Pegasus Caving Club
aka Pegasus Club Nottingham
12th July Cullaun II
PC
11:00. Cloud 0%: Wind SE, F4: Visibility 20Nm: Rain Gauge 0mm: Temp:29°C: Ground dry: The Plan: test out the calf muscle. Small trickle at entrance, delighted at the unexpected flow at the cascade. Frustrated from nursing the calf muscle injury these two months especially whilst excavating at Rathgurreen. Desperately needed a trip; took a slow, steady pace to pool chamber: some discomfort during exiting, but note a definite improvement.
Pat Cronin
31st July Cullaun II
PC
11:30. Cloud 100%, base 700ft: Wind N, F4: Visibility 500m: Rain Gauge 7mm, raining: Temp:20°C: Ground wet: The Plan: exercise – test out the injuries. Many surface pools and streamlets along the dense, foggy path. Entrance taking a small flow. Good size stream in entrance passage, large flow at the cascades, enough to spill along the bedding to the next channel. Stream significantly augmented by that issuing from Year Passage. Flood foam 0.8m above present elevated stream level, which was just lapping the UBSS erosion gauge bolts below the waterfall downstream of the Cascades. Rain Gauge at Carnane recorded 194mm for July. Pleasant, noisy trip, the calf muscle behaving itself, the strained left ankle presented minor discomfort. Exiting the streamway required effort, outside rain had increased. Nice trip.
Pat Cronin
2nd August Possible entrance
PC
14:30. Cloud 100%: Wind SW, F4: Visibility 20Nm: Rain Gauge 0mm: Temp:20°C: Ground dry: The Plan: search for cave. Eilidh McNamara spoke of encountering a cave entrance during walking the gulley southeast of Poul Eich Oíta, (Drunken Horse Hole). Headed to the concluded dig, found the handle parted from the lid. Rabbits occupy the small heap of much levelled spoil. Took photos of site. Followed the given google map reference without success. Covered each side of the gulley from the field, south, stopping the search at the obvious debris cone at ITM 510244 x 703439. The entrance description is an open rift of some two metres deep. Whilst sounding great, the broad gulley has experienced Glacial effects and subsequent weathering of its eastern cliff face. It’s possible the hole is a gap between accumulated talus fallen from the thirty odd metre cliff face. Intend return.
Pat Cronin
The dig site of 'Drunken Horse Hole' now returning to nature
3rd August Pouldubh
Daniel Breheny, PC
11:30. Cloud 100%: Wind W, F3: Visibility 20Nm: Rain Gauge 13mm: Temp:21°C: Ground wet: The Plan: 1st Trip for DB. Approached by DB during the Maree archaeological project. Met in Lisdoonvarna. DB quite tall, even so kit fitted quite well. Audible roar from Middle entrance. Pouldubh South entrance taking huge stream, entrance passage had eight inches of stream. Sent DB through tube to main stream. Flood foam 600mm up the walls, swaths in the meanders. Answered many sensible questions, DB alert and unphased. Large cascade; thunderous. Stream tumbling down the climb from the small inlet directly above. Large stream in upper passage averaging 220mm. DB delighted with the geology, development and decorations. Large stream volume squeezed into the crawl: character building exiting the turbulent flow. DB delighted with the trip, as college permits will return for another trip: a Grand Day Out.
Pat Cronin
6th August Poulbruíon
PC
12:30. Cloud 100%, haze: Wind SW, F1: Visibility 15Nm: Rain Gauge 0mm: Temp:21°C: Ground damp: The Plan: Assess status. Last dug 12th May 2025, since when injury and supervising commitments prevented visits. Walked in from the Cross, ankle and calf muscle doing well. Status of the infrastructure, all in good order, ingress of foliage requires cutting back. Below, no obvious sign of shoring movement, no sign of collage, partial or otherwise: all good to go.
Pat Cronin
9th August Poulnagollum, (Branch Passage Gallery)
11:00. Cloud 75%: Wind W, F4/6: Visibility 20Nm: Rain Gauge 3mm: Temp: 20°C: Ground damp: The Plan: tourist. Spontaneous decision, somewhat frustrated with ongoing injuries. Laddered main entrance; surprizingly small cascade issuing from Upper Poulnagollum. In Gunman’s Cave, through Muddy Links to Branch Passage. BP stream clearly audible from start of Muddy Links crawl. Evidence of recent flooding, foam a metre above todays stream level: believed related to 31mm of rainfall over the 3rd 4th and 5th August, recorded at Carnane. July 194mm, so far this month 45mm. Really pleasant trip along this superb stream passage, following the stream. Some 500m downstream of Muddy Links, near the inlet, experienced sharp discomfort, turned the trip, rather than the ankle. Steady wander out. Minor issue ascending ladder. Delightful trip.
Pat Cronin
15th August Poulbruíon
PC
11:00. Cloud 10%: Wind N, F4: Visibility 15Nm, haze: Rain Gauge 3mm: Temp: 23°C: Ground damp: The Plan: Assessment. Last dug 12th May; did not descend the 6th Aug visit. Went up today owing to forthcoming hospital procedure - possibly out of action for a month, perhaps
more. Though the bottom of the shaft showed no obvious debris pile following recent rain events, southern shoring did show some finer deposits washed out, leaving gaps. Such gravels, sand and clays formed a nice, level floor. Reviewed protruding boulders on the north side, apparently cemented together with ‘soft stal’ - reducing the available working area. Studied this projecting mass, cautiously checking the packed boulders above, supported by horizontal lengths of rebar resting on galvanized steel stemples – all reasonably stable. Clearing the floor debris, encountered a large boulder, spent time removing same. Inspecting the projecting boulder mass, carefully poked the east side, from which a flagstone, (600mm x 350mm x 80mm), rolled out from the pile. This twenty kilo rock fitted nicely into the south side shoring, clearing more mud from the boulder mass more rocks came free, all packed into the southern shoring. Cautious poking stopped when the remaining mass, ¼ tonne, collapsed into the shaft. Debris cleared, the cavity is 700mm deep, 1200mm wide and 750mm high, all boulders, large and small, were packed mostly into the south side. Delighted to note gaps among exposed boulders in the rear of the fresh cavity, permitting drainage of the stream. More importantly the one metre long lengths of rebar driven in at each stemple level remain in place. One metre lengths are the minimum to be used to avoid localized collapses, as today, from becoming very serious incidents. Next visit two more steps need installing, with two further stemples, to the south and north sides. The size of the northern cavity presents a fine opportunity to insert both horizontal rebar overlaid with reinforcing mesh, it also presents a chance to set this stemple back a little, increasing the working area. Called into FR on return, sorting his work schedule out for digging sessions. Nice trip.
Pat Cronin