Post date: Jan 7, 2014 4:17:19 PM

Jock and Loui, 01DEC2013

Jock, Luoi and Ted, 31DEC2013

Over the last number of years I have been doing some haphazard prospecting and spot holing about the Cavan Burren with the doggies. It’s a great spot for a lazy Sunday dander amongst the mysterious Neolithic monuments hidden away in the forest surrounded by some really beautiful countryside topography that extends over a good distance. In recent years the area has been subject to a substantial amount of tree felling and trail building. These works have revealed a significant number of unrecorded sink holes. I still haven’t managed to get around to GPS’ing all of the unmarked sinks, of which there are at least 2 dozen spread over a wide catchment.

A few weeks back I was exploring in the woods with Loui the bouncing collie when we happened upon a large green sink hole that I hadn’t come across before. The sink in question was well inside an area of forestry that has not been subject to felling. At the bottom of the hole it was just about possible to drop stones down through small space for what sounded to be a couple of meters. I was keen to get back up for another look over Christmas. On new year’s eve I finally got back to the sink for a quick visit with proper caving attire and a crowbar. The open gap at the bottom of the sink was blocked by a fairly large boulder embedded in sticky clay mud. It took a good hour of upside down mud scooping by hand before it was possible to get any decent purchase on the boulder. Eventually I had managed to sufficiently undermine the beast but it was proving too awkward to pull upwards and out of the hole. Instead I was just about able to roll it forward and push it into the dark space beyond. From here the void seemed just about wide enough to push through feet first and bridge off what appeared to be a solid wall opposite the entrance and above whatever unseen floor the entrance bolder had just landed on.

Once in the hole I bridged down easily into a standing height chambers about 2.5 meters high and 2-3 meters in length with a few nice stal’s. From here there was no obvious way on but I could feel a strong draft emanating from somewhere and a rumble somewhere in the distance (water below or wind in the tress above?). So I set about burrowing through what now appeared to be a suspended floor under my feet. A further hour and a bit of frenzied digging beneath some soft calcite flow stone on the right hand side of the chamber started to reveal another larger chamber 3x4 meters with no obvious floor. It was just about possible to stick my head through the dig under the soft flow stone into the next chamber but the way on was blocked by a couple of large boulders that seemed to be suspended over nothing. Not sure how to progress I ended up laying down face first on the floor of the entrance camber and pushed my legs through the hole I had just made in the floor to try to get a test kick on one of the larger boulders. After a couple of nudges the boulders made a huge racket as the clattered down what sounded to be 5 or 6 meters. The hole is now definitely big enough to push through but it not clear how solid the remaining floor is after the squeeze or if the next chamber could be free climbed. I was out of time to get the rope and harness on squeeze on down and investigate further. This is without a doubt the most interesting site I have found in the Burren over the last number of years. The general catchment area is massive and there are no know significant caves recorded.

Note: At present the Geopark and Cavan County Council are in the middle of some extensive works in the areas. It’s a ~900k project to build ‘improved’ trails and a visitors center. Work is still ongoing so it is probably best advised to keep any prospecting or digging pretty low key until these work have been completed.