Amazing unseen Ireland! A fantastic subterranean world beneath the Irish Fermanagh countryside. скачать в хорошем качестве

Amazing unseen Ireland! A fantastic subterranean world beneath the Irish Fermanagh countryside.

The Marble Arch Caves European Geopark near the town of Florencecourt in Co Fermanagh is an alliance between the beautiful Cuilcagh Mountain Park and the Marble Arch Caves, which since 2021 has the distinction of belonging to the EGN (European Geoparks Network). In fact, the parks boundaries now stretch across into County Cavin in the Irish Republic, making this site the first International Geosite in the world. A lot of work goes into these videos. You can now buy me a pint as a means of appreciation for my work on Naked Ireland, no obligation, obviously - only if you can afford it... I appreciate it. Cheers. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/NakedIre... Our mission today is to go deep underground and to visit the amazing system of caves that have become a tourist attraction in this part of the world. But, before we get to see the majesty of what lies underground, we first have to walk to the cave entrance through some of the most beautiful woodland. The nature trail that leads to the entrance to the cave is 'enchanting' I think, that’s the only word for it. Apparently in Spring the woodland floor is covered in bluebells, which must be a sight to behold. As many of the trees are native ash they come into leaf quite late giving the forest floor more sunlight and this allows the bluebells to grow. As you’ve seen there are places to sit and take your picnic while admiring the forest. We’re heading down now to visit the cottage, which is a curious landmark in the area. It's not like any cottage I’ve ever seen and not what I was expecting. In fact this folly was used by Victorian shooting parties. The Victorian upper classes loved their follies. Moving further down towards the mouth of the cave we start to see the limestone rock formations which form the cave itself. This limestone is soluble overtime and so the water creates passages in the rock over millions of years as we’ll see in a minute. But, the moss covered woodland is an attraction in itself, so be sure to make time to discover that if you come here. Then I descend into the caves in a man made tunnel that looks like it could be the entrance to a nuclear fallout shelter. If you come here you’ll obviously be visiting in a group of people, usually the groups are quite small though. The river is the Claddagh river and it’s responsible for shaping these caverns over a period of 330 million years. Actually, when the limestone in these caves was first being formed the land mass that is now Ireland was near the equator! That puts our own political problems in Ireland in perspective, I think! The border with the republic of Ireland is very near here and yet this was at one time the equatorial tropics. If we don’t move as individuals, the world will quite literally move without us. As you can see there’s a permanent concrete pathway along which you can navigate and it’s all quite safe, you just have to watch your head every now and then as the rock formations don’t take account of health and safety. The chambers are well lit and in fact the lighting creates an ambient feel to the tunnels and caverns. So how did we come to be able to enjoy these caves? The caves were first explored in 1895 by the French cave Scientist Eduard Martel and his Irish assistant Lyster Jameson who was an expert in bats. But imagine the difficulties they would have encountered entering these caves for the first time with only comparatively primitive equipment. They used oil lanterns, hemp ropes and and collapsible canvas boat to get about in here and they had to light strips of magnesium to see the full proportion of the caves for the very first time. I guess they were the days when exploration really was exploration! You can see that some of the tunnels we are passing through are man-made. These are to connect various parts of the cave so as to make it a more feasible tourist attraction. The Fermanagh District Council began to develop the caves with tourism in mind opening it to the public in 1985. If you look closely at the marks on these walls you can see the impression that the water has made over millions of years. It looks a bit like the marks made on the sand after the tide has gone out, and of course it’s essentially the same process. But this network of pathways through the caves it quite an engineering feat in itself, but I guess nothing as compared with what mother nature has created down here. Incidentally if you’re planning to come here, you don’t need any specialist equipment obviously, but wear warm clothing as it can get a bit cold down here and obviously sensible footwear. At certain times of the year it’s also possible to enter the caves in a boat, as Martel would have done. I think it’s probably dependant on water levels, so you might want to check that our before you book if that’s important to you. Definitely take the time to come here. Take a picnic for the forest and prepare to be amazed as you venture underground.