"Trì Gallachan" means "Three Bitches" in honor of the three wee terriers that led the way to the latest valley of Scottish cave discovery.
Weekend of June30 - July 1
Parking our cars at a small lay-by just past the turn-off to Glen Creran, we traveled uphill from Drumavuic southeasterly along Allt Buidhe (see the yellow line on the map below).
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To get to the Trì
Gallachan part of the valley, we followed the track along the stream up into the glen
above. As we hiked up the hill, we could see behind us the cave-ridden hillside of Glen Creran where we planned to go do some surveying after our little hunt. I don't think any of us actually believed we'd get to surveying the Black Rift, but it's always nice to have a backup plan.
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| View of Glen Creran to the North Loch Creran to the West |
Along the way, we passed a number of Scotland's larger predators, treacherous carnivorous plants, but somehow we survived. We did notice however, the marked absence of the smaller predators. Although we got nibbled on a bit by the car, there were no midgies in the valley!!
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| Local Predators: vicious man-eating plants and a creepy phallic poo-mushroom |
While gearing up at the car, I had asked Tam how far we were expecting to go, and he said he
wasn't sure, but roughly a kilometer. I have long ago learned not to trust cavers when it comes to distance.. we're too used to crawling. A short walk can take forever on one's hands and knees.. so 1km underground could very well have taken much longer to cover.. All the same:
Note:
One Tam-Kilometer = 2.5 miles
One Tam-Kilometer = 2.5 miles
2.5 miles up the valley, we found a sheiling. Directly across the stream, pretty much the first time we paused along the hike, Toby found Rowan Tree Cave.
The discovery and deflowering of Rowan Tree Cave
The discovery and deflowering of Rowan Tree Cave
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| Contemplation Examination Exploration |
We decided to experiment with the DistoX and surveyed what we could of the small cave:
1-2: 1.50 65.7 -5.0
2-3: 1.34 140.5 -50.2
After that, we wandered the south side of the glen, following the tried and true Antill Method of cave hunting:
This is a relatively straightforward approach, wherein one wanders about jabbing at any and all apparent soft spots in the hopes that it will give. Any and all appendages are used in this method of exploration, simply find a soft spot, jump up and down on it.. stuff an appendage into it.. and see if it turns into a cave!
.. of course.. jumping up and down on soft spots can be a bit hazardous. At one point, we were standing in a depression and George was bouncing up and down saying "This seems pretty soft.." when *poof!* he suddenly disappeared up to his armpits! Fortunately, a good caver always wears safety gear whilst exploring, so George's trusty tackle sack stopped him from plummeting further beneath the countryside. Toby and I stood there watching him struggle for a second while I dug for my camera.. George was saying some thing like "er.. I can't touch the ground.." but good friends always document the important moments.
After that, we wandered the south side of the glen, following the tried and true Antill Method of cave hunting:
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| The "George Method" of cave exploration |
This is a relatively straightforward approach, wherein one wanders about jabbing at any and all apparent soft spots in the hopes that it will give. Any and all appendages are used in this method of exploration, simply find a soft spot, jump up and down on it.. stuff an appendage into it.. and see if it turns into a cave!
.. of course.. jumping up and down on soft spots can be a bit hazardous. At one point, we were standing in a depression and George was bouncing up and down saying "This seems pretty soft.." when *poof!* he suddenly disappeared up to his armpits! Fortunately, a good caver always wears safety gear whilst exploring, so George's trusty tackle sack stopped him from plummeting further beneath the countryside. Toby and I stood there watching him struggle for a second while I dug for my camera.. George was saying some thing like "er.. I can't touch the ground.." but good friends always document the important moments.
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| George, finding Eaten Hole |
After documenting the occasion, Toby and I reached down and hauled him up a bit, but by then he had slid in a bit further, and his kicking little toes had found purchase. We didn't need the DistoX to tell that this hole was roughly one George deep. Nonetheless, upon further examination, we found a short passage made soggy by a small underground stream.
Eaten/Eton Hole:
2-1: 2.076 339.0 -19.0
3-2: 2.319 346.3 -43.8
We reconnected with the other George and his three doggies a short way up the glen and promptly encountered another hole in the knoll. George climbed in, we heard him thumping about a bit, and then out came a boulder the size of a small sheep. George stopped to rest, and received a polite face-washing from some of our furry companions..
