Author: mendipgeoarch

Alex took this image on the day we dug along from Stal Bend to discover Witches Cauldron and, eventually Merlin’s beyond. Happy days!

With Tav aka ‘The Legend’ and Alex.

Preparing to go digging. Today’s images courtesy of Tav.

Continued to enlarge the rift to make room for a more comfortable working space. Removed a rather large slab of conglomerate that needed reducing in size to fit into the skip. I’m a little bit wary of the sediment overhead at the moment and thinking about the best way to remove it, could be a choked rift, will give it some further careful consideration. It might be an idea to remove the slabs barring access at the ‘T’ junction and open up some more options, possibly making some room under the solid roof to the right of the rift.

On the way back from another digging session along the rift at the end of Toil and Trouble.

Into the Hunter’s to contemplate.

With Tav and it was great to welcome Silvio Berlusconi [aka Alex] back into the fray. Continued to enlarge the left hand side to create bigger working space, Tav and Alex also set about clearing the rocks stacked in Witches Cauldron, all the spoil was removed to the base of the entrance. The rocks were stacked ready to be hauled out at a later session, the bagged sediment was removed to the surface. Usual refreshment venue.

With Tav, Tangent missed the bus probably due to imbibing far too much ‘giggle’ juice at the Hunter’s last evening! Sunday session this weekend due to seminar and work commitments. Really a consolidation effort this morning to create more comfortable working space. Cleared a good number of cobbles/boulders from the rift area along with sediment, eventually it was possible to get the skip alongside and fill from the dig face – much more efficient and comfortable, wriggling back down the passage dragging a pile of spoil was becoming tedious, especially as drier conditions meant it was very sticky indeed. Cleared bagged sediment out to the surface.

Hunter’s!

With Tav. Some recent rain resulted in the cave returning to a particularly squalid state especially along Toil and Trouble – no matter. Continued to work along the left hand side and after a scrape along the right side and floor to tidy some residual spoil started barring at the packed cobbles/boulders. Then dragging the spoil back to the ‘T’ junction to load it into the skip, Tav then hauled the spoil to the bottom of Witches Cauldron where the cobbles/boulders are stacked to one side and the sediment is bagged ready to be removed to the surface at the end of the digging session. Back at the dig face it wasn’t long before things began to develop and air space was seen ahead above the sediment, ~150mm at a guess and continuing for ~3m. Before access can be gained there is a considerable amount of debris to be removed from the left side and overhead, this will improve digging by providing more space. As progress in a forward direction advances it will probably be necessary to start staging the haulage of material. The draught was also more noticeable this week and the session ended with a sense of satisfaction.

Where else but the Hunter’s?

With Tav and Tangent. Glorious spring morning and markedly warmer than of late meant a pleasant stroll up to the entrance. A team of three enabled clearance of spoil from the end [and pot] back to the bottom of the entrance. Continued to dig forward along the left hand side of the ‘T’ junction which is still opening out; there is a relatively solid roof to the right, while to the left appears to comprise medium-dense packed sediment with cobbles and boulders. Clearing the spoil from overhead resulted in an eye full of muck – will have to follow Tav’s idea of wearing cycling goggles. Towards the end of the session there appeared to be more open spaces in between the cobbles/boulders directly ahead. Interestingly the draught wasn’t quite as pronounced today, probably due to the rise in surface temperatures. A very good session and plenty of spoil cleared back to the entrance [rocks] and bagged spoil out to the surface.

Hunter’s for well earned refreshment.

With Tav. There has been a marked improvement in the weather over the last few days – dry but chilly – although, it’s fair to say, it is still squalid at the end of Hallowe’en Rift. Continued digging to the left of the ‘T’ junction following the rift which although constricted to start with is now opening out. Cleared some calcite-cemented cobbles and boulders along with sediment out of the rift above and this made working a lot more comfortable, negating the worry of loose stuff falling on to my head! Digging along the rift relatively rapid progress is made by removal of cobbles and boulders of conglomerate and degraded flowstone and, of course, sediment; there are spaces in between the cobbles/boulders and the draught is, as ever, strong. Prospects are looking good – I just love this dig!

Hunter’s for refreshment.

