23rd January 2016

With Jake and Tav.

Mark, the farmer, has made us an offer of some salubrious changing facilities. An offer that we are more than happy to accept – a proper caving hut!

Today’s plan was to continue to enlarge the approach to Merlin’s. Jake was at the sharp end filling bags and shifting rocks, while Tav settled into, a rather too comfortable position in the pot, while I did the hauling and shuttling to the entrance. About 40bags filled and a number of rocks moved there was noticeable progress made. After shifting a particularly large rock out of the way – declared to be 20 bags worth – Jake decided that was enough and we shifted back to start hauling the spoil out to the surface. I struggled with the hauling as I couldn’t grip the muddy rope so at Jake’s suggestion I tied a lot of knots to aid the grip and that worked just fine. After the hauling out there is bag emptying (click on the image to see video)…

Author: mendipgeoarch

Archaeologist, Geologist, Speleologist