Saturday: with Alex.
Seeing Alex in some recently purchased very garish lime green running tights is a sight to behold but not one to remember. We decided to have a clearout of the spoil so set up the tripod on the surface. We made a start with the slop at the bottom of the pot – Witches Cauldron – very glutinous! Cleared this to the base of the entrance and then set about clearing out to the surface. The hauling rope became impregnated with mud and was difficult to grip, particularly if the skip was a bit on the weighty side, however we persevered for a good two and a half hours before calling it a day. As usual refreshments at the Hunter’s.
Sunday: with Callum.
An afternoon shift. The intended morning start was a non-event due to imbibing too much Addlestone’s at Priddy Sheep Racing yesterday evening, a gloriously wet affair with some spectacular rain. Today’s mission was to start enlarging the tube to enable removal of the slab of flowstone barring progress. This was to be my second attempt at using the club drill, I made sure it was fully charged but it was still an ordeal, real struggle to get the hammer action to function initially and the drill bit would not lock in. There isn’t enough room along the tube to sort out any problems but eventually managed to complete the task although Callum was, by now, very cold so I sent him back up to the surface to warm up. The dig is very squalid at the moment.
