18th April 2015

Met up with Jake and Tav in the Hunter’s at lunchtime for a chinwag. There wasn’t any digging today at Hallowe’en Rift as there were not enough participants to make an effective team so they went for an amble over the hillside, it was a fine day for walking.

11th April 2015

Following some minor surgery I’m out of action for a while but for the rest of the team it’s work as usual.

Tav’s report for today’s session:

“Tav digging, Nick dragging, Jake stacking and Al hauling. Roughly 35 bags removed. No great changes to report.”

4th April 2015

With Jake, Tav and Nick. Alex turned up at mid-day to help haul the bags out.

Arrived at the farm to find gate chained and locked, Mark away for hols with family so parked in field instead. On the way up across fields we met Ted who explained he didn’t have a key for the locked gate. Up at the cave entrance we were surprised to find that most of the bags left hanging up to dry were still there, considering the very strong winds of a week ago. Took 50 bags up to the end where Nick, back once again from foreign lands, took the first turn at digging with Jake clearing the filled bags, Tav at the T Junction and I settled down in the pot. Emptied the puddle in the pot and thought to myself should have come down last week and put another bang along the rift – will have to remember that should a future opportunity arise. Bags started to arrive at a steady pace and the pot didn’t take long to become filled. Time went by quickly and it was soon past mid-day and time to start to clear the bags out of the cave. Alex was waiting on the surface to empty bags as I hauled them up out of the entrance, 45 bags in total plus a few rocks – good session. When the the rest of the team surfaced the majority of bags were already empty and all that was left to do was hang the bags out to dry ready for the next digging session.


Got back to the van and was relieved that the cattle in the field hadn’t decided to lick it clean. We changed and retired to the Hunter’s Lodge Inn for refreshment as usual.

21st March 2015

With Jake and Tav.

Jake had managed to acquire some nice, clean and shiny yellow bags, 39 in total, and all ready to go to the end. The dry weather of the last few days over the last few days also meant that the bags on the ‘washing’ line had dried out, these were shaken off and bagged up, later to be stashed in the entrance ready for use when needed.

It was my turn to do the digging while Jake cleared away the bags to Tav who stashed the filled bags at the T Junction. When 30 bags had been filled Jake and Tav began to haul them along to the pot, while I filled another half dozen to make 36 filled bags in total. We all shifted back to get the bags to the bottom of the entrance, then out to the surface to be emptied and hung up to dry out ready for the next session. It was just ever so slightly drier in the cave this week, just need the trees to burst into leaf and suck up some of the moisture in the soil.

Up to the Hunter’s Lodge Inn for refreshment and then home to watch the final round of matches in this year’s 6 Nations rugby tournament.

14th March 2015

With Jake and Tav.

Tav digging, me helping to fill and clear bags away. Jake spent a while modifying the haul route at the top of Witches Cauldron before joining us at the end and stacking bags at the T Junction. 30 bags filled and hauled out to the surface, 20 bags were emptied and 10 bags left until next week to see if Tav is right and they are easier to empty after being left to dry out. Jake constructed a ‘washing’ line to hang the bags to dry ready for the next session. We got to the Hunter’s slightly later than usual.

8th March 2015

With Tav and Jake.

Sunday session today after I had been out west yesterday to carry out some rock reduction for the ACG diggers in Upper Canada.

Collected 30 empty bags from the surface stash and all headed underground. Jake at the dig face, Tav cleared the bags while I stashed them in the T Junction. Baling out of the way digging progressed. 29 bags filled – the bottom fell out of 1 bag- and we shifted back to move the spoil out to the surface where it was emptied, all except one bag that stubbornly refused to be relieved of its burden – Tav did the honourable thing and left it! Off to the Hunter’s for refreshments.

28th February 2015

With Jake and Tav (Nick’s away for a month), and Alex did his own thing again.

Decided to try all three at the end today; I did the digging, Jake cleared the bags away and sorted out the puddles and cleaned mud off the slope, while Tav stashed the filled bags at the T Junction ready to be hauled out later. We concentrated the digging effort to the north east of the chamber. There is an area where the sediments seemed less compact and is slightly freer from calcification. Some tiny gaps/pockets appeared at roof level, which is encouraging and the roof is rising up as well. Filled 38 bags and we all shifted back to get them out to the surface, where Alex had turned up to help haul out, all the bags were emptied ready for filling next session. Very squalid in the cave today, plenty of mud splash off the haul ropes. Good effort, although we did arrive at the Hunter’s a bit later than usual.

