Category: 2017

With Tav, Jake and Jonathon.

Tav started the digging, later swapping places with Jonathon, who was at the bottom of the slope. I was at the top of the slope, hauling spoil and transferring the load to the skip down to Jake, on the haul and shuttle.

Before things got underway, Jake replaced the worn-out skip with a new model, that required a little fine tuning, a new return haul line was also fitted.

A steady flow of bags and rock came from the business end and time drifted by. It was soon time to move back to the entrance and clear the pile of spoil to the surface, we ended up a little later than planned. I took the opportunity to have a gander at the end before joining the others, haven’t been up here for a while. I was struck by how big it was, a lot of spoil has been shifted. High up (NNE) there is a space that could do with opening-up a bit just to check if there is anything there really. Low down in the floor (W), under a bag, is a small calcited gap downwards, this would appear to indicate there is something at a lower level. We’ll have to wait and see how it develops, there is plenty of sediment to be removed beforehand. Although the small gap might require some induced rapid speleo-genesis at some time in the future.

Back at the entrance, about 55 bags, some rocks, a ‘dead’ skip and rope, and a small frog were hauled out of the cave to the surface.

A busier session than usual at the Hunter’s; the ashes of two of Mendip’s caving stalwarts were spread, Tony Knibbs at Longwood and Ray Mansfield at Swildon’s. Left the pub rather later than anticipated.

With Jake, Matt and Jonathon.

Jake digging, Matt at the bottom of the slope, Jonathon at the top, me on the haul and shuttle. No-one available for the surface duty today, so the bags and rocks were stacked in the entrance to be removed later in the session.

A steady stream of bags, with the occasional rock, were moved from the dig. I had to go out to the surface to fetch some more bags. Eventually, it was time to move back and clear the stock pile out to the surface. Matt filled the skip, Jake and I took turns to haul the spoil out and Jonathon emptied the bags. Fifty loads in total came to the surface, 48 bags and a couple of rocks that were added to the wall.

About the dig, Jake reported that the floor is dropping down, there are a couple of small steps, and a thin layer of granular material, with some cobbles having a dark manganese coating, reminiscent of some stream beds. Sounds interesting, and there’s still plenty of sediment to remove.

It was glorious on the surface in the warm spring sunshine, and not many flies around, yet.

With Nick, Tav, Jake and Jonathon.

I did the surface duty again, the hauling of bags up the entrance not good for Nick’s back, he did the haul and shuttle instead. Tav was at the top of the slope, Jake at the bottom, leaving Jonathon to get on with the digging bit.

While the underground team got things underway, I packed up the loose bags and added more rock to the wall, increasing the available space for spoil disposal.

The filled bags started to arrive on the surface at a steady pace, with just enough time in-between to empty them, although some of the bags were a little reluctant to disgorge their contents, only two were incorporated into the wall. Fifty-two bags and four rocks, added to the wall, were hauled to surface.

At the end, the anticipated drop down to a lower level doesn’t appear to be happening quite yet, Jon encountered a solid floor initially, but by the end of the session, had just reached a more cobbled, granular fill, so there’s hope yet.

Still plenty to dig out next session.

With Tav, Jake, Nick, Matt and Jonathon.

After digging last weekend, I was on surface duty today; Tav was doing the haul and shuttle; Jake, at the top of the slope, Matt at the bottom; Nick, on his return after a back injury caused by over enthusiastic use of the sledge hammer, took the first digging stint, later swapping places with Jonathon.

Seventy-eight loads were hauled out of the cave, mostly bags but some rocks too. I had to change the hauling rope three times, as each became too slippery to grip, even the knotted rope wasn’t easy to hold. The bags, filled with claggy sediment, weren’t much fun to empty either, difficult to grip and shake the contents out. Only one, though, refused to relinquish its contents, and that became incorporated into the wall, All the sediment was compacted behind the retaining wall. The weather was good, and the birds were singing, keeping the mind off an aching back. I have to agree with Tav, surface duty is one of the harder tasks, especially while it’s damp underground and the sediment so claggy.

