With Jonathon
A much-depleted team due to work commitments,
injuries and malaise. To cap it all, it was raining and rather chilly.
We discussed our options while getting
changed in the shed and, as Jon hadn’t really had the opportunity to look at
the passages west (downstream) of the entrance we decided to continue the
enlargement in that direction. The ladders were left in the shed, although I
filled the water container and carried that up to the cave. I have a day off on
Monday and plan to continue the ‘stal’ cleaning later that day.
At the downstream dig, Jon was upfront doing
the brunt of the work, I was hauling the skip and stacking the spoil in the
entrance. Some large boulder-size slabs were dragged back to the entrance where
there is more space to swing a hammer and reduce them to skip-size pieces. By the
end of the mornings digging, the passage is much roomier. A channel has been
dug in the floor to allow water to drain, a length of pipe can be inserted, and
a board placed over it will allow the skip to be dragged freely. The last task
of the day was to haul-out and empty the bags on the surface – 29 were counted,
the rocks were left for another day. A good morning’s digging.