With Tav. At long last after several weekends taken up by work, conferences and illness we have got back to the task in hand. Weather is still crap – cold, wet with a bitter east wind. Not as much of a drip in the cave as had been expected and almost convinced myself it was pleasant digging conditions – a forlorn hope! Started to clear the sediment from off the slabs that constrict the immediate way ahead before starting to concentrate effort along the rift to the left. Rather annoyingly I have mislaid the small nailbar which must be buried in the mud somewhere. Following the left hand rift by removing a mixture of cobbles and boulders of conglomerate and flowstone, with sand, silt/clay opened up a strong draught again and relatively loosely packed fill material. We have reached an obvious ‘T’ junction and the cave beyond is developing into something interesting, at the moment continuation along the left hand rift is our best option and this is where we will concentrate our best efforts, at least for a while. Happy days!

Hopefully the full team will be back together in the not so distant future.

Retired to the Hunter’s for refreshment and discussion as usual.

Unfortunately it’s been very quiet on the cave digging front over the last few weeks due to other weekend happenings [on my part, anyway], such as archaeological conferences and the continuing Stanton Drew Survey Project, this involves geophysical and other archaeological investigations of the environs surrounding the stone circle complex, this has taken up two long weekends.

We will get back to the task ahead in Hallowe’en Rift soon!

With Alex and Tav. Very different weather to last week, a glorious morning although there was a chill in the air. Initially the idea was to batter the two rocks at the end with the sledge and remove them. Got one out of the way then the sledge handle snapped and that was that. Resorted to shifting more sediment and rocks from the end. The mud today was particularly glutinous and there was a pool of water in every position that I needed to lie. With three of us digging the spoil was shifted to the the base of the entrance and then relayed up the shaft and out to the surface.

Hunter’s for quick refreshment before departing keen to watch the opening games of the Six Nations Championship.

With Alex and Tav. After another enforced delay due to some more adverse weather – heavy snow – we assembled at the Belfry ready to return to digging duties. A slightly ‘hairy’ ride down the snow packed and icy Rookham Hill to arrive at the farm where a few minutes were spent giving the farmer an update on the current state of things at the end of Hallowe’en Rift.

Today’s task was to clear all the spoil stacked in the entrance shaft, quickly the tripod was erected, and the spoil [which comprised mostly rocks] was hauled out to the surface and used to consolidate the wall around the cave entrance. There was an interesting moment as one rather large boulder came loose from the strop and hurtled down the shaft towards me at a rate of knots, I managed to deflect the boulder with an impressive ‘goalie style’ two handed fend off, and the offending missile shattered as it hit the floor, however, I was glad to be wearing my caving helmet rather than the usual ‘beanie’ hat. Must sort out the signals with Alex so that ‘take up the slack’ means exactly that rather than hauling to the surface! When all the spoil was cleared out the tripod was taken down and we made our way down the hill. The weather turned out to be pretty decent and most of the snow and ice on Rookham Hill had thawed by the time we made our way to the Hunter’s Lodge Inn.

Alex made a return to digging at Hallowe’en Rift after several weeks away, unfortunately Tav was working and unable to attend today’s session.

Bitterly cold easterly wind blowing across the field on the walk from the farm to the cave [and on the way back]. We set about clearing the accumulation of spoil [mostly cobbles and boulders] that was stacked in Witches Cauldron. The spoil was hauled up the pot to the bottom of the entrance ready to be removed to the surface at a later date, there is probably a couple of tonnes of material waiting to be shifted from the entrance including some rather large boulders.

Job done, we called in at the Hunter’s for the usual refreshment and discussion.

With Tav. After an enforced break due to a whole load of things – vehicle breakdown, illness, the season’s festivities and some very crap weather – we were glad to get back to digging in Hallowe’en Rift.

First task was to ‘battle’ with some rather large boulders, one being too big to fit into the skip so was dragged and shoved down the length of Toil and Trouble to the bottom of the pot. This particular boulder later required a considerable effort to get it up to the top of Witches Cauldron and along to the base of the entrance shaft where it is now a temporary step. After clearing the remaining boulders and cobbles I set about removing the wobbly boulder jammed in the small rift to the left. Ended up taking out a very large slab of rock that is too big to fit along ‘T and T’ so will need the attention of the sledge at a later time. Anyway the wobbly rock was now moved and placed to one side and digging was easier to progress in a quite comfortable space. The way ahead as always is both tantalising and frustrating. Lots of sediment will need to be removed and some slabs of old flowstone that are buried within the sediments will require breaking up. About a metre ahead there appears to be a ‘T’ junction although cannot see fully what happens to the left where most of the draught seems to emanate. There is now a large amount of spoil to be removed from the cave to the surface and this will be the priority when the full digging team are assembled.

