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.

Author: mendipgeoarch

Archaeologist, Geologist, Speleologist