With Nick,
Jonathon, Tav and a massive welcome back to Jake
A jovial group of
diggers ventured up the hill from the farm to the cave entrance. The loose
bags, left-out to dry at the end of the last digging session, were packed-up
and dispatched to below ground. I descended the entrance and headed to the
north-west passage followed by Jon. Nick and Tav followed on too. Jake, still
recovering from knee surgery, remained on the surface to begin constructing
another spoil retaining wall.
Underground, Jon
got to the pinch-point but not quite through it. After turning around to have a
look, and a discussion I could now see what needed to be removed to make it
passable for all. I will have to arrange with the supplier, a Sunday morning
collection soon. At present, work commitments rule out a mid-week evening trip.
It was then decided that Nick go to the end
and dig because he would be happier there. And he needed to confirm his
thoughts last session that he was digging a pond. This, indeed, turned out to
be the case. There was a lot of water and some hasty improvisation of equipment
was required to remove it. The removal of the water ensured that the passage
was now well lubricated, some might have suggested, squalid. Eventually, it was
almost dry enough to dig and spoil removal could commence. To supplement Nick’s
endeavours, I filled some bags with loose sediment from the position I was
lying in, made a little more space for myself too. Strangely, lying in the squalor
of liquid slurry, I find the passage to be rather aesthetically pleasing,
lights reflecting off the glimmering slurry and constantly dripping water. It was
cold though now that I was completely soaked, glad that I had decided to wear a
fleece undersuit today. There were some grumbles from the entrance, where Tav
was stacking the filled bags, regarding the weight of some bags, unfortunately,
this fell on deaf ears and Nick carried on regardless.
Soon it was time
to move back and deal with the products of today’s effort. Some bags were
easier to empty than others. Thirty-nine bags and three skip-loads of rock were
disposed off on the surface. During our time underground, Jake had constructed
a fine wall and had used most of the available rock. We will have to create some
more very soon.
