Post date: Apr 18, 2010 8:17:23 PM

(prospecting and digging in Legnabrocky Pot, Mullyard Sink, and Tullyholvin Rising)

Legnabrocky Pot, 16 April 2010

Cavers – Róisín, Una, Petie, Jock, Al

This was planned to be a short trip to check out the possibility of digging in the terminal choke, but turned out to be a bit of fun on Friday night.

Red sunset and new moon at Aghnahoo (photo by Róisín)

Trip numbers swelled, beginning with Róisín and i, adding Petie on our way from Aghnahoo where we’d called by to see if Una had arrived, then Jock turned up shortly after we’d parked at the Marble Arch entrance, and then Una. The first meeting of the Shannon Focus Group had convened.

The Shannon Focus Group at Aghnahoo (photos by Róisín)

We spent a good bit of our planned hour finding the cave, as my memory wasn’t so good as i thought and the pot turned out to be 50 m from the road. While Jock and Petie delved into the first hole they saw Róisín rigged Legnabrocky Pot (aka Pollnakeith) and we descended. Two smaller pots led off from the muddy bottom and we rigged the most promising looking one, which turned out to have a pitch-head comprised of boulders, and to be blind. I gingerly prussiked out.

The other pot Róisín had declared to be blind to but i thought there was an inviting shadow at the bottom and well we were here now so i might as well squeeze by the decomposing sheep and see what was at the bottom. From here a short crawl entered a large chamber, with a high shelf, lots of boulders in the far wall and roof, and a crawl to the left, which was the way on. Róisín led off down the crawl to pleasant rift and crawling sections, to a final awkward squeeze into a small chamber, where we were joined by Jock. The dig wasn’t too inspiring so we didn’t stay long. When we were out Petie borrowed Jock’s SRT kit and went for a look himself, before rejoining us at the cars.

The one hour trip had turned in to almost three, and i rushed back to the ‘Hoo to cancel our 0000 callout with a few minutes to spare. Steve Muh had joined Artur there, and Jock also decided to forgo his home comforts and stayed the night for a bit of a ‘Hoo session.

Mullyard Sink, 17 April 2010

Cavers – Jock, Róisín, Una, Al

After breakfast in Bloodstones we headed up to Jock’s parents’ house as the previous day i’d found out that it was almost on top of the Mullyard Sink cave, which i wanted to visit to check out the terminal sump. Jock beat the rest of us to the cave but ‘phoned down for a crowbar, and since it wasn’t sounding too promising we choose furries over wetsuits. On the way we had a chat with Joe, the landowner, who remembered the first cavers there when he was a child, and also remembered a cave rescue.

The cave entrance excavated by Leonard, Pitt and Rolston in 1979 had collapsed. When we arrived Jock had excavated a couple of holes, one taking more water but not very promising, the other dropping to a short section of passage and ending in a puddle and mobile boulder choke. I started digging the choke, passing the spoil out via Una and Róisín. After an hour i’d excavated a small chamber with some solid walls to the right and ahead, and unstable boulders to the left. The way on seemed to be ahead and down under a solid bit of roof. I started trying to drop a large boulder on the left of the chamber entrance, but the others called time so we headed back down to drink tea and beer and play pétanque. On the way we bumped into Steve, heading up, as he had been delayed fighting a fire in the field behind the ‘Hoo...

Tullyholvin Rising, 17 April 2010

Cavers – Steve Muh, Una, Al

Continuing the prospecting theme, we next headed over to Boho to have a look at the dig prospects in Tullyholvin Rising. The rising today was dry, and had been for some time, so it was easy to reach the limit of the Reyfad Group, at the end of cherty, rifty passages which just got tighter and tighter in a flat-out crawl.

While there with Una previously, in flood, i had thought that the water in the left-hand branch at the first T-junction was static, and maybe a better digging prospect lay with the boulder ruckle to the right of the rift. Once the moss and old car-parts were cleared from this area the boulders turned out to be quite large, and after a couple of hours of valiant effort with a crowbar and rope we had succeeded in moving five or six of them a few inches. Any more digging here would need a winch, and perhaps scaff. Unexpectedly, behind the boulders we shifted we found metal and a fertiliser bag, suggesting a recent collapse.

Mullyard Sink, 18 April 2010-04-18

Cavers – Steve Muh, Al

A short Sunday morning trip to Mullyard. Steve excavated the chamber a little more, we drained some of the water away, moved the boulder on the left of the chamber entrance out onto the passage floor, and cleared some spoil out of the cave. Digging in the floor revealed a void beneath the left wall, however the most promising way on still seems to be ahead and down under the solid roof, although the water is dropping in the floor. The next session here will need a bucket, as we ended by scooping out a watery mix of mung, sand, and gravel.

On the way down we had a blether with Joe, were called ‘mad-holers’ by his young lad, and took a look at the rising (dry, although water was still sinking into the cave). We also forgot our car keys at the sink...

Al