Hunter’s for the usual refreshments and discussions.

With Tav. Alex is still not feeling 100% but should make a comeback soon. Continued with the clearance of spoil from the end of Toil and Trouble, gently teasing some of the larger rocks into submission with a sledgehammer. A couple of the rocks refused to give in and will probably require dragging out to the surface. When the area was cleared of debris it is surprising just how much space we have created, I can easily turnaround at the present end now. Eventually we were able to start gardening at the very end and get a better look at what lies ahead. It seems we are to spoilt by a choice of direction; to the right there is low open space [~0.15m high x ~1.0m wide] with some flowstone and straws, it looks likely that the roof gets a little higher by turning to the left and heading in a more forward direction. Looking to the left and ahead and beyond a temporary constriction the way on here looks rather more tantalising. Tried to remove a large boulder that hindered a better look but it was like a ‘loose tooth’ could wiggle it about but it refused to budge, a different tactic will be employed next session. Decided to call it a day, my light was getting ever dimmer and I couldn’t be bothered to change the battery so we left the cave dragging a number of bags with us to be emptied at the surface. Particularly damp and muddy but satisfied with the morning session we retired to the Hunter’s for the usual refreshment and discussion.

With Tav, Alex still crook. Had a good clear out session removing the spoil from the bottom of Witches Cauldron back to the base of the entrance ready to be hauled to the surface at some other time. Also started to clear away some of the ‘deads’ stacked along the approach passage that have there for quite a while now.

Hunter’s for some refreshment as usual.

With Tav. Had a break from digging last weekend due to some adverse weather and lots of flooding. Alex is feeling crook this weekend so can’t make it, however Tav was up for a digging trip and we met at the Belfry and set off promptly to the farm, changed, and walked up the hill to Hallowe’en Rift.

Made a rather more concerted effort on clearing the considerable pile of debris from the end of Toil and Trouble concentrating on the smaller stuff before battering some of the larger boulders into more manageable sizes. Did some gardening work at the end and was able to get a better look at the next phase of work – what looked good before looks better!

When the available stacking space was filled Tav came along to the end of Toil and Trouble to get a good look at the prospects – I think he was suitably impressed and is up for another digging trip.

On the return to the surface dragged a large boulder all the way out and Tav had been filling bags with some of the smaller spoil which he had dragged to the entrance, these were emptied out onto the surface spoil heap – a job well done.

As is usual ventured to the Hunter’s for refreshment.

With Alex. Plan was to continue with the enlargement process. When I got to the end of Toil and Trouble I found a scene of devastation and so set about moving the debris wherever I could to enable progress. Alex hauled several skiploads back to Witches Cauldron. Eventually managed to get a better look at the ‘open’ space in the rift to the left and after removing a few cobbles and boulders decided this wasn’t the way on. Then decided the way on is to pursue the draught coming from the space seen to the right and beyond the fallen slab of rock. I scratched away at the sediment around the slab, which is about 750mm long, 400mm wide and upto 200mm thick, tabular in shape, got a bar under it and wiggled it. Using a combination of bars and various cobbles managed, after some considerable effort, to shift the slab into a suitable position where I was able to squeeze by it into the space beyond. It wasn’t huge, more ‘caverns measureless to mice’ but there are some small pleasant formations – mostly straws, curtains and flowstone – and it still appears to go on ahead, although the air space is again restricted. The draught is still very strong and seems to emanate from passage that looks about 2 metres wide and air space upto 0.15 metres. There is some gardening work to be done that will allow better access and further assessment of what lies ahead, it still looks so good. Last job of the 3 hour session was to return to the squeeze to continue the enlargement process, this done we retreated to the surface, soaking wet, plastered in mud, very cold but very, very satisfied. And we just about made the Hunter’s. Happy days indeed!

Looking back through my old logbooks I found the entry for 19/12/1991 when on a solo trip I first started to dig from the entrance:

“a bit of scratching about and I managed to get to a small aven with a squeeze, a large rock was causing the constriction so I spent some time removing it, after that spoil removal was a lot easier. Spoil consists mainly of dry, sandy mud although there are a few rocks in it. Managed in all about 5 or 6 feet…”

In the evening returned to the Hunter’s to attend the Digger’s Award – too packed and a pretty dull affair, so spent most of the night in the bar talking to more interesting folk.

