Post date: Oct 3, 2010 10:42:32 PM

Cavers: Éabha Lankford, Al Kennedy

Trip planned to re-visit the 1973 upstream extension to Tiragarvan River Cave.

Initially we walked up the road from the lay-by at the Lugadorris entrance to have a look at the stream sinks - the Roadside Sink and Poulbe. The Roadside Sink is the main sink of the Tiragarvan River.

After this we kitted up and entered Lugadorris. There was a lot more water than previously and the September Sump didn't look very inviting. Éabha helped me to kit up in the constricted sump pool. We agreed a two hour time beyond the sump and i set off. Éabha went back downstream to Puthewarntagh, before going to look for the Poulbe sink. She found the marshy area that drains into the sink but the sink was rather indeterminate and impenetrable.

The visibility was a poor 0.5 metres, and on the other side the landing beach in Christmas Passage* was under 15 centimetres of water. At the December Sump* i spotted John Parker's old line tied off to a natural thread on the lip of the sump, and initially tried to follow this. It seemed to have moved as i couldn't even follow it under water. I belayed my own line to a silt screw on a mud bank and dived to the right of Parker's line where the sump seemed more spacious. I discovered that the old line had moved on the wrong side of a pendant, and once this had been corrected i followed it. The visibility was half that of the first sump, the bottom of the December Sump being muddy. However the mud was only a few centimetres deep, and underneath there was hard gravel, which made belaying to silt screws difficult - even by pressing against the roof i couldn't push them in securely. The sump was short and low, and surfaced in a small canal passage. The old line was tied to a stalactite and well-calcited in place.

Going up stream old gour cascades were passed on the right in a gloomy canal and then after crossing a sandbank (bearing the faint imprint of one of Parker's boots) it opened up, with some roof breakdown, and became more pleasant streamway with a nice dripstone cascade on the right. The streamway ended in a large boulder collapse. Initially it seemed there was no way on, and i climbed over a couple of large boulders to what appeared to be a side passage. This rapidly closed down in a small bedding plane sump - a small inlet. Back in the main stream i found i could swim under the roof on the right-hand side of the passage and passed two ducks to the boulder-choke proper, which i estimated as close to the Roadside Sink. This filled the left-hand side of the passage, but it was possible to crawl flat-out in the stream under the roof on the right, where the stream had incised into a bedding plane. This ended at a small cascade from the boulder-choke, blocked by a couple of rocks which i pushed aside to squeeze into the final section. This squeeze was loose and seeing that the stream emerged from more boulders i gladly retreated. I started back, sketching roughly as i went and checking for side passages, particularly one coming from Poulbe. The only one of any note was found on the right wall about 25 metres upstream from the sump, where it was possible to crawl over smooth mudbanks (with fresh tracks of a small animal, but no marks from Parker**) to reach a series of large gour pools, dried up but still clean. It would be possible to continue beyond these, but not without damaging the gour pools. It appears to be a tiny inlet, as there was a small channel carved in the mud, but also to flood considerably, from the tide marks visible on the walls.

The return dives were uneventful and i rejoined Éabha at Lugadorris.

*no names were given to features in the 1973 dive report.

**i.e. i'm sure Parker went here, this would be the passage blocked by pretties, but subsequent flooding in this passage has erased any marks he left.