24th April

Vince, Brockers, Jake, Nick, Tav, and later, Caroline.

A lovely sunny day perfect for digging, and long may it continue. Tav turned up laden with digging skips and a rope net expertly constructed by Dave Brook and kindly donated to the cause by Alison Moody. These were to be put into use as soon as digging was underway.

I was digging, Jake on the surface and the rest of the team dealt with clearance of the filled backs and sporadic rocks. About 50 skip loads out of the cave, stopped digging and up to the surface to empty the bags. All change, I stated on the surface, Brockers took over digging, the rest of the team clearing away. It was pleasant on the surface in the spring sunshine sheltered from the breeze and not too many flies about yet. Just after midday Caroline turned up with [warm] sausage rolls for our lunch, and then proceeded to empty the bags that were on the surface, top effort!

The underground team returned to the surface and we had a welcome and well-deserved break.

Back to the fray, Nick digging, Brockers on the surface, and the rest of us clearing away. Another 50 or so bags were filled and hauled out of the cave before we decided to stop digging and empty the bags. That was the end of underground activities so went to have a look at the end and take some photos.

There are some interesting developments at the business end and the progress being made with the longer sessions is noticeable. Today’s total, about 160 bags and several rocks.

Circa south-west facing section, scale = 2m.

Author: mendipgeoarch

Archaeologist, Geologist, Speleologist