Trips & Reports

We planned to do Diccan due to it being a beautiful day and Andy Whitney ensuring us it had not rained since Tuesday. Despite this the amount of water going over the first pitch lip was just ridiculous. After about 2 mins of constructive "umming" and "aahhing" we decided not to commit to certain death. The only alternative lay in a lallygag down Alum Pot. True enough the water cascading down the bottom of the last pitch of Diccan was... read more

This mine was a great end to the weekend. Apart from a small entrance tube constructed of old school tables(!!) the mine is really big and stomply throughout. There are several dodgy boulders hanging in the roof that you might not want to stand under too long though! I'd recommend getting a copy of the survey as it would be easy to get lost, however the cart tracks keep you within the main passageways. The one we had was cleverly... read more

Very impressive to see the amount of stuff that they've found down there: old buckets, bits of cogs, tins, etc. Was particularly impressed by the 100-year-old (a complete guess) horse hoofprints in the mud! The sheer number of cave pearls was absolutely incredible! :o The roof is a tad scary in places, especially where the wooden props have fallen out and splintered, or dubious-looking railway lines are all bent under the weight! Some of the old writing on the walls is covered... read more

It was a superb mine. Walking through it was like taking a trip back in time, and it was very easy to imagine what it must have been like to work down there many years ago. Many implements still intact though rusty, including a saw sharpening bench (eek!), the crane was immaculate though I fear it won't stay that way for much longer. At each of the working faces, a small cubic indent in the ceiling had been carved, where... read more

This trip was an accident! We were looking for Pierres Pot when we found this. It's a major dig at the moment, which looked a bit unstable so we didn't go far down.

Never seen a cave with quite so much metal in it. We were brought there by locals you had emerged from Goatchurch slightly after us, and they took us in completely the wrong direction to Pierre's. It was still interesting to know it is there as it was only a short walk from the car and judging by the equipment they had in there it may be much bigger by next year!

Not very challenging (especialy as there were kids in jeans and trainers coming out when we got there) although 'The Drainpipe' was interesting! Lots of slipery mud slides - yey! :p

Really excelent fun trip. We spent half an hour bailing out 18 inches of water from the first of the ducks in the Troubles Series which was bloody hard work. The bad air seemed to affect all of us as we were all nakered by the end and glad to be back in the streamway.

A fairly leisurely trip but well worth it for the pretties in Bat Passage. There are some straws that are clear rather than being white (or even a mucky brown colour), and a couple of clear curtains and stals. The calcite flows near the end are unbelievably snow-white (and I don't mean the one from the fairytale!) and gleaming. We gave up trying to find our way through the boulder choke up into the big chambery bit but then most of... read more

A great fun weekend in the rain! The intention was to do Dowbergill Passage, however it pissed down all weekend and it looked rather damp. Instead spend the weekend walking round the moors prospecting for new caving areas to explore. Defiantly lots of potential for caves we've never done before. Neil and I were in a tent and Matt and John were in the camper van. Spent Sat night in the pub then played drunken Monopoly in the camper! Apart from... read more

This has to be the most arduous cave I have done so far. It was Matt's and my last day caving which is just a well because me knees are only just recovering! There was shed loads of crawling but the end chamber was great to reach. Just a shame we ran out of time to go down the pitches at the end. One day in the future I would like to go back to have... read more

Very hard cave!!! Not particularly tight, except perhaps that slither down through the boulder choke, however, very hard work, constant crawling, stooping, crabwalking and flat out crawling/elbow-walking with very little breaks in between. Took us a long time to get down to the pitch (3.5hr, which for a non-SRT cave is a long time) and it seemed to go on forever. The cave bears very little reseblance to the guide. The best way forward is to follow the streamway... read more

When finding caves in Ireland, completely ignore selected caves. Take the OS coordinate of the cave and use a map. Btw, I saw a mouse in Craven Canyon.

After rather a lot of faff, choosing to follow the Selected Caves guide of how to find Poulelva... which was a load of rubbish, we went with grid ref instead, and found a style across the wall mentioned in the Caves of County Clare guidebook. By the time we had rigged the other team had overtaken us. A great cave, and a fun trip. We took the entrance undeneath the plaque, the others too the other entrance, both of which lead... read more

I'll be controvertial in saying this was my favourite cave in Ireland! I really enjoyed it! The streamway at the start managed to bend in a completely different pattern to the pathway that had been cut. Debbie enjoyed rolling along some bedding planes, and I enjoyed going past the frothy foamy bits of river. Unfortunately we did have a little problem route finding past this, but meant we got to see a little more along some side routes. Also think Chuck... read more

The day began well..we found the cave easily enough (apart from the spiky things and nettles)and then found a better way round to it. when we returned to the car we had aquired a little friend- a small annoying dog (kevin liked it, the rest didnt). then the first thing went wrong-gover forgot his helmet and had to drive back for it (in full caving gear!) while he was gone the dog continued to annoy/amuse us, and i teased it with... read more

Quite possibly the most beautiful cave I have ever seen. Now just want to go back and photograph it!

The long crabwalking streamway was a bit boring but the end of it was definalty worth it. A stunning chamber of huge formations - some of the best I've ever seen. Love to get down there again with a camera! The scummy mudd pools were fun - mmmm mud up to the hip!

YAY MUD FIGHT!!!!!!

Great fun trip, unfortunatly it was spoiled by me being stupid a falling knee first off a traverse into the streamway and being in pain the whole rest of the trip. Crawling on one knee is damn hard work! Mud fight was great fun - we all went into battle - and looked like it after. Matt had so much mudd on his face it was hard to tell who he was!

I loved Poll Donut. This was my first time to lead and navigate a trip. Yey! And we got out! Yey again! The mud fight was awesome. I can see mud dripping from the ceiling.... Ahh it's Debbie and Dom. Take that.... @#%#$&!!!

Hehe! Great trip! Nice variety of things (crawling, stomping, etc) and lots of interesting things to see. We made it down to the muddy passage leading to the blocked entrance, where we had a mud fight, and I clogged Doms ears up with mud (hehehe). The return up to polldonough was a little bit harder to navigate. A flat out crawl back near the start of the cave bears right to the column chamber near the polldonough south entrance,... read more

May I say I was the most innocent in attacking when it came to the mud fight, mostly due to my lack of aim! But the fight was fun!! Our team most defintely "won" that one! I was removing mud from my ears for quite a few hours later, and it was flowing out when I was showering! Dom

Follow the obvious path.... And there it all goes wrong, what path?!?

Quite a tricky cave to find! Turn right off the road at the vague path/overgrown wall near the top of the hill, and Cullaun 1 is well hidden beneath bushes and trees on the left hand side in a sort of clearing. Several other upstream entrances might be found by accident if you're unlucky too! We aimed to complete the rather long round trip, however, with the number of people in party this proved to be unlikely. Navigation by the... read more