Length: 5285metres
Depth: 72 metres
Catchment:
6 km square
Date: 1316/94
Cave
Dwellers: Jo Wilby,
Linda and Stuart Johnson, Bob Johnson, Roz
Arriving
at Doolin at Conners Bar on
Saturday night, precisely at 1O.4Opm Stuart rushed off into the bar to order as
much Guinness as he could drink (four pints) before we got chucked out. To be
fair to Stuart he also ordered me four pints, knowing full well that I couldn’t
drink four pints in twenty minutes. But being a gentleman he assisted both
Linda and I to polish off the dark, smooth medicine required to adjust to Irish
life.
Feeling
suitably relaxed and being blessed with good weather we had to make our first
team decision (scary!), which cave should we rush off and explore first?
Unanimously it had to be
Monday
morning at 9am, (Sunday being a day of rest and had to be respected with the
Guinness prayer) the Johnsons were awake and out of
the tent (yes it’s true), and even better making my breakfast. Linda always
feels sorry for poor unfortunates who can’t cook (bless her) or for those idol gits that can’t be bothered. All ready and dead keen off we went to the cave. The changing ritual consisted of the
usual flash of white bodies at the side of the road, whilst debating which
entrance to go in. Stuart and Linda had gone in at the top entrance (Polldonough North B8) during the summer of 1984. This made
little difference, we still went through the
ceremonial wandering all over the fell. Their memory of the entrance location
was a faded blip, probably drowned in a sea of alcohol in the ten year
interval. Fortunately Bob tripped up in the heavy foliage and found the
entrance.
Being
eaten to death by midges Stuart lead the party into a wet, slimy, muddy crawl
which later dried out to a rift type passage. Bob and I followed at the rear
and quickly came across a people choke. Minutes into the cave Stuart was stuck
Stuart couldn’t remember this bit his memory had faded over the years. Truth be known he probably didn’t have a beer belly then and his
fine figure of a man just slipped down the rift. Richard watching anxiously was
helpless in Stuarts predicament and thought better of
pushing him down the rift, in fear of having to push him back up. Linda,
totally unfamiliar with her surroundings repeatedly communicated to Stuart the
same message “I don’t remember this.”
Stuart
payed little attention other than reversing his
position. Meanwhile Roz had got herself into a difficult position and had got
cramp in her hip. Calling out to Bob, who could do little from the back but
express comforting words, (it worked) Roz was able to
turn herself around which was just as well as the team from the front gave the
orders to abort mission and head on out. Back in the fresh air, a short walk
across the landscape and in the bottom entrance. “Take Two’ Delegated by Stuart,
Richard being at the front (unfortunately for him) was put in charge. Not
having read the guidebook and even worse being an outdoors instructor, would
naturally conclude the lack of knowledge to lead the party.
Irrespectively,
Richards lack of leadership skills provided us with a
suitable target for jovial aggravation. Richard had this unique ability to
follow the wrong passage or even better go down the same passage three times! I
could hear this echo from Linda at the front commenting, “haven’t
been down here before.” Bob paying no attention at all said definitely not. Bob
went off following a low, grotty crawl and
surprise, surprise no-one followed him. Meanwhile the
rest of us were crawling along this sharp, tortuous passage. Bob realising he was on his own rejoined the rest of the group.
Richard leading on we went down a wet passage which was low and waist deep. He
stopped the group and communicated that this was not the way on. The water was
getting deeper and the passage closed down and as brave as he was he wasn’t
taking a step further. Hum!
The
entertainment value was bordering on maximum points at
Richards expense, whilst regrouping down the passage for another team
discussion. Audrey, who was on medical advise not to
crawl on her knees, could not face crawling down another sharp passage and gave
the signal for retreat. Richard being the dutiful partner and deflated by
constant piss take found escorting Audrey out into the beautiful sunshine an
opportunity not to be missed. Equally the
Then there
were four. Linda, Stuart, Bob and I were on our fourth trip down the same
passage and decided to carry on from where Richard had left off. Stuart was now
in charge, delegated by Linda and I. This was in fear
of Bobs irresponsibility in the absence of Roz and also his light had just gone out. Back down the wet
passage into a low bedding and we were on our way to
caverns measureless to man. Stuarts comments of
Richard being a wimp provided us with further ammunition to give Richard the
yellow card for the rest of the week. For the record, as I mentioned earlier,
both Stuart and Linda had been down here before and couldn’t remember the way
on either!
From the
low bedding crawl the cave opened up into a superb large streamway
passage. A canyon with small cascades and interesting pools.
Just a minor observation I would like to mention, you could see flood debris on
the roof 50ft up! Not a cave to do in wet weather. Easy walking along the
passage we came to a large pool approximately six feet across and 15 feet
deep, this was one of those interesting pools. Stuart didn’t tell us about this
until he had gone across and talked Bob into it, who incidentally can’t swim.
My instruction from Stuart was, “Just go
for it!”
Launching across the pool I was about six inches from safety and frantically
waving my arms around in the water, Stuart found this quite entertaining.
Grabbing the ledge I was back on my feet. When Linda launched across in her
home made oversuit it completely inflated (bouyancy-aid) and she floated across. By this time Stuart
was in complete hysterics watching Lindas Michelin
man appearance deflate into the Linda we all know and love. Onward, we
continued into a very easy walking passage which was noticeably very dark. At
the bottom you got the feeling you were a long way from safety and in
particular Linda constantly reminded us of the flood debris on the roof.
About
turn. One obstacle on the way back, “The Pool”.
The return
crossing was much more difficult as there was nothing to grab hold of and even
worse the exit was up a small, smooth sided incline which narrowed at the far
end. Bob, with great confidence, determined to traverse around the far wall and
came to an abrupt stop with nothing else to grab hold of. Bob was suspended in
mid crossing while Stuart went round the opposite side and threw himself to
safety. Bob let go, paddling in the water for a bit, prior to Stuart helping
him out. I got that dreaded feeling, I was next.
Stuart,
standing at the top of the incline, instructed me that he would put his welly out for me to grab hold of while Bob held Stuart.
Traversing around the right hand wall the moment came when I had to let go -
SHIT. Before I knew it I was flaying around in the water like an idiot.
Fortunately I bridged the sides as I couldn’t reach the welly
anyway and Stuart and Bob helped to pull me out. Linda unfortunately being the
last to go and watching my unstylish performance made a run for it and threw
herself across the pool and was out in two seconds. This made my performance
look like a complete over dramatised documentary. As
you can imagine it gave Stuart, Bob and Linda something to laugh about and
later took the opportunity to communicate to everyone else my specialised swimming techniques.
Travelling quickly through the cave and back down the
same passage for the fifth and final time we were back out into glorious
sunshine.
A
superb trip, highly recommended in stable weather.
Jo
Wilby
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