Still, another good digging session and the refreshments were well earned.

With Jonathon, Matt, Jake and Tav.

I did the excavation and filling of bags, Jonathon cleared the bags and rocks away.

The spoil was loaded into the skip to Matt, at the top of the slope. Jake was on haul and shuttle duty, while Tav had opted to be on the surface. The extracted spoil was added to the wall, the sediment packed behind the stonework to add strength.

The wall, with drying bags flapping in the wind like Buddhist prayer flags.

At the end, I concentrated on clearing the ‘trample’ from the floor, the digging forward toward a back wall. Here, a very narrow, ‘clean-washed’ gap was revealed. I pulled out some small stones and could peer down about 300 to 500mm, there was a feint draught of cool air emanating from the hole. It would appear that there is a lower level of development. Although, the passage does pinch in, it widens lower down, there is plenty of compact sediment to be removed before a better evaluation can be determined. At higher level in the passage, there still remains a considerable amount of sediment that needs to be removed.

Digging is not exactly rapid at the moment, the spoil is very claggy and sticks to the tools. I found it easier to loosen the spoil with the mattock, then fill the bags by hand. A steady 40 or so bags were filled with a few rocks, along with the rocks left over from Thursday evening, 55 loads were hauled out to the surface.

With Tav and Jake.

Tav digging, me clearing the bags and rocks to Jake, at the top of the slope where the spoil was stashed temporarily. Some of the rocks needed reduction in size before being moved on.

After a couple of dozen or so bags had been filled, we changed positions and moved the bags to the entrance, the rocks will stay until where they are until Saturday. The final task of the evening was to clear the bags from the entrance and empty them out. Emptying the bags turned out to be rather more difficult than anticipated. The sediment had become claggier, possibly because it was ‘trampled’ material.

Tav, then set about removing the spoil he had brought out of the cave attached to his oversuit and boots.

Hopefully, now spring has arrived, according to meteorological terms, the cave should start drying out.

With Jake.

Jake only had surface gear with him, so the decision had been made, I was going underground. Not far underground though, just to the bottom of the entrance.

About thirty loads of rock were loaded and hauled out to the surface. The entrance cleared, the lid was replaced and secured. The rest of the session was spent adding the rocks to the retaining wall, and standing back to consider just, how much spoil has been removed from the cave in the past year or so.

A mellow evening, time for the pub.

With Jake, Jonathon and Matt.

We took a couple of the replacement drag trays up to the cave with us, and a reel of new polypropylene rope, to replace the trays on the haul routes.

Jake went to the end, with one of the drag trays and the reel of rope; Matt followed, to clear away the rocks and bags, to Jonathon, hauling up the slope and loading the skips to me, on the haul and shuttle. Before the hauling began the trays were replaced.

Then, the rocks from the mid-week ‘capping’ session were cleared and neatly stacked in the entrance. When the rocks had been cleared, Jake started to fill bags, as he was digging, mostly, at floor level and removing the ‘trample’ the sediment was claggy, not going to be easy to empty the bags. About 30 bags were filled, before we decided it was time to clear them out to the surface.

The rocks were left stacked in the entrance. They will be cleared during the week, and there are a couple of boulders at the bottom of the slope that require ‘capping’. A job for Tuesday evening, probably.

It had been another busy morning, with a steady flow of rocks and bags being moved along the cave. It was time for refreshment, well earned.

Solo.

I had finished a rather slow archaeological watching brief early, with the prospect of going down to Okehampton tomorrow, I decided to take a half-days leave.

Rather than go into Hallowe’en Rift this evening, I thought that going in the afternoon would give me more time to complete my task. So, I got my gear together, loaded the van and headed off, over the hill to the farm.

The half-dozen drag trays I had prepared last weekend were left in the cabin. Thanks to Hugh Tucker for supplying them and to Jonathon for collecting them, they will be very useful.

Lugged the two bags with the ‘capping’ gear and drill to the [current] end of Merlin’s to deal with the boulders left there on Saturday. There were two quite substantial lumps and, another bigger than the two combined, all of them in the way of making progress forward.

