Fergus River Cave - May 2025

Fergus River Cave

The landowner does not allow trips without explicit permission for a caving trip, the entrance is on an active farm and the field used for access always has livestock. No trespassing without permission.

This cave is extremely flood prone and should not be visited unless weather conditions are appropriate. 

This cave is arduous and route finding can be challenging. 

This is one for experienced cavers - seek local knowledge before attempting a visit.

Trip

To Sweet Afton Corner

Group

Rowena Sheen

Owen O'Connell

Milosz Olejczuk

Tim O'Connell

Chris Hayes

Weather

Dry and settled forecast and preceding weeks

Parking

Kilnaboy church and carpool to farm entrance. 

Trip Length

4 hours

Description

Milosz has been looking to get in here for a long time and always proposes it as a club trip - and a repeat visit timely after the long hiatus; after the flurry of activity a few years back (digging attempts, bottle carries, exploring, surveying and sump diving). With the weather for the preceding weeks optimum, if we didn't get in now we'd never do it! 

Entered the cave after minimal faff at 12. A long time since anyone has visited, judging by the vegetation growth. 

Route finding was somewhat tricky since it was a long time since any of us were in there, Fergus is a cave where you can get a 'little' lost often, with lots of dead ends and route options of varying difficulty. In many places, evidence of previous visits have been obscured by the passage of water on mud and shingle. There are arrows and cairns at some junctions placed by previous explorers but these can often be more of a hinderance than a help and the original intention lost; they can be in haphazard places (some cairns built by someone a long time ago to show the way NOT to go perhaps? More since to show the correct way? Who knows..). Drawing arrows on ancient sediments and building cairns isn't good practice these days anyway - we built one or two temporary cairns at critical junctions or noted particular rock forms as our guides on the way in and deconstructed any of our builds on the way back. 

After some route finding and pushing on through the classic Clare caver rite of passage squeeze, 'The Nick', we stopped up for some photos and awe in Shingle Cavern, one of my absolute favourite places in the Burren, bar none. 

Route finding at the end of Block Chamber threw us, none of us who had been there before could remember the exact place where you drop out of the chamber into the tiny, somewhat hidden entrance to the continuing passage. Also, the initial awfulness and never-ending nature of the tiny tubelike passage was forgotten from previous visits. From Acoustic passage, the going is easier and more unusual/ dramatic, with wide bedding planes sweeping off to earth and mud banks on either side.

One surprise here, while we checked the clock (we were running out of time at this stage and thinking of our return journey) were the roosting lesser horseshoe bats, the plentiful guano and the tiny rusty coloured beetles feasting on the bat poo. Another entrance to Fergus cave is possible hereabouts, as there is less evidence of bats near the entrance. The air does seem fresh here too...

The team collectively found the route to Sweet Afton corner - plans to get to the sump or see No Mercy Hall were abandoned so we could make an exit on good time, allowing for error in route finding on the way out. 

After a few short stops for photos at the pristine formations and some hydration/ sugar we exited at 4 - sore, tired, hungry and happy. The cave is friendlier as you are going with the flow of the water on the way out, I'm convinced. 

Tharr Barr :) 

Highlights

• Excellent team work/ team spirit
• Arriving to Shingle Cavern
• Roosting Bats in Acoustic Chamber and evidence of bats throughout
• The unspoilt, well decorated passages on the way out
• The dinner once home

Lowlights

• The unrelenting 120 metre tube connecting block chamber and acoustic passage
• Scundered knees

Kit

• Kneepads are a must
• Copy of the Cave description was more than useful
• Short sling
• Camera
• Food/ water in one shared bag

Shingle Cavern - Photo by Rowena Sheen

Acoustic Passage - Photo by Rowena Sheen

Entrance Series Pretties - Photo by Rowena Sheen

Lesser Horseshoe Roosting in Acoustic Passage - Photo by Owen O'Connell