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"Bechlikyng Hole" spelling conscientiously adjusted for the sake of politeness. |
At this point, acknowledging the contributions of the three bitches.. we decided to henceforth refer to this new region of discovery as "Three Bitches".. or more politely, "Trì
Gallachan" in Gàidhlig. But from now on, if you hear a caver saying they're heading up to the Bitches.. well you will have a pretty good idea of where they're going!
Meanwhile, as we busied ourselves cramming George and Toby into tight spaces, and fiddled with the DistoX, Tam and Julie were doing a little better. They had discovered "Tight'Un" on the other side of our grassy knoll.
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| George looking down on the entrance to Tight'Un |
TightUn was by a huge margin the most
extensive of the weekend's discoveries.
The entrance is at the base of a light waterfall hidden beneath the burn. Tight'Un is of the type that I like to refer to as a "spa cave". Spa caves provide a full therapeutic package:
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| A new fundraising strategy for SCRO :) |
About the Trees:
As near as we can tell, pretty much
every tree in the valley can be used to find an entrance. Rowan Tree cave is self-explanatory, but
there is a large tree right beside BetchlikyngHole, a dead tree at the stream
below the Tight'Un resurgence, and another live tree just upstream can be used
to find the other miscellaneous holes I found that weekend. I haven't spent too much time on those, as
they are all the result of rock breakage and fissures as near as I can tell.
Nonetheless, if I can fit my whole body into a hole, and there is still the
potential to travel further, it's at least worth a mention.
Abandoning the resurgence after a
while, I wandered about poking other holes and photographing various areas of
interest. On the other side of the glen,
I encountered George and Andy coming back down the hill. We reviewed some of the other points of interest
I had noted on the way up, and then I just about stepped in another
resurgence. It was bubbling away like a
happy little fountain, but we couldn't see if it was connected to any limestone.
Andy scouted uphill for more evidence, while I handed George Andy's small
green trowel and set him loose to do what George does best: He dug, and dug,
and dug. We still hadn't found limestone by the time we
stopped, but we were well on our way to having a moat dug for our new campsite.
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| Interesting Stuff |
On day two, while Toby, Julie and
Tam were painstakingly surveying Tight'Un, Andy, George and I continued
exploring. The fellas pottered up to the
end of the glen to check out the ominous looking dents in the cliff sides, and
I circled a bit closer to the areas of known-limestone. As soon as they got out of yelling range, I
found the Tight'Un resurgence. It's a pool about 5 feet long and 3 feet across,
and at the time about 3-4 feet deep. I reduced the level by about a foot and a
half by removing downstream rock dams until the level lowered enough for me to probe beneath the wide limestone shelf at one end. yup.. it goes somewhere. However,
despite wearing a wetsuit, I resisted the urge to go for a paddle. It was early yet.
About 2pm, as I was resting on the bank, the survey team must have passed near the sump, as suddenly the water became very muddy... If I 'd had any doubts as to whether or not it was the Tight'Un resurgence, I didn't now! I hammered some jolly tunes on the rock, but I guess they didn't hear me. Later, I tossed in a few froggies.. just to see if they'd scout it out for me. They did not return, so either they really didn't like being fondled, or they had somewhere to go. Perhaps I'll send in something larger next time.. like a George.
About 2pm, as I was resting on the bank, the survey team must have passed near the sump, as suddenly the water became very muddy... If I 'd had any doubts as to whether or not it was the Tight'Un resurgence, I didn't now! I hammered some jolly tunes on the rock, but I guess they didn't hear me. Later, I tossed in a few froggies.. just to see if they'd scout it out for me. They did not return, so either they really didn't like being fondled, or they had somewhere to go. Perhaps I'll send in something larger next time.. like a George.
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| Before George The Tight'Un Resurgence After George |
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| (BG) Before George Uphill Resurgence (AG) After George |
Once we got back home, I looked up the geological surveys of the area, and it appears that most of the limestone is located on this side of the valley, so it's still a promising little patch of mud that bears more exploring. In the end, here is a photo of the glen showing the location of most of our discoveries.
Trì
Gallachan discoveries:
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| Looking up the glen from a spot near the shieling |
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