20th January 2018

With Brockers, Jake, Nick and Matt.

Five go Digging!

Nick filling the bags, I was clearing the bags away to Jake, on the slope, passing the spoil up to Matt, who was loading the skip to Brockers on the haul and shuttle. The spoil was stacked at the bottom of the entrance climb.

Prior to the dig commencing, some bailing was required, the drip was strong today. The sediment, when first loosened is quite dry but, many of the bags are damp, causing the spoil to adhere to the inside, especially when the bags have been compressed. In between moving bags, I removed the old skip that had been wedged into a crack to form a platform, and replaced it with stones, makes the step up to load the skip a bit easier. The rift, at present, is about 7m long, with a vertical range c. 1.5 to 2.5m. The dig is becoming narrow, not quite shoulder width, so some alteration might…will be required soon. Keeping the drill and batteries dry and clean will be difficult though, still that’s an issue for another day.

When four packs of bags (40) had been filled and stacked in the entrance, we decided it was time to go and move them out to the surface and empty them. Along with the bags, the rocks that had been left in the entrance for a while now, were also removed.

It was raining too!