The
(Further) Discovery of Poll Breugair - Applecross
Following
on from the last newsletter here is the next installment of the discovery of
Poll Breugair, first published in the
Grampian Speleological Group Bulletin in October 2017.
At the start of 2017, we had a
mystery to solve. Although we had
managed to reach the roof of Canada Cavern by climbing the rock bridge that
separates it from Waterfall Chamber, the inlet supplying the waterfall was out
of reach, six metres across the void.
The passage looked big enough to explore; we just had to somehow get to
it. I'd been up to the top of the
chamber a few times, surveying, and it was frustrating to look across this
short distance and not be able to reach it.
Although the walls are mostly weak
shale, there's a bed of limestone a metre or so deep along the top of the
chamber which looked solid enough to take bolts. That seemed a much more achievable prospect than
my earlier idea of trying to assemble a six-metre bridge inside the cave!
By February, we were ready. I'd bought a bagful of through-bolts and hangers,
and borrowed a cordless drill. David
Morrison and Jane Stewart-Bollen helped carry the gear in, and provided
encouragement. Although I had absolutely no experience of expedition rigging,
that was as much as the others, so there was only one way to learn. David and I carried the gear up to the top of
the climb, and I racked it onto my harness in preparation.
I started on safe and familiar
ground, where I placed a pair of good anchors in a 'Y', and then slowly worked
my way across to the waterfall, placing three more bolts on the way. Every so
often, the shale footholds would give way, and I'd find myself dangling thirty
feet above the floor. About two-thirds
of the way across the gap, the solid, boltable rock ended, and I was still a
metre away from anything that looked like a foothold.
I thought perhaps I might be able to
pendulum across, so I dropped down a couple of metres on the rope and started
swinging from side to side. I got a fair
amount of momentum, and could just about reach to where the water comes over
the lip, but each time I tried to grab a hold, I either slipped straight off,
or brought a chunk of rock with me. This
clearly wasn't working - but the good news was that the bolt I was hanging from
was certainly good enough!
I ascended back up to the bolt, and
removed everything heavy from my harness, hanging it up on the traverse. Then I slowly stretched across, grabbing bits
of the ledge - most of these holds came away in my hands, but some held. Inching out over the drop, I was able to wriggle
onto the rock, like a seal climbing onto a shelf, and work my way on my belly
through the stream into the passage beyond, pausing every so often to pass a
little more rope through my descender.
Now I was on the other side of the
gap. I didn't know yet whether I would be able to reverse the crossing, but at
least I was standing on something solid again.
I found myself in a narrow rift passage, and I saw a sound bit of wall
which would take a bolt - except that all the gear was still back at the
traverse, hanging from the rope! I tried
shouting to David that I was across, but he had gone back to where Jane was
waiting and getting cold, so I was really on my own now.
I shuffled along the rift, looking
all the while for a reliable anchor for the rope, but found none. The passage opened up to a wide corner, with
a pool. On the far side of the pool was
a substantial boulder, and I tied the rope around it. Free of this worry, I was able to explore
properly. The passage was already high enough to stand
upright; now it widened and became a stomping great streamway, which I followed
for at least 60 metres eastward. I stopped when I reached a roof collapse; suddenly
I was acutely aware of being well out of earshot in cave that nobody else had
even seen, and in no position to take any risks.
I made my way back to the pitch. With the rope anchored to the boulder at the
pool, there was about ten metres to the start of the traverse, and the stretch
was appreciable. I cautiously followed
it out across the traverse, then climbed down to Canada Cavern, leaving the
placement of the final bolts because Jane was shivering and needed to
leave. We made our way back to the
surface and a celebratory drink in the Inn.
Sunday saw both me and David back in
the cave, this time accompanied by Imogen Furlong and Mike Todd. Imo's greater experience of expedition caving
helped improve my rigging. I placed the
far-end anchors and invited David and Imo to follow me across (Mike was less
keen, having the wrong harness for dangling).
I sent them off up the passage to push my previous limit; I moved more
slowly and filled in a page of surveying as I went. The report from the two of them was that they
had entered the breakdown chamber but only
progressed a small
distance; there was a slope down beyond that needed at least a confidence rope
to facilitate return.
The survey finally caught up with exploration in early March; the 11th of the month saw me, David and Ritchie back in the upper passage (now given the name Shale Highway, in reference to Great and Lower Shale Streets in Cave of the Liar), pushing the remaining leads and measuring up. It seemed that any further progress must now require actual digging, rather than simply a curious, fearless attitude. We thought that more of the Club should see the find, and got Andy Morgan to arrange an official meet for the end of May (we'd have preferred the beginning of May, before the midges come out, but had to fit in with the existing programme).
Before the may, I had a visit from
Steve Gray of the Red Rose Cave and Pothole Club, who detoured on his way from
Kendal to Thurso to have a look. We went
to the upper limit, and
a further 15m of sandy flat-out
crawling was pushed over the upstream boulders.
We failed to regain open streamway, though I did descend into a stream
chamber where water came in and left under low boulders.
Later in the month, Alex and Derek
revisited the Waterfall Dig, and pushed it to a visual connection with Skull
Corner in Liar's Sink. David was involved with this, but wasn't present
myself. The dig name was replaced with a
real cave name: Uamh nan Tuil, or Flood Cave.
The Club meet at the end of May saw a
large GSG contingent descend on Applecross, with both of these caves (and
others in the area) seeing several visits.
Mike Todd and I managed the first through trip from Flood Cave to Liar's
Sink. This didn't involve any new
ground; we knew that Derek had got within sight of the Big Grotto (but having never
visited before, he didn't know which side of the conservation tape he was
on). Due to difficulties in
communication, when I went round to re-enter Flood Cave behind Mike he carried
on through and in a long-distance shouted conversation it became apparent that
he didn't recognise where he was: "I went up to a huge chamber - it looks
as big as Canada Cavern!"
The two of us went to the upstream
limit to survey the previous month's pushing over the boulders. At the end of the survey, in the stream chamber,
I found the water levels lower than before, and shone the disto under the
rock. Five metres! I could see airspace continuing, and I
realised that I couldn't just ignore it.
The duck was about a body length,
then the roof rose to comfortable hands-and-knees height. I followed the streamway for thirty or forty metres,
passing an awkward block which had to be straddled in a quite worrying
posture. Eventually, I emerged into a
wide sandy chamber, with a succession of breakdowns up one side. I left the detailed survey for another
occasion, as I knew Mike was waiting for me and he had no idea where I'd got
to!
The present surveyed length,
including both entrances but not the upstream extension found in May, comes to
about 475m, with roughly 50m still to survey.
A dig (Slot Dig) lies 33m NNW of the
downstream choke, and 5m higher. Several visits have been made here; easy
digging has taken us three metres down a rift that runs roughly north-south and
which may be a continuation of Jawbone Passage across the burn.
Toby Speight
Toby at the waterfall end of the bolt traverse, Poll Breugair. February 2017
photo: David Morrison
Toby Speight noting survey details in Shale Highway
photo: David Morrison
Another view of shale highway, with David Morrison
photo: Toby Speight