Solo. A continuation of the good work enlarging the end of Toil and Trouble to gain access into the anticipated open space. There is a considerable pile of debris beginning to accumulate that will require a couple of clearing out sessions in the near future. Can almost get into a comfortable position to begin work on removing the constriction to the perceived open space to the left side. Next session might be able to drag a few cobbles/boulders out beforehand. Another concerted effort is planned for next weekend, it’s looking good.

With Alex. Spent the early part of the morning on a runaround before meeting up with Alex at the Belfry where we were soon on our way to Hallowe’en Rift. Got changed at the farm Alex into his damp and muddy kit from last evening, me, smug in nice dry and clean spare kit. Carried on with the enlargement task along the right hand side of Toil and Trouble, eventually returning to the surface a bit later than anticipated although still managed to drop into the Hunter’s before lunchtime last orders.

The biggest part of Sunday morning was spent washing and cleaning a pile of kit and equipment.

With Alex. Digging trip on a Friday night whatever next – been quite a while since we got up to that.

After a cold, rainy day spent digging and recording archaeological evaluation trenches on a site in Devon, on the way home grabbed a supper of fish and chips to eat on the way in Cheddar Gorge, it was then time to meet up with Alex at the Belfry and set off for Hallowe’en Rift. Started the task of enlarging the right hand side of Toil and Trouble to enable access to the [possible] open space seen on previous trips.

After a suitable time spent digging decided to call it a day and head off to the Hunter’s for a Friday night of socialising!

With Alex. Well, what can we say! After 30 years of endeavour by a number of diggers, along a variety of routes Hallowe’en Rift is again looking very interesting indeed!

We decided to concentrate today’s effort on removing sediment from along the rather ‘snug’ right hand side of Toil and Trouble. After we had cleared several skip loads it was possible for me to move in to a position to look along the right hand side. I was very pleasantly surprised to see relatively open, and what looks to be caveable passage, unfortunately access is presently barred by a slab of rock and sediment that will require some further attention. We carried on with the removal of more of the sediment, this eventually resulted in being able to get a better look along the left side, looking up above the clean boulders that were pictured last session confirmed that there appears to be considerable open space above this area, although it should be said that when in small passages apparent size can become somewhat distorted. It seems that, at last, we are on the cusp of something very, very good indeed! If all the links seen in the left and right passages at end of Toil and Trouble are part of the same thing then we are looking at something at least 5 or 6 metres in width. It would seem that there are exciting times ahead.

We have planned a longer weekend session for next week. Keep watching this space!!!

With Alex. The plan was to continue clearing spoil from both ends of Toil and Trouble (left and right passages). Although still wet and muddy the drip wasn’t as strong as we had envisaged.

And at long last I remembered to bring the camera, although it now seems to be on it’s last legs…

The image below is looking back down through “eye of newt” along Toil and Trouble to where Alex is ready and waiting to haul skips of spoil back to the base of Witches Cauldron.

Today our plan was to clear some of the spoil from the left hand passage (image below)…

at the end of this passage there is an open rift that is, tantalisingly, too constricted to gain entry…at least for the moment!

However, back along to the end of the right hand passage (images above and below) there is another very, very interesting lead (the BDH lid is about 100mm diameter)…

above the cobbles there appears to be [relatively] open space, it’s a little too snug at the moment to get a proper look and to be sure how things are going to develop. There is a narrow rift, at this point about 200 to 300mm wide, that we assume is contemporaneous with the rift feature seen at the end of the left hand passage.

With Alex. Descended into Hallowe’en Rift through a halo of flies – there are a lot of mossies in the entrance passage! Very active drips in the cave making it rather wet along the passages after some recent heavy rain. Continued to clear spoil from the dumping spot in Witches Cauldron (WC) I was filling the skips while Alex did the hauling and emptying. While the skips were being emptied I went along to the end of Toil and Trouble (left passage) and dragged back a couple of skip loads of rocks and played football with a larger rock kicking it all the way back to WC. As skips were pulled back to WC they were preceded by a wave of slurry that ran down into the pot and usually down my sleeve and splashing into my face. With the spoil removed from WC back to the bottom of the entrance shaft ready for hauling up to the surface at a later date, we emerged from the cave wet and muddy, ready for refreshments at the Hunter’s.

