Belfast Activity Centre Caves

[brendanmcc]

Anyone had a go in the manmade caves at BAC near shawsbridge?
Largest manmade caves in Europe alledgedly.
I hear they can be flooded for pot holing as well.

http://www.belfastactivitycentre.com/activities/3/

[suspectmonkey]

To be honest, thats the first time I've even heard of BAC.  I'd love a look at those caves, kinda hard to imagine but they sound like they could be good fun!

[LennyJ1]

we could try and get group prices.

6 people £17.50 each.

I would be up for that

[MG1]

Looks good i'd be up for that.

[brendanmcc]

It is very badly advertised.  The website has some snaps of inside the caves but they aren't easy to find on the confusing site (found them once and can't find them now).
It is a registered charity as opposed to a private organisation which might account for the lower level of advertising.

I was chatting to a guy yesterday who attended some event at BAC a few weeks ago (some sort of a medical team race to extracate a casualty from the cave)
Part of the caves are flooded / ?can be flooded and although manmade they are in places narrow, winding and claustrophobic. Sounds perfect!

The guy I was chatting to recounts getting lost for a while!

If anyone is interested let me know and I'll try and get a date organised

??this side of xmas or the new year?? Any preferences?

[whoRya]

Yes I thought the site was a little weak for navigation, although I did manage to find the dark passage and the wet passage (fnar fnar).

This strikes me as the kind of soft target for government spending cuts.  I was thinking about that recently and I'm sure a lot of the kind of things we enjoy on this site will feel the strain in the next few years e.g. waymarked trails, cycle paths etc.

[simon]

£17.50 was sounding good ... but that's the reduced rate. Full price is £32.50. Might still be interested though.

[Matthew]

A friend of mine used to be the manager there, I could ask and see what discounts he can still get.

[brendanmcc]

That would be great matthew!
Let us know what you can do and then we'll get some names together.

[DryBag]

I've taken the Youth Club there a few times.  it's a great evening out, realistic enough, and the staff are friendly and helpful.  they don't fill the caves with water for potholing, but there's running water, waterfalls, underground streams and short sections underwater... which can be turned on and off at will.  The cave network doesn't take up much space, but it all intertwines so there's plenty to explore.  I think you can even do relatively advanced caving courses without venturing beyond Barnett's Demesne.

I had to laugh the first time when the bloke said  "these are copies of stalactites that would form over millions of years, and these ones beside them are the real deal... even though the caves were only made 10 years ago"

[NeilB]

I would be well up for this also if you need more people, where is the big place for caving in northern Ireland , is it enniskilen or am I making that up?

[Drongo]

Hey Matthew...

Your Friend is now on here...

Yea, I could prob organise a night if people are interested...

Could prob swing a massive pay cut too...

[Matthew]

Alright mate, good to have u finally on here