31st August

Vince, Nick, Brockers, Mike, and Jake

Had planned to get to HR early but a few mishaps put paid to the best of plans. The car wouldn’t start, the alternative vehicle – the key battery was flat so had to find a replacement battery, eventually got to the farm to find I had forgotten my caving helmet so had to go back home and get it. Finally arrived at the farm to find the rest of the team were already changed and were up at HR.

Underground, at last! Went up to the dig to have a chat with Nick (who was digging), tarried a while and cleared a few bags back to Brockers before making my way towards the back of the queue. Brockers continued to clear away bags of spoil from Nick, Mike moved the filled bags across the chamber in Trick or Treat to the ‘hump’ where I hauled them over and transferred the bag to Jake at the bottom of the ramp, he then moved the bags along to the bottom of the pot. When a suitable pile of around 20 – 30 bags had amassed in the pot I moved back with Jake to get the spoil up on to the ledge. Then returned to our original positions to do it all again. As midday approached, we made another move back to start moving the filled bags up to the entrance and out of the cave to the surface. Soon digging activities were curtailed and bags were emptied, 63 of them in total.

Hunters’ Lodge Inn for refreshments as usual.

29th August:

Vince and Tav

A quick trip to the Soft South to tidy up the survey to the current dig(s) beyond Trick or Treat and Can of Worms. Survey was later annotated to show various points of interest.