Post date: Feb 17, 2020 1:36:41 PM

Camilla Casella, Stephen Macnamara, Barry Montague, Adam Prior. 3 hours.

Storm Ciara was forecast to bring a LOT of rain to Fermanagh. With the downpour predicted in the afternoon, we decided against the planned digging trip to Mistake Passage, and opted for Pollkeeran instead. The sun was shining in a blue sky as we finished our breakfast in 9th Avenue (our new diner option in Enniskillen), and Adam and Camilla arrived up from Dublin.

We carried up about 12m of scaffolding between us, and had the usual fun of manoeuvring long bars down through the entrance series. We were soon at the digface again to reassess the damages from the rockfall of the previous trip. We quickly agreed that the best option was to knock the stack of blocks down, and deal with the consequences afterwards, rather than trying to shore first.

Barry and I positioned ourselves at the end of the Jenga arch, 2m back from the instability. This is where our 2.5-metre scaff bar came into its own. With Camilla keeping an eye on the wider area for movement, and Adam recording on his 360° GoPro, we started to bash the offending keystone. It immediately began to move, but actually needed a lot of prodding before the whole lot came down. Perhaps we can supplement this report with some video evidence at some stage.

Anyway, when we climbed back down into the final dig chamber, it had totally changed for the better. Now, instead of having to tiptoe around blocks, there was a lovely wide area, 2 x 1m, with a relatively clean wall. It will need scaffolding just for security as we dig down, but there is loads of space to put in sensible shoring now. In the floor, where there had been a squeezable 3m drop to an apparent bedding plane, there was now a neat pile of rubble.

We handballed what we could of the smaller stuff back to Camilla and Adam to pack away. Barry attacked the larger stuff with a lump hammer - but the head broke off after several whacks, and now lies somewhere beneath the lot. After we had been in the cave for a couple of hours, Barry went for a pee break and reported that the surface stream was starting to trickle towards the entrance hole. This was as expected, and we were happy to work on for a bit. We placed another 3 pieces of scaff to bridge under the lintel and into the dig chamber - a good starting point for continuing down the hole.

At this stage, we had done as much as we could without capping gear, so we commenced our exit. Adam and I were slightly alarmed when we heard shouts from the other two that water was now falling down the vertical climb only 15m back from the digface! Focus mode was switched on - and we quickly shoved bits and pieces into the bags and sprinted back up towards the entrance. The boulder slope to the entrance hole, usually bone dry, was now a cascade. The entrance, a 0.8 x 0.5m slot between boulders, had one half obscured by a curtain of water, so we all got a soaking on exit.

We hung about for 15 minutes to allow our heartbeats to return to normal, and to witness the remainder of the exit hole being curtained over as the water rose. It was a first for any of us to see this condition. The path to the car held a significant stream on the way back. We called into McKenzie's to get a drink, dry off, and look at Adam's videos. All in all a successful trip. For the first time it's starting to look like a proper dig rather than just a scaffolding exercise!

Stephen.