Post date: Aug 19, 2012 10:56:53 PM

Little Gortmaconnell, 18 August 2012

Cavers: SteveBus, Éabha, Al

Trip time: about 5 hours

Although we made a fairly sprightly start from Belfast the journey to Fermanaghland took ages as the world and his dog seemed to be out seeking the sun. After a couple of stops for lunch and some batteries we made it up on the Marlbank. Much hilarity then ensued as we got changed by the nice view that caused at least one driver to pull up alongside us. Another car pulled up, not to admire the view but a fellow caver from the Czech Republic, sadly he was on his way to catch a ferry and couldn't join us. After leaving the car the nice view followed us up the hillside, and all the way to the Gortmaconnell pots. We finished dressing and kitting up here. A final sorting of rigging gear took place, followed by a quick frisk through personal kit as we'd left some rigging krabs back in the car. Steve rigged the first 3 pitches, this is now pleasant SRT as Gaelan and Éabha and others have done a nice job of stabilising the ramp between the first and second pitches and enlarged the second pitch head. I collected a few pieces of scaff and some clips from the ramp and joined Steve, then Éabha rigged down the final pitch to the streamway (possibly worth improving the rigging here if more groups are going to do this cave in future).

Once out of SRT kit we started on the upstream dig. This had settled considerably back to its original position, however taking it in turns with my crowbar extended on a 2m scaff bar we soon made it back to see into the promising open space under the right hand wall. However there was still a fair amount of loose cobbles beyond and above, so more poking-and-running had to be done. Then Steve started placing some scaffolding, but it wasn't easy to fit what we had in. After a bit more kerplunk and pulling out the collapsed scaffolding, there was an inviting looking void about 0.5m high visible above and a good draught; unfortunately there was no solid ceiling only loosely packed cobbles. I looked at it for a bit, tempted to stand up against the wall of cobbles to peer into the void, but good sense prevailed, it felt too threatening. Steve then started thinking about scaffolding again, so i kitted up to head up the pitch for a long piece of scaff from the chamber above. Just as i got on the rope there was an almighty collapse from the dig and Steve called back not to bother going for the scaff bar. He'd just moved a small cobble on the approach to the hanging death wall, that seemed not to be supporting anything, but that had brought the wall down, and that in turn had shaken down the boulders in the ceiling above. He'd escaped, but my old crowbar lost another of its lives buried under the rubble - luckily the curved end just stuck out and it could be pulled free. We are now at square -1 here! We listened to unseen boulders continuing to drop beyond the dig for a few minutes, then packed up. We left the scaffold bars down as they may be useful elsewhere in the streamway.

With the digging curtailed and plenty of time remaining before our callout we took a look at some of the other prospects in the streamway, climbing up into the avens. Just as we were beginning to head out, while waiting for Éabha, Steve had a close encounter with a limestone slab of generous dimensions that randomly detached from the ceiling of the streamway above him. Steve however was made of stronger stuff than the slab, which cracked in half over his helmet, although it left him somewhat pale and shaken and with a large bump on his temple. We then left the cave, Steve supervising Éabha derigging all the pitches while i again hauled out the bag full of metal. It was a lovely evening and the midges took full advantage of us as we emerged from the cave.

After undressing from muddy caving gear, we drove (mostly undressed and smelling of red wine) to Lough Macnean to wash off some mud (and wine) and have a swim. Thence to Enzo's, then to Les' to eat, then to Frank Eddies for a pint, and then to the Hoo where World War 3 seemed to break out about 1.30 as the farmer started lamping foxes, but Steve and Éabha managed to sleep through it.

Carrickbeg, 19 August 2012

Cavers: SteveBus, Éabha, Al

Trip time: 1.5 hours or so

We had a very lazy morning, as no-one wanted to make the first move out of bed. Eventually after a cup of tea we headed down to Bloodstones for roughly 11 just in case any other cavers turned up. None did so over breakfast we decided to go to Carrickbeg for a bit of a Sunday recovery trip. (Tullyholvin was mooted, seriously considered, and then vetoed.)

There should be more roadside caves in Fermanagh. The route through the boulder choke was still intact after ICRO's digging and shoring efforts here. Much easier and safer than when we first re-opened it in 2009-10, however it needs some more scaffolding and cementing, particularly in the middle section, before considering taking freshers through. The cave beyond was perhaps the largest Fermanagh cave that Steve hadn't been in, and it made a very enjoyable trip. Steve and myself wore furries, and these proved to be quite acceptable, although there is a bit of chest-deep wading and one 10m swim. The water was a little high, and the ceiling had a fair bit of fresh foam in places. We took a look into Sump Inlet on our way upstream, and had a look at the high level dig just before the sump. This is definitely one to push, perhaps with assistance from divers from beyond the sump. On our way out we took a look at several more leads, one very muddy rift found by Éabha that needs to be pushed, and one high level rift behind a sleeping troll that also should be pushed.