With Alex. After last weekends break back to work at Hallowe’en Rift. Started to clear away the spoil that is stacked at the bottom of Witches Cauldron. While Alex was emptying the skips I decided to go to along Toil and Trouble to clear the debris from the left hand passage. The large skip was a poor choice as there isn’t enough space to get any rocks into the skip so ended up backing up and clearing gravel from the approach tube, also wearing my caving helmet I found head movement to be restricted and uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Alex felt unwell and left the cave so the trip was ended somewhat sooner than expected or planned.

Unfortunately I forgot the camera so was unable to take any photographs. The draught in the cave today was cold.

With Alex. Walked across the field and up to the cave from the farm keeping a close watch on the bull just put out, he was far too interested in his ‘ladies’ to notice us. Got up to the entrance only to realise that I had left the key in the van and I had to go back down and collect it, again keeping a close watch on the bull. Very warm when I eventually arrived back at the entrance. Again lots of ‘mossies and midges’ in the cave. I went along to the end of Toil and Trouble (right hand tube) to removesome more of the loose cobbles and sediment that are hindering further progress, Alex hauled the skips from the base of Witches Cauldron and dumped spoil there ready to be moved on next session. It’s quite a snug fit along the end of the right hand tube and needed some hammer work to take off some nodules to make it slightly more comfortable. To the left and looking up about half a metre appears to be open space although narrow, as usual the draught is strong. Looking directly ahead along the right hand tube about a metre further on the roof apparently rises sharply and the sediment seems to originate from above. Prompted by this development I decided to take another look along the left hand tube to re-evaluate the possible relationships between the two leads. Cleared away a quantity of loose debris to open up the rift again and peered down to assess the prospects, again there is a strong draught coming up from the relatively open rift, although entry into the rift is too narrow and some work will be required to enlarge the top. There are also quite a few delicately balanced boulders that will need some very serious consideration before any access into the rift is possible. I am still slightly pertubed by the apparent lack of a solid wall directly ahead, it appears to comprise occasional boulders in a matrix of densely compacted sediment, there are also some long tree roots that are still growing. By now Alex had filled the stacking space and it was time to retreat to the Hunter’s for refreshment and to discuss the next move.

As I am helping out with geophysical survey work at Solsbury Hill with Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society next weekend we aren’t digging but we plan to have a long session the following weekend. The objective will be to clear the spoil from the bottom of Witches Cauldron and then remove the loose debris from both the right and left hand tubes in Toil and Trouble. I will also try and remember to bring along the camera and take a few photos.

With Alex and Rob ‘Tav’ Taviner. Tav is one of my oldest caving/digging friends and it has been a while since I last enjoyed his company when venturing underground. Tav is also involved, with others, in the updating of ‘Mendip Underground’ a guide to the caves of the Mendip area and the Mendip Cave Registry and Archive.

While I went up to the cave with Tav, Alex returned to the van to get the spanner that we had again managed to forget. Gave Tav a quick tour up to ‘Merlin’s’ before sending him along to the end of Toil and Trouble for a look. We then changed places and I set about filling a skip with spoil and Tav doing the hauling back to ‘Witches’. After several skip loads had been removed we decided to head back to the entrance, Alex had reected the tripod, and we hauled the spoil dumped there up to the surface. Standing at the bottom of the entrance shaft loading the skip could have been regarded a slightly dangerous position, the grille was almost knocked down the shaft before it was removed to a safe place, then the pulley became detatched, just as well that Tav was holding the rope, while Alex was fixing that he tripped and almost fell down the shaft along with the scaffolding. However, I survived, the shaft was cleared of spoil, the site was left tidy and we then set off to the Hunter’s for refreshments and a good old chinwag!

With Alex. What better place to spend your birthday! Cleared the remaining spoil from the bottom of Witches Cauldron (WC) to the base of the entrance shaft ready to be hauled to the surface. There is now plenty of room at the bottom of WC to dump more spoil from the end of Toil and Trouble and allowing forward progress to continue.

In addition to a huge number of very annoying and irritating Common mosquito’s (Culex pipiens) in the entrance and along the upper approach passages, there are also a number of Tissue moth’s (Trichosa dubitata) to be found in the cave, possibly as a consequence of the inclement weather that we are experiencing this summer, this particular moth species is one of several that are known to inhabit caves in the British Isles.