21st February 2015

With Jake, Nick and Tav. Alex came along to help with hauling of bags after carrying on with his own little project.

Tav and Jake at the end digging, Nick in the pot, me on the hauling and shuttle to the entrance. Digging has slowed considerably due to calcited sediments and rocks, also an awkward digging position. the drips in the cave are constant so plenty of puddles to bale out. We managed to shift 30+ bags and an assortment of rocks out to the surface. Good to get back to the task in hand after some the team have been struck by a variety of illnesses and ailments. Hunter’s Lodge Inn for some well earned refreshment.

31st January 2015

With Tav, Jake and Nick. Alex went off to do his own thing, returning later to Hallowe’en Rift to assist with the hauling out and emptying of bags.

Nick got the digging underway, while I baled out the puddles in the T Junction, Jake baled out the pot and Tav was doing the shuttle run. After a couple of dozen or so bags Nick and I swapped places. At the dig there is appears to be no obvious way on just a wide bedding plane filled with sediments, the digging effort being mostly concentrated heading north and east. Clear banding can be seen in the sediments :- uppermost is slightly pinkish red-brown silt with very few inclusions overlying yellow slightly sandy silt that has a base layer of calcited material, that requires more effort to remove, at the base is dolomitic conglomerate. This session we filled c.46 bags and a few skips of rocks, all removed to the surface and bags emptied. We got to the pub a bit later than usual.

17th January 2015

With Nick. Jake and Tav [Alex has his own little project going on].

On arrival at Hallowe’en Rift we were slightly bemused to find 3 packs of bags neatly stacked on the lid, it appears that Tav had come over yesterday while checking a few things for the MCRA. That settled, Jake and Tav went to the end to do the digging, Nick was in the pot and I settled down to do the hauling/shuttling of spoil back to the entrance shaft. There was quite a bit of baling done to make it more comfortable in the various hauling positions while waiting for the first bags to arrive. I had purchased a mini mattock from www.pasthorizinstools.com for the digging at the end, although Tav reckons the big mattock and bar are still useable. Anyway 40 bags were duly filled and along with some rocks were hauled back to the entrance and out to the surface. As previously agreed Alex turned up at mid-day to assist with hauling and he was accompanied by Mark ‘Gonzo’ Lumley. Unfortunately Alex had to dash off for personal reasons and Gonzo gave him a lift back to the Hunter’s to collect his van, at least quite a few of the bags had been emptied. Cave clear of bags and things it was time to go, on the way down the obligatory ‘brown stains’ were left in the field, and refreshments were taken at the Hunter’s Lodge Inn.

10th January 2015

With Nick, Jake and Tav.

Nick and me did the digging stint this session, Tav was in the pot, Jake did the haul and shuttle to the entrance. At the end the way north seems to be closing down a bit but there is always the east side or over the top. 40 bags and a few rocks were shifted out to the surface. The claggy fill is not at all easy to extract from the bags especially those that have been compressed at the bottom of the pile and with slippery gloves leading to some cursing on occasion. If it was summer we could dry the lumps in the sun, like adobes, and build ourselves a hut, or another wall.

3rd January 2015

With Jake, Nick and Tav. First digging trip of the new year.

A grey, damp start to the day and following some heavy rain during the night we were not expecting the cave to be any drier, we were not surprised to find it getting back to it’s squalid best; although the digging at the end is fine. Jake and Tav were on digging duties today and, after replacing the old skips at the end with the new ones I had made up earlier in the week, bags were duly filled. I was in the pot and Nick took the shuttle duties while we were waiting for the filled bags to come from the end Nick and I set about shifting the rocks stacked in the pot. There was now a constant trickle of water running into the pot and there was plenty of mud splatter coming off the haul ropes although I did manage to keep it out of my eyes, mostly. Good to hear from the end that there had been no further collapse and that forward progress was possible. 30+ bags filled and shifted to the entrance plus the rocks that were in the pot meant that there was a considerable pile of spoil to get out of the cave, and quite an awkward clamber up the bag pile to get to the surface. Cave cleared it was time to head off to the pub, the obligatory body sliding in the field left some fine brown skid marks.