Post date: Jun 24, 2010 12:51:30 PM

Stephen Macnamara, Stephen McCullagh, Connor Winchcombe, 2 1/2 hours

Well well well, two weekday caving trips in a school week! Connor & I drove from Belfast to meet Bus at the entrance - he had already been down to the sump to have a look.

The canal before the sump had drained well and was now a wet crawl instead of an ear-duck. The level in the sump itself had also dropped by about 15 inches - i.e. to the level they had achieved by bailing on the trip last month. Steve went in with Connor's goggles to have a look. Alas, the ceiling continues to slope down and down, and would require a drop of a further few feet to be passable. This isn't achievable by siphoning, so we would have to continue bailing or use a hand pump. Best plan would probably be to get a diver in there... We had a short go at bailing.

On the way out we climbed up a rifty passage (just above the confusing low junction) and soon spotted a passage none of us had been to before. An 8m climb, exposed in places, led to a crawl and a chamber. Another crawl off this led back to a window over where we left the main passage, while a further crawl led on in the opposite direction. Off to the left was a large aven (+15m), and straight on opened up into a big chamber with multiple levels and very beautiful carved and scallopped chalk. This must be close to the surface, and a bit of digging here would probably find something.

On looking at the survey, this passage goes north between F & G but isn't marked. The other passage on the survey we think is one we've been in before, which loops back to the main stream. At this stage a partial resurvey of the cave would be worthwhile to see where we are - there are several side passages that don't seem to be included in the existing survey.

Great trip.

SteveM.