Oxford University Cave Club

Our introductory caving trips trips are designed for people with no previous caving experience. Trips are usually day trips to the Mendip Hills (between Bath and Wells) or weekend trips to Mendip or to South Wales (near Merthyr Tydfil).  This term's caving calendar is here.

Day trips: we normally leave Oxford at 9am (from the Club Hut at the Iffley Road Sports Ground) and get back at about 10pm.

Weekend trips: we usually meet on the Friday evening at about 7pm for sorting out your on-loan caving clothing and lights etc. We then usually leave on  Saturday morning (about 9am)  though sometimes on Friday evening, and return on the Sunday evening at about 10-12pm. Going for only one day on a weekend trip might be possible, but does depend on the availability of transport and can't be guaranteed.

Cost:  The charge for trips includes  transport, clothes and lamp hire, and Club membership for your first term. All the caving gear you will need will be supplied by the Club. The charge for weekend trips also includes accommodation (usually in a bunkroom belonging to a local caving club). Meals while in the accommodation on weekends are included in your trip fee (but not take-aways en-route, or the pre-trip pub meal on day-trips). For information about costs if you take up caving, see here.

Current costs for trips are:

Trip destination	Price
Mendip (day)	£35-40
Mendip (weekend)	£60
Wales (weekend)	£60-65
Northern Dales (weekend)	£65
Derbyshire (weekend)	£65

These are the anticipated costs forMT 2024, but may change slightly.

Trips must be paid for in advance. Payment is by an online system.
https://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/browse/product.asp?compid=1&modid=1&catid=1722

You will need to bring a towel and some underclothes  for caving in (non-best underpants and a warm, ideally thermal, T-shirt is a good idea) - and a bit of money, for a take-away meal on the return journey, and maybe the odd beer. If it is a weekend trip, you will need to bring a sleeping bag. Make it a decent one (three-season or better), as the bunk rooms are often unheated. Bring clothing suitable for one or more days spent largely outdoors. Caving areas are also good for hillwalking, so walking gear may be handy if you fancy a day above ground.

Mendip: Typically, experienced cavers will take novices down Swildon's Hole, one of the nicest and most interesting caves on Mendip, spending about three hours underground. The cave is easy and good fun: you follow a small stream down cascades and climbs (one climb uses a short ladder), to where the cave "sumps" - the water meets the roof. There are lots of good "pretties", pools to splash about in, and a certain amount of mud. The water is mostly ankle deep, but there is some spray on the climbs. (YouTube: Kate Humble in Swildon's). If you go for a weekend, we'll choose another suitable caving trip for you for the second day. We have normally lunch in the "Hunter's Lodge Inn" (focus of Mendip caving) before the trip, and usually stop for takeaway food in Bath on the way back to Oxford (both of these you will need to pay for).

South Wales: Typically, experienced cavers will take novices into Ogof Ffynnon Ddu (OFD), one of the biggest cave systems in the UK. It has over 50 miles of cave passage, but we won't try to cover it all in one trip! You might go into its top entrance, following large and sometimes well-decorated passages, some scrambles and short climbs, to follow Salubrious Streamway down to the Trident and Judge. Or you might go into the OFD1 entrance, going up the spectacular main streamway of the cave, balancing over the occasional deep hole in the stream bed on scaffold poles. These first trips will last about 3 hours. The second day's caving might be another trip into a different section of OFD, or maybe down one of the other caves in the area. Have a look at a virtual tour of OFD here.

Before coming caving with us, please read:

• Guidance notes for novices:  essential reading; it contains a lot of useful information about OUCC novice caving trips.
• OUCC Frequently Asked Questions - very useful reading
• Risk Assessment: advised reading
• OUCC Code of Conduct : advised reading.

We cannot take you caving if we don't know who you are. So please make sure the Club has your personal details
[use this online form:  or if that doesn't work, this "paper" one word (.doc) or acrobat (.pdf), and send it to the Club Secretary

If you miss one of these trips but still would like to try caving, contact us or come along to a Tuesday meeting. Most Club day or weekend trips include caving for people of all levels of experience, and we can easily arrange something suitable for you.

Why go caving?
Caving trips this term
Social meetings this term