenbridge Cave. This is so inviting, like maybe the cave will be big. But it is very short lived.
Modelling by Pete and Phil, lighting by Tarquin, Pete and Phil
Sadly, the passage then abruptly changes size, and shrinks down to a crawl, adorned with sprouting seedlings washed in from the farms. Eventually, this becomes flat out, then clogs with gravel. A short side passage has been pushed through tight crawls. This cave has the same feeling as Town Drain; a cave with massive potential, and definitely there is some big passage beyond, but the regular flooding keep refilling it with rubble. Extensions will be hard won.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin and Phil
Shortly before the end, a side passage on the right leads up into a larger passage. This is made very difficult by a steep slope coated in slick mud.
The side passage has some formations and awkward twists and turns, ending in a collapsed washout. Maybe there is an older route here that is larger than the stream route. But extensive digging will be required.
Gilman Point at sunset. This is seen from Pendine, the town and beach made famous for land speed records.
Caves above the cliffs. The big opening is Pendine Bone Cave.
Modelling by Pete and some random tourists
Dolwen Point Caves, with the gorgeously coloured limestone. These appear to be just sea caves, but they are formed on silt-filled rifts, showing that the sea is just invading older solutional caves.
Twin entrance of the largest of the Dolwen Point Caves.
Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin, Pete and Sol
Branch choke at the top of the cave.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin and Phil
Entrances to Pendine Caves No. 4. These are the largest entrances of the caves in the area.
Sunset through the mouth of the caves.
Modelling by a pair of seagulls
Large passage.
Modelling by Phil and Pete, lighting by Tarquin, Phil and Sol
Mud choke at the back of the cave. This is very clearly cave mud - most likely glacial silt. The caves end wherever the waves have failed to wash the silt out of the solutional caves. There is no chance for extension, since the caves are likely to be filled with silt for hundreds of metres back from the cliffs. These fragments are all we are likely to ever see.
Watery passage linking the caves.
The Bleeding Cave (named after red moss growing around the entrance). This is an impressively tall canyon passage, rising some 10 metres above the beach. It is very clearly not a sea cave. The upper entrance is an intersected oxbow, and also enters directly into the same passage. The Pendine Cave No.5 entrance is up to the right of the obvious entrances.
Just inside The Bleeding Cave's entrance.
Modelling by Phil and Pete, lighting by Sol, Tarquin, Phil and Pete
The tall canyon passage after the entrances have joined, and the passage has started twisting. The floor changes here, showing that the sea's influence is reduced, and the cave is solutional. There are several possible avens and passages far up in the ceiling. Most are likely to have been checked out already.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin and Phil
The Bleeding Cave also ends at a silt choke. There is also a colony of greater horseshoe bats that use the cave as a hibernaculum, hanging just 2 metres up on the silt. This is a definite surprise, given that the pounding from the sea should be pretty intense in this cave, but nearly 75 metres from the mouth of the cave, apparently the waves don't cause a problem.
Modelling by Pete and Phil, lighting by Tarquin, Pete and Phil
Remains of a sunken forest outside the caves. Those brown marks in the sand, and the long brown trunk, are all that remains of a prehistoric forest that grew here before the sea levels rose.
Modelling by Pete