The image above is taken from the website: www.cambriancavingcouncil.org.uk and follow the links: Cave Life Website/Cave Life of Devon

The Herald (Scoliopteryx libatrix) is another species of moth that is a regular sight within the Mendip cave environs, particularly during the winter months when they choose caves as hibernation sites. The image above was copied from the Wikipedia website.

On a rather more embarassing note we had to ask the farmer for a tow out of the field when the van became stuck after a sudden rain storm, especially after I had already hesitated about parking there.

With Alex. Set up tripod to clear the spoil stacked at the base of the entrance pitch back to the surface. Clearance might at times appear to be rather tedious but with restricted storage space it is necessary and forward progress has to be put on hold until it is done, and it means that the digging only requires minimal manpower. After the spoil was cleared we spent a little time tidying and gardening around the surface in an effort to keep the cattle away from the cave entrance area.

With Alex. We started the task of shifting the considerable stack of spoil at the base of Witches Cauldron back to the entrance ready to be hauled out to the surface. There was a very strong, cold draught today and now that the cave has become drier the mud is thicker,stickier and has developed an adhesive quality.

Solo trip. Another miserably wet day on Mendip. Decided to remove some of the remaining gravel from the end of Toil and Trouble, also to get some barring and chisel work out of the way. After a light failure, swapped to a brighter lamp and managed to squeeze through and get a better look at the very rosy prospects that lie ahead – these things take time! There is no space left for spoil and a clearance session is now a priority.

Solo trip. Continued with the removal of the loose debris and battered the slab of flowstone into more manageable lumps. Thought it would be more efficient while dragging the skip back to push the larger lumps down the passage with my feet, it did cross my mind that if one of the lumps were to become jammed in the passage then I might be in for an interesting few minutes trying to extricate myself – it didn’t happen. Shifted most of the loose stuff back to the base of Witches Cauldron, but there is still a pile of gravel to drag back and then some barring and chisel work to be done. There is a lot of spoil stacked at the base of Witches Cauldron ready to be hauled out back to the surface. At the end of ‘Toil and Trouble’ the way ahead looks very, very interesting, and then, there is always the draught!

This bone was found in the sediment in October 2011 along the left side of the tube (‘Toil and Trouble’) leading from the base of Witches Cauldron. Despite very careful scutiny of sediments no other bones have, since been uncovered.

A visit to the Wells and Mendip Museum to look at the collections displayed in the Balch Room led to a positive indentification of the bone as being from the foreleg of Bison priscus, the museum specimen is dated from the Pleistocene and was found at Milton Hill.

Higham, T. 2006. AMS 14C Dating of Ancient Bone Using Ultrafiltration gives dates for Bison priscus recovered from Banwell Bone Cave as 52,700 +/- 1900 14C age BP to >59,500 14C age BP and for Hunter’s Lodge Sink as >54,800 14C age BP.

There is a big pile of debris at the end to shift.

Alex set about removing the block of stal that obstructs the skip haul along the approach to the top of Witches Cauldron, while I set to work dragging spoil back to the base of the pot. I decided to use one of the larger skips so that I could shift more rock which just meant it was harder work. Eventually managed to reach the slab of flowstone obstructing the way ahead and with some barring work was able to get to grips with it. After some grunting and [a lot of] cursing I moved the slab into a position where I was able to batter it with my trusty lump hammer, reducing it in size, and then shift it to one side of the passage. With a bit more digging I was now able to get a better look at the way ahead, which isn’t quite as open as expected or hoped but the prospects still look rosy, just requires some more effort. There is something that appears to look interesting about a metre or so ahead but some sediment will have to be shifted before that will develop. By this time my shoulders were aching from the effort and after 2.5 hours of digging and skip hauling decided it was time for refreshment at the Hunter’s and to the Belfry to wash kit, exited the cave tired but very happy. ‘Toil and Trouble’ would probably be an apt name for the tube.

There is still a big pile of debris at the end to shift!

Solo trip to clear the end and continue the passage enlargement. There is a lot of debris to be cleared from the end of the tube. Once the end is clear might be able to get to grips with the slab or at least get a better look at it, still we are getting ever closer – just a question of time – patience is required!

Saturday: with Alex.

