John Thomas, Fermanagh, November 15th, 1998







sunrise over Aghnahoo


leaving the John Thomas cave

Nice group photograph after our caving trip, right at the entrance of the John Thomas cave. Standing, f.l.t.r.: Paul, Steven, Joy, Aisling, Steven. Lying left: me, lying right: John.
Those oversuits are bright blue and red except Joy's which is yellow. Now they are all muddy brown...

another group photo here. This photo by Ian Gault


This is the picture of the year! Will enter the history books! Whatever is hanging out of that helmet is Joy's hair, but in finger-thick muddy strands. Somehow her pony tail opened. We had a good laugh - actually we still have, and, prooving her good sense of humour, she's laughing too.

This picture is only a cut-out. Full picture here. This photo by Ian Gault.

After the muddy experience - Thomas, Fernando, Paul, Joy as she just leaves the cave, and Aisling coming closer and closer.... and thus being out of focus.

the entrance passage

The entrance passage of John Thomas is narrow, but rather comfortable, with the exception of one tight squeeze. After this squeeze, you'll be in a low but not too narrow chamber where Joy and Aisling are making their way through on this picture.


climb down to the rift
Afterwards there will be a little climb down. The picture to the left, showing John and Steven, is taken from above, and the other two pictures (Aisling climbing) are more or less John's and Steven's view.
Another cool photograph of this climb, taken from below: Thomas (left) and Steven (right). The perspective is funny. This photo by Ian Gault

crossing the rift
Then comes a feature which makes some people especially nervous (or was it just me?): a rift, about 10 meters deep. It is very easy to cross it, with your back on one wall and your feet on ledges on the other wall. There are lots of grips for your hands. The difficulity is purely psychological: below you it goes down!

ridin' the dolphin
A small tunnel leads you further, and offers you the opportunity to `ride the dolphin'! The dolphin is some solid mud feature on the ground, resembling the back of a dolphin. You've got to spread your legs to crawl over it, so it really feels like riding the dolphin...

Left picture: Paul crawling up (on the way back), right: Aisling crawling down, Joy behind her.


leaving the mud chamber
after the dolphin you have to climb down into the mud chamber. This chamber is big, and the flash of an ordinary camera can't provide enough light for photographs. In that chamber, we were sliding down a muddy incline, and got stuck with our boots in the deep mud. Walking down there is a bit difficult, but funny.
We continue crawling and rolling through a long broad but low passage. As you can't walk up the incline - you'd slide down again - you've got to jump or be assisted (as in the photograph on the lower left).


waterfall
You'll find this structure, created by a waterfall. Reminds me of a movie set for 'Aliens'....

Having fun to the left: Thomas playing Tic Tac Toe in the mud on John's oversuit.
Except for those to the left, these photos by Ian Gault.




Left: these are cavers leaving the pub. Bottom left: they're just continuing drinking at home. Bottom right: At `Border Diners' in Belcoo. Irish 5 star gourmet temple.




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