Dublin caving: Portrane caves

I was visiting Dublin for a conference, but managed to sneak out for an early morning exploration on one of the days. I had already skied in Dublin eleven years ago. But I had not been to a cave in Ireland! Are there any around? As the award-winning local cave photographer and author Robert Mulraney says, "The first thing that can be said of the caves of Dublin is that, there are no caves in Dublin". However, it turns out there are some. Not big.. but very interesting. And big for someone coming from the land of thousands lakes and mini caves :-)

I should first say though that these caves are potentially dangerous, there are dangerous cliffs, the caves may fill with water suddenly due to tides, in addition to all the usual dangers of caving. Take care. Do not even think of approaching them unless you know what you are doing. And contact locals first, I did that too. 

And I did get many warnings along the walk. First off, as I exited my hotel in the around 6am, I wondered about why the lifts were showing a do-not-enter sign, and then the fire horns started blazing. I walked down the stairs and ordered my taxi, and hoped everything was alright. I guess it was, the hotel was still standing when I came back.

And then there was a warning that I couldn't take my horse with me. Phew, thank goodness I left it at the parking lot:

Then there was a sign that the path may collapse. Ok, that's normal. But then I looked more carefully... it also warns about chemtrails :-)

In any case, I finally found the caves.

Thanks to Robert for the excellent article about Dublin's caving and for site intel. Maybe next time in Dublin we can meet, or somewhere else if our paths cross! Robert also has a related article about mines in the Dublin area.

The cave with most stalactites, . See also the picture at the top of this post.

The cave with two levels (I was afraid to climb to the second level, being alone):

Other views seen on the trip:

I also want to recommend the La Cave Wine Bar, an excellent restaurant with exactly the right underground atmosphere (link, and thanks Stephen for taking us there): 

Other small cavelets nearby, first one:

Second one:

Third one:

Fourth one:

Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.