Went along to the end of the tube to clear some of the debris and to see if I could get a better hand-hold on the offending slab – no chance! Back to Alex who was erecting the tripod and shifted more spoil back to the surface.

Sunday: a solo trip.

In the above image the BDH is about 125mm in diameter and the left side of the slab barring progress is visible – not so clear is the open space beyond.

A better view of the slab with space beyond on either side and where the draught seems to emanate. Slab is about 750mm in width, passage height is around 300mm at this point, the depth of the slab is unclear. The image doesn’t do justice to the colour of dolomitic conglomerate that ranges from red to purple with white, grey, yellow and black pockets throughout – a fascinating rock. The enlargement work continues and soon the slab will succumb and the tantalising space beyond will be revealed – hopefully!

Following some refreshment at my favourite hostelry went back to the Belfry to wash my kit. Met up with Tangent and we walked over to Eastwater Lane where Jodie Lewis and co. from the University of Worcester are carrying out an archaeological investigation of a Bronze Age barrow site. A very interesting and informative discussion with David and later Jodie, will revisit the site to keep up with the progress. Even the weather was reasonably pleasant, a bit on the breezy side but dry.

Solo trip. After recent persistent rain the usual drips in the cave are now mostly continuous trickles. Took the BEC drill for a trip along to the right hand side of the tube to continue the enlargement – it worked successfully – becoming quite spacious approaching the slab now. Funny how when working alone the mind drifts back to past digging trips and old mates – J’rat, Gobshite – Wigmore, Welsh’s Green, Draenen – happy days!

With Alex. Continued the task of enlarging the tube to access the slab barring progress. Nothing of note happened and a fairly brief in and out – job done. Probably take 4 – 6 trips to work up to the slab giving the required room to remove it. After a rather wet month it’s squalid throughout the cave, it seems the days of dry, comfortable digging are over – at least for the time being.

Mid-week trip into Hallowe’en Rift for a change. One of my best digging mates from the past has come from Columbia to the UK for a couple weeks with his family before heading to France on holiday. Decided to take Pete [Bolty] to enjoy the delights of HR, being on the tall side he really appreciates low muddy crawls. Cleared Sunday’s spoil from the end of the tube back the base of Witches Cauldron and then to the bottom of the entrance before heading to the Hunter’s for refreshments and reminisences of some epic caving trips and discoveries of the past such as Coventosa pull-through trip, Lechiguilla, Daren Cilau and, of course Ogof Draenen.

PB seemed to be suitably impressed by the prospects in Hallowe’en Rift and requested photos from beyond the slab!

Saturday: with Alex.

Seeing Alex in some recently purchased very garish lime green running tights is a sight to behold but not one to remember. We decided to have a clearout of the spoil so set up the tripod on the surface. We made a start with the slop at the bottom of the pot – Witches Cauldron – very glutinous! Cleared this to the base of the entrance and then set about clearing out to the surface. The hauling rope became impregnated with mud and was difficult to grip, particularly if the skip was a bit on the weighty side, however we persevered for a good two and a half hours before calling it a day. As usual refreshments at the Hunter’s.

Sunday: with Callum.

An afternoon shift. The intended morning start was a non-event due to imbibing too much Addlestone’s at Priddy Sheep Racing yesterday evening, a gloriously wet affair with some spectacular rain. Today’s mission was to start enlarging the tube to enable removal of the slab of flowstone barring progress. This was to be my second attempt at using the club drill, I made sure it was fully charged but it was still an ordeal, real struggle to get the hammer action to function initially and the drill bit would not lock in. There isn’t enough room along the tube to sort out any problems but eventually managed to complete the task although Callum was, by now, very cold so I sent him back up to the surface to warm up. The dig is very squalid at the moment.

Alex unable to make it today so another solo trip. Tried to shift the slab utilising the excellent tape strops given to me by Trev Hughes – but the slab ain’t moving. Digging is often a very frustrating process and things don’t always go to plan and a great deal of patience is required. Decided to clear all the spoil dumped at the end of the tube back to the bottom of the pot, by the time I had finished there was easily enough space to turn around and quite a novelty to come back down the tube head first rather than backing out dragging a skip full of spoil.

The best thing about being underground on a solo trip is the peace and solitude, the only sounds you can hear are your own – breathing, heartbeat, movement – and the dripping of water in the cave. Just an excellent place to be!