Pollkeeran, 4 Sep 2021

Team: Stephen Macnamara, Aileen Brown & Stephen McCullagh Time: 4 ½ hours

It had been a long time since I was last in Pollkeeran; from memory my last trip involved installing scaffolding bars down through the entrance series, finishing with an awkward placement just adjacent to the stone arch. Piecing together snippets of events that have happened over the last few years suggested that that trip had been more than 8 years previous, so a return trip was long past due.

Eight years ago, we had only tentatively crawled through the space below the stone arch and, from there, we could see a narrow gap between the gravel/stone infill and the broken wall that stretched down 8 to 10 feet. At that time, it was obvious that something serious needed to be installed under the arch, to make this area safer, before any downward progress could be made.

I spent some time over the last 18 months reading through the multiple trip reports, and my enthusiasm was high to get back down there and, with my recent re-emigration back to Ireland, the stage was set for me to be re-initiated into the active digging arm of the Shannon Group.

The night before, Aileen had purchased a large selection of shoring gear from a local vendor so it was apt that my re-initiation ceremony would involve carrying scaf bars to a dig, albeit not the historical requirement of the more challenging carry to George’s Choke in Shannon Cave.

We met at Boho church carpark at 9:30am and loaded up with digging supplies. The route to the cave has changed since I was last there; instead of the multiple fence climbs over the fields, we now followed a farm track most of the way up onto the hill and then, a meandering animal track through the fields and eventually down into the Pollkeeran doline. The stream sink now has a few more fallen trees blocking progress but, as a pleasant surprise, the entrance hole has lost its glutinous mud and is now a clean-washed squeeze into the main cave.

Steve, Aileen and I climbed down through the boulder climbs passing the bags and scafs between us until we reached the stone arch. The arch now has a few shiny accoutrements installed along the roof, giving me a better sense of security. It’s not clear whether the adornments are operating as a potential load bearing safety cage or, just acting as a psychological crutch for this nervous speleologist. More work may be needed here particularly if this part of the cave becomes a more active trade route. Below the arch the climb looks a lot bigger and is much more comfortable for digging. The scaf-and-ginging combination looks solid and reflects the hard work that was put in over the many recent trips. The dug shaft below generally felt safe and lead via a couple of shelved steps down to the current working dig face.

In my keenness I jumped to the front-end. Through discussions with Steve, we decided to change the orientation of the previously placed bars so as to increase the working dig space. Following that, I assessed the dig options at the bottom. A faint draft was coming from multiple gaps in the floor, but all were blocked by the same large rock. Over the last few years, I’ve become familiar with a remote rock-destroying methodology, so it was refreshing (and painful) to get re-acquainted with the pleasures of up close and personal capping. I dispatched a quarter of the rock, but the remaining portion appeared to be the load bearing lynchpin. I swapped place with Stevemuh, and he added on a few more scaf bars to the side of the pit and then sent buckets of rubble up the shaft until it was Aileen’s turn at the bottom. Aileen capped a second rock that poked awkwardly out from the side wall and proceeded to send a few more buckets of rubble topside.

Unfortunately, time was against us and we cut the trip short. I took one last look at the front end. Prospects look good; the cool draft and the lack of pooled water suggests it is certainly worth pursuing and my guess is a breakthrough could come at any moment. The next trip we will need to do a bit more scaffolding at the bottom before we tackle that load-bearing rock.

Here’s hoping for a quick break-through.

Stevebus