Post date: Apr 18, 2011 9:05:43 PM

Weekday caving with the IT Sligo crew

Cavers: Edel, Marion, Sam, Thorsten, Les, Al

Trip time: 4.5 hours

After their trip into Creevy Cave last summer Marion and Sam were enthused to start a caving group amongst archaeologists in IT Sligo, with a regular series of caving trips as work permitted. A few months ago they asked if Les and i would take them on a trip in Fermanagh as this was to be the venue of their April trip. We thought that Pollaraftra to the Mud Wall and gour pools would be a great trip to do, being dry, pretty and pleasant rather than horrendously tight and awkward.* With the permission of the landowner the trip was on.

The before pic - Thorsten, Sam, Al, Marion and Edel (photo Les)

In rifty stream passage (photo Les)

From the entrance onwards Pollaraftra is a rave cave. A short 3m climb leads to a small chamber and from there by a climb down over boulders to the old entrance chamber, with only a tiny, token splash falling from the waterfall today. Here we made running repairs to Les' helmet using a fortuitous twig, and Les lead onwards and downwards. After a bit of easy caving the canyon and crawling parts of the cave are reached, and all passed through, more or less intact. Down the zig zags and back into the streamway and over the small cascade. From here, i expected a nice walk in the streamway, broken only by the large Boulder Hall, as far as the Mud Wall; i'd forgotten about the regular boulder piles that had to be climbed over. After about two and half hours of leisurely caving, with stops to enjoy and photograph the pretties - like the large curtains and the classic headless chicken stalactite - we reached the Mud Wall. After a break Marion and Edel started back out with Les, while i climbed the wall and rigged a ladder and lifeline for Sam and Thorsten. There follows one of the muddiest passages in Fermanagh, yet also one of the whitest and prettiest. The gour pools - a little further away than i had remembered - were stunning. We admired them in silence for some time, and at Sam's suggestion extinguished our lights and listened to the sounds of the cave. It was startling to think that in the absolute darkness such beautiful formations were slowly evolving from the dripping and evaporation of water - why, when no-one could see them naturally, were they so beautiful?

The chicken (photo Thorsten)

The chicken and stream passage (photo Thorsten)

Curtains in the main stream (photo Thorsten)

Curtains (photo Thorsten)

Rigging the Mud Wall (photo Thorsten)

The return was made at a fair clip, my party taking to the water wherever possible to wash off some of the mud (and introduce Sam and Thorsten to 'dry' caving) and all went well for both groups until we left the streamway and climbed up the zig zags. Here several routes are possible - the very tight, the tight, and the not so tight. We had come in via the not so tight, by general agreement. Les however missed the final zag upwards into the not so tight tube-canyon-rift series and led Marion and Edel into the tight route. I almost did the same, but backed out in time and made the final climb up to the tube. There followed a lot of groaning, cursing and thrutching from Thorsten as he tackled the tubes (heard by Les, Marion and Edel on their route below!). With some gentle encouragement Thorsten made it through, and we ascended through the old entrance chamber to the final climb out and rejoined Marion, Edel and Les in the sun.

Pollaraftra is a fantastic caving cave and excellent introduction to Fermanagh caving. It's like a miniature Shannon from the entrance to the cascade, without the horrible chokes and tight squeezes. Before, through and after the Boulder Hall it's rather like Cascades and the Brandywine streamway, but the waist-deep parts of the stream can be traversed. At the Mud Wall, Pollnagossan donates some of its boot-sucking mud, yet the mud remains on the giggling side of fun.

...and after!

Al

*Les' and my memories of the cave were slightly inaccurate...