Post date: May 17, 2010 5:32:11 PM

Diggers - Tony, Al

Tullyvaragh sink had been playing on my mind for some time, the more so since we confirmed that Poll'd is presently inaccessible. The flood-debris blocked rift recorded by the ICC in the 1960s, and checked briefly by Artur and myself last year, offered some hope of an entry into this puzzling system. Poll'd had been recorded as a normally dry shakehole although water apparently was known to rise at its entrance, then along the cave passage three streams or inlets were recorded by the ICC (it's hard to tell whether it is one, two or three separate streams). Tullyvaragh is a medium-sized shakehole and is the nearest (known) sink to Poll'd - there is approximately 80 m between the caves. As to the subterranean course of the stream after Poll'd, well...!

With the whole day ahead of us i had thought to spend no more than a couple of hours at Tullyvaragh sink to make a start on the dig and assess the prospects, and then go to Creevy Cave for a first trip there for Tony followed by some more digging in the 802,701 terminal choke. Fuelled by breakfast rolls from Quinn's we put this into action with a call to the Tullyvaragh landowner. No-one was in, but since Steve and i had already been given permission to dig we went ahead.

Tullyvaragh sink - the river enters from the left. Polltullyvaragh entrance is the rift on the right.

Having seen the sink in 'normal' conditions with Artur, where the stream was sinking in a muddy hole among muddy banks, and in flood conditions with Steve with several metres depth of water in the shakehole, i was very surprised to find it almost completely dry. There was a tiny trickle coming from the culverts, but on later inspection this was found to come from the hillside above and not the Tullyvaragh river. We poked around the bottom of the shakehole, finding several small muddy holes leading below the back walls, and the large mud- and branched-choked rift. At 1 to 2 m wide and 5 m long it led to a high bank of mud and rubbish underneath an arch. At the top of this a tiny void was visible, a possible dig. The alternative seemed to be to dig downwards at the foot of this mound, the most likely course of the water, although there was the risk that we would have to dig beneath the mound. We chose this later site anyway, and started moving branches and scooping out mung - and numerous footballs! To our surprise, and delight, a solid wall appeared underneath the mound, and soon we were opening up a fair-sized shaft with three solid walls - the fourth, the front 'wall', remained flood debris. We stabilised the slope above as well as possible, and also the debris wall. A 25 L drum pulled from the rubbish was cut into a convenient bucket, and as the shaft deepened this was tied on to a rope. An enticing void space appeared below the back wall and the floor of the shaft became a bit shoogly. The possiblity of a 40 m pitch below was mooted... We stabilised the walls further and opened up the entrance to the void, before taking a tea-break. Plans to dig in Creevy were put on hold!

The shaft appears! Tony digging.

The shaft deepens. Al digging.

Round two was interrupted when Tony got a dollop of mung in his eye, then i took a turn in the void. The way on was obvious, following the rift, but was completely choked. A large blue barrel was jammed solidly against one wall and held in place by mud, branches and assorted rubbish. After clearing these from around the drum i swapped again with Tony, who removed the barrel to reveal open passage with a good echo!

Tony breaks through!

After taking a few pictures for posterity we squeezed over the remains of a crate and dropped about 1 m into a rift, which led out over a mudbank to a large chamber, about 8 m long, 3 to 4 m wide and 3 to 4 m high. This had a thick but not wet muddy floor and was surprisingly clean, with some fossils and a patch of calcite visible on the walls. It ended in a muddy boulder choke with a void at the top. Although we cleared some more rubbish from here, and five more footballs (bringing the total to 15 and inspiring us to name the chamber the Ball Pit), several large boulders awkwardly stacked blocked the way on (to another probable dig). We removed most of the rubbish from the Ball Pit and placed branches across the entrance to try to keep larger debris out in the event of a (small) flood.

Al in the rift after the entrance shaft, the way to the Ball Pit behind.

In the Ball Pit, Al looking at the terminal choke.

The total length we estimated at about 15 m, and about 4 m deep from the entrance to the floor of the Ball Pit. The rift is aligned approximately west-east.

Looking out of the entrance shaft...

...and with caver silhouetted.

Further work:

1. Remove rubbish from the site.

2. Cap and remove at least one boulder from the top of the terminal choke, and possibly one or two more, and dig along the roof and hopefully down.

3. Survey.

4. If it proves worth it, stabilise the entrance and fit a grill of some sort to keep debris out.

Although we'd spent about 5 hours opening Polltullyvaragh we managed a short through trip in Creevy Cave from sink to rising and back again.

Al