Post date: May 4, 2010 9:40:49 PM

Al Kennedy, Hellie Brooke, Stephen Macnamara - 2 hours

I had been looking forward to Creevy for quite a while - high water on the previous trip had only allowed us about 50 metres into the resurgence. We started off quite late from Belfast, so Al compensated with some manic driving in his new Ford Focus. One breakfast roll later we were kitted up and at the sink entrance.

We spent 10 minutes pulling out flood debris from the entrance with a crowbar. Soon there was enough space for Al to float through after he had described the passage to us. It is a very sporting entrance - and in the current dry spell there was enough space *just* to keep one's nose out of the water if one removed one's helmet. There are a couple of ducks over about 3 metres, after which the passage opens out. In normal or slightly wet weather, the entrance pretty much involves a full head immersion, so neoprene hoods are no harm.

The passage continues to enlarge until you are in fine stomping passage, about 3-4 metres high and up to 8 metres wide in places (check Al's and Artur's survey for proper dimensions). It is very well decorated - especially the high level "Robin's Nest", which is covered with blue-grey stalagmites, stalactites and flowstone. This chamber is very close to the surface - the ceiling is in fact calcited topsoil rather than rock!

We paid a visit, for "fun", to the Rat Run and the Broken Time Machine. To Hellie's delight, this was a slithering grovel through liquid mud to intersect a small streamway which pinches at either end. Worth doing for its character.

Back in the more civilised territory of Megalithic Way, we looked carefully into the souterrain that lies on a small side passage. This is very interesting, with man-made walls and a raised platform with fireplace. It would originally have been opened to the surface, possibly with some religious signficance. Having been capped with large limestone lintels at some time in history, it was subsequently forgotten by humans until rediscovered by A&A via another entrance. The archaeological remains here are very fragile.

Al had a quick swim in the Sump Passage to the side of the main streamway to check diving potential. Not quite ruled out yet as I understand...

We continued for ca. 800m of stream passage to the resurgence, where we surfaced momentarily and then re-entered to return by the same route. (Note - the landowner here doesn't seem overly keen to have cavers accessing the resurgence via his land; whereas there are no current access issues with the sink.) There is only one swim in the cave - a 5 metre pool - which can actually be avoided by keeping to the side.

On the way back, we delved into the 802,701 side passage to do a spot of digging in the boulders at the end. The passage crosses a number of deep pools - windows to the lower submerged tubes of the passage. We spent about half an hour with a crowbar and made a small amount of progress - the choke is expected to link into an oxbow of the main passage and connect with other side passages. On the crawk back, I launched the crowbar ahead onto the mud floor ahead while emerging from a squeeze - only to see it continue sliding and then hear a loud splosh as it fell into one of the deep pools. I did manage to retrieve it by standing neck-deep in water for a minute or two to locate and fish it out with my foot.

We had quick trip back to the sink entrance and bright sunshine.

We looked into Quarry Rising, which is upstream on the same river. It goes for about 30 metres to a duck which is too tight to push (although Hellie and Al both tried).

So, Creevy's a fantastic though trip with a bit of everything - walks, swims, crawls, formations, mud, archaeology and plenty of aquatic sportiness. Recommended!

Steve.