Category: 2013

Well what a turn out! Alex, Tav, Jake and Nick Hawkes has joined the team.

With a full team assembled spoil went from the dig to the surface. Continued with the clearance of the T junction. The offending slab has been obliterated and removed to the surface along with a quantity of sediment and there is easily enough space at the T junction to turnaround. Nick came up to the end for a look before we headed out of the cave. Now the junction has been cleared will probably go back to excavating along the left hand side, where the draught appears to be stronger. The right hand side will be left open for another day, although it is very tempting. We are spoilt for choices!

With Alex ‘the Belfry Boy’, the ‘Lord Taviner’ and at long last making a welcome reappearance Graham ‘Jake’ Johnson.

With a team assembled it was decided to have a good clear-out and the tripod was erected. Started by removing the spoil created last weekend at the ‘T’ junction – mostly rocks and gravel all the way out to the surface. The hoped for opening of other options has been successful and it seems there is a draught emanating from the right as well as the left hand side. We will have to concentrate our efforts on one side, probably stay to the left, but make sure nothing gets blocked. After the ‘T’ was cleared we moved back to clear all the stacked spoil at the base of the entrance shaft out to the surface.

With Alex, Tav fallen victim to the lurgi. Without the required number of personnel we didn’t get the entrance cleared and concentrated instead on beginning the removal of the slab barring the way at the T junction [end of Toil and Trouble] in an effort to open up more options. At the completion of a satisfactory session we duly set off for the Hunter’s and the customary refreshments.

In the evening after a fine curry at Shahnaz down in Cheddar with the family for a birthday celebration, went to the Hunter’s to celebrate Fred Davis’s 80th birthday. Fred is a caver, digger and keen cyclist of long renown and it was good to meet up with him and a whole load of chums.

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.

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.