24th February 2019

Solo

Another glorious
day weather-wise and it was a warm walk up the hill to the cave with kit.
Lowered the bags down the entrance, then pushed them through to the north-west
passage. There, the bags were clipped together to form a train and I dragged
them through to the other side of the pinch-point. It took a bit of
organisation to arrange the kit neatly in the somewhat confined space. The
drilling was a tad awkward, so I sank some pilot-holes in the required spots. I
managed to snap a drill-bit but luckily, I had another one. I took a lot more
care finishing the 4no. holes with a 550mm drill-bit. All the holes primed and
tamped, kit packed away and the bags, carefully, pushed through the pinch-point,
I pulled the hauling line out of the way too. All wired up the mornings task
was bought to a satisfactory conclusion on the surface. Disturbed a couple of
pheasants. Hopefully, there will be some more rock for the wall to clear out
next weekend.

That’s phase one
of dismantling the ‘backstop’ to allow the free movement of people and
materials to pass unhindered between the north and south completed.

23rd February 2019

With Nick, Tav,
Brockers, Jonathon, Jake and Alex

A strong team
today, seven of us. Note that I’ve resisted the temptation to add the prefix
“magnificent”!

For the fourth
week in a row, Nick was dispatched to his pond, although this was almost dry
after a week of fine weather. Once again, I passed through the pinch-point to
take up position in the snug, low chamber I had cleared out during the last few
sessions. Tav was “up the junction”, a decision he was later to rue. I had
suggested to Brockers that he might find some suitable wall-building material
in the southern passage, where Trevor Hughes et. al. had dumped most of the digging
spoil in the 1980s. This is also, an area that Willie Stanton had suggested
there may be some potential for palaeontological remains. He also thought it
was a resurgence but that in now believed to be unlikely. Tav was to be very
busy, when Brockers and Nick got underway, occasionally I was able to add a few
loads too. Brockers found some very decent large boulders, ideal for
wall-building, but a challenge to get out to the surface.

Jon, at the bottom
of the entrance, was responsible for dispatch, Alex on hauling duties today.
Sixty-six filled bags and more than three-dozen skip-loads of rock, well over
100 loads out today. Alex mentioned that his arms and shoulders were a little
sore, he’ll get over it.

Anyway, it was a nice
morning on the surface in the warm ‘spring-like’ sunshine.

Tomorrow, the
pinch-point will be dealt with and others can delight in the joy of Nick’s
pond, that is, currently a ‘dust bowl’ (Nick’s
words!)