Ireland 2026 - Caves, a Headland, a BBQ and a Birthday Boy

Thursday 21st May

Richard’s birthday.

It was a rough night with a lot of wind and rain.

We made a 40 mile trip back into Northern Ireland for a visit to the Marble Arch Caves.  The entrance to the caves is just over in County Fermanagh but the caves stretch for nearly 7 miles, some of which is under Eire.

The story of the caves began roughly 330 to 340 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. At this time, the area that is now County Fermanagh was covered by a warm, shallow tropical sea. Skeletons of marine organisms accumulated on the sea floor, eventually compressing into thick layers of limestone.  Over the last few hundred thousand years, the modern cave system took shape through a process called karstification. Three tributary rivers (the Owenbrean, Aghinrawn, and Sruh Croppa) flow through it.

I could go on and on about karstification and calcification but I’m sure you would fall asleep! 

For centuries, the deep, dark chasms were treated with superstition and fear. Local folklore held that the caves were the domain of ghosts, witches, and fairies, keeping people from exploring past the entrance. 

In August 1895, the Earl of Enniskillen invited Édouard-Alfred Martel, a legendary French speleologist widely considered the "father of modern caving," to conduct the first scientific exploration of the system.  Martel partnered with a Dublin-born naturalist named Lyster Jameson. Armed only with candles, heavy ropes, magnesium flares for brief bursts of bright light, and a collapsible canvas canoe made in America, the two men lowered themselves into the subterranean darkness. 

They paddled and waded through the unknown waters, mapping the first 300 meters of the system.

In 1907 cavers from the Yorkshire Ramblers' Club returned without a boat, opting to wade through the freezing water to push past Martel’s furthest point, discovering the Great Boulder Chamber. 

Between 1935 and 1938 explorers successfully connected different sections of the cave by using floating candles to trace the water currents through low, waterlogged arches, mapping the Skreen Hill chambers. 

Then in the 1960s with the advent of modern cave diving speleologists were able to pass submerged sumps, uncovering miles of additional hidden passages. 

In 2015 the region was officially designated as the Cuilcagh Lakelands UNESCO Global Geopark.

All the group were in awe of it all and many of us felt they were the best caves er had ever visited - this includes Richard and me.

After the caves we headed to Glencar waterfalls. We all donned our wet weather gear, including Rio, only to discover at the entrance that it was no dogs!  Apparently, it is a very good waterfall especially after all the rain ☹️

Back at the site it was laundry time, we still had clean clothes, but it seemed to make sense to get it done and it was pretty cheap.

16 of us went out for dinner to a local pub. Richard and I had pizza - the toppings were excellent, but the base was soggy which was a great shame, however the craic was good!

Friday 22nd May

We were up and away early, for us anyway. We were heading to Achill Island, the last stop with the group. 

A quick sortie into Lidl then we left Sligo behind.

We were heading to Downpatrick Head, one of the WAW Signature Points. 

The headland rises about 130 feet, but we were at the top looking down!  However, the crown jewel of the headland is the towering 150 feet high Dún Briste Sea Stack which stands just off the coast having broken away from the mainland in a severe storm in 1393. Its distinct, brightly layered rock strata showcase millions of years of geological formation.  According to local folklore, the stack was created when St. Patrick struck the ground with his staff, isolating a pagan chief on the newly formed rock. 

In the middle of the headland is a fenced off area round a huge blowhole which is about 130 feet down through the rock.  During heavy swells or storms, the ocean is forced up through the tunnel with incredible pressure, creating spectacular plumes of spray.

A few miles west of Downpatrick Head is the Céide Fields Visitor Centre. We probably wouldn’t have stopped as the car park was pretty rammed but were told that there was live Irish music playing and today it was free for the over 60s!   The Centre stands on one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in the world, mapping out a highly organized system of fields, dwellings, and megalithic tombs built by a sophisticated farming community over 5,000 years ago.  Neolithic farmers cleared the primeval forests here to graze cattle and cultivate the land. The stone walls they built form a vast, interconnected grid layout that stretches for miles across the landscape.  As the climate changed millennia ago, the area became much wetter, causing a slow-growing layer of blanket bog to form. This thick peat layer completely sealed and perfectly preserved the stone walls, keeping them completely untouched by modern agriculture until their discovery in the 1930s.

The weather was pretty awful, so we didn’t wander around outside instead went into the Centre. Richard went round the exhibition while I stood entranced by the Irish music which was very good indeed.

In the centre of the Visitor Centre is a 4,300 year old pine tree trunk excavated from the bog. It was quite a feature.

As the weather wasn’t conducive to sightseeing, we set off for Achill Island. Our journey took us over very bleak landscape which was brought to life in places by the vibrant yellow of the gorse and the pink of the wild rhododendrons. In places they were mixed together and looked beautiful. Sadly, I didn’t get a photo.

Our campsite was on Keel beach, a 2 mile stretch of sand. I took Rio for a lovely run on the beach where there was a kite surfer doing tricks, before settling down for the evening.

Saturday 23rd May

At long last a day off, but it was a pretty grim day.  It was grey and blowing a hooley. After lunch we decided that we really needed some fresh air so bundled ourselves up and braved the elements.  We had seen a butchers from the van so wandered across to buy some salt marsh lamb.  We walked back via the beach and there were lots of sheep hoof prints, so I guess that proved that the lamb I bought was really local salt marsh!

 The wind howled all afternoon, and the greyness really got us down. Kat had suggested a BBQ as it was our last night together, so Richard moved Kiwi to 90 degrees next to Kat which at least made a relatively good windbreak.
 

People slowly emerged from their vans bringing chairs, tables, BBQs and food over to the camp. It was a lovely evening and just what we needed after 2 really rotten days.

As nothing much happened today, I thought I would tell you about a soldier honoured with a statue in Bushmills. Robert Quigg was awarded the Victoria Cross medal for most conspicuous bravery at the Battle of the Somme.  The citation, published in The London Gazette read:
 
No. 12/18645 Pte. Robert Quigg, R. Ir. Rif. For most conspicuous bravery. He advanced to the assault with his platoon three times. Early next morning, hearing a rumour that his platoon officer was lying out wounded, he went out seven times to look for him under heavy shell and machine gun fire, each time bringing back a wounded man. The last man he dragged in on a waterproof sheet from within a few yards of the enemy's wire. He was seven hours engaged in this most gallant work and finally was so exhausted that he had to give it up.