Once I had sorted out where to place all the kit, so that it was easy to access when required, work got underway.

Drill a hole, two black ‘caps’ inserted, the rod placed, gently tapping the ‘caps’ until compressed, then, a heavy thwack – bang! The resulting split rock was moved aside and the process repeated.

About two and a half hours later, the boulders had been reduced to a decent sized pile of rock in more manageable pieces, ready to be removed on the weekend.

Packed the kit away and made my way out of the cave.

It turned out that the job in Okehampton had been cancelled, so I won’t be going there tomorrow.

With Jonathon, Matt, Nick and Tav.

Jonathon on digging duties, Matt clearing the filled bags and rocks to Nick, pulling the loaded skip up the slope, the bags and rocks then transferred to the next skip down to Tav, on the haul and shuttle. I had been up to the end twice in the week, so I was on the surface today.

I had enough time to continue adding to the retaining wall, we have plenty of rocks for the job. As bags were hauled out of the cave, they were emptied along the back of the wall, the sediment compacted, to act like mortar.

Given time, the wall will naturalise and provide shelter for a variety of small vertebrates and invertebrates.

About 40 loads of bags and rock were removed from the cave, including one of the large rocks left during the week, now reduced in size, although one of the larger lumps needed two of us to haul it out of the entrance shaft.

There are several large rocks at the end that will require ‘capping’, but that is a job for mid-week. Time now, for the pub.

With Roz and Tav.

The plan was to clear the rock debris created by Tuesday evening’s effort.

On the way up to the current end of Merlin’s, I reeled in the wire and left it high, dry and out of the way. Tuesday’s rock engineering had the required effect, the ‘nose’ of rock was gone and the passage was wider. There was, also, a pile of rock to shift that included some larger lumps needing further reduction. A substantial lump would not succumb to some hefty whacks from the sledge, so that was moved to a place where it could be capped and the digging effort not disrupted. It was, later joined by an equally large lump.

When all the larger lumps of rock had been cleared away, Tav and Roz came up to the end and had a good look at the potential way forward. There is, of course, a lot more spoil to move.

We all moved back and cleared the pile of rocks out to the surface, leaving a clear cave for Saturday.

Some of us got changed, not Roz though, because she had left her clothes at home and had to go to the pub in her undersuit, under my coat. Good job it was the landlord’s night out!

My funny Valentine!

Solo.

A mild evening, with some low cloud, as I walked up to Hallowe’en Rift, I caught sight of a bat in the light from my torch, flying low across the field.

I dragged the bags to the end of Merlin’s, it was damp and muddy along the way, puddles in places. At the end I tidied away some tools, cleaned some mud from the walls, and decided on a strategy.

Six holes [plus an extra one for the trimmings, later] split into two equal groups, on either side of the passage. On the right side, to take off a ‘nose’ of rock and, to the left, to widen the passage, to make forward progress easier. There is an abundance of good tamp available.

It was a tad awkward on the return to the entrance, dragging two bags and laying the wire. No matter, the evening was brought to a satisfactory conclusion. I exited the cave and made my way back to the farm.

With Tav, Nick, Jonathon and Matt.

I was ready for the surface duties but, Tav opted for that position, on the grounds that he had dug on Thursday evening. I did the haul and shuttle again, Jonathon was at the top of the slope, Matt at the bottom, clearing away the filled bags from Nick, who was digging today.

I’d brought along another ‘pick’ to make the removal of the rocky fill easier, the steady flow of bags out, suggested it did the job.

On the surface, Tav busied himself by working on the retaining wall. He cut back the scrubby undergrowth to enable the wall baseline to be completed. I, too, spent a short time adding to the wall before going underground to clear the backlog of bags.

The skip was worn out so had to be replaced, this took quite a time as the haul ropes needed some adjustment. Then, just as we had got underway again, one of the boards on the bridge over the pot moved, causing the skip to jam, so had to sort that out.

At the end of the session, over 50 bags plus some rocks were cleared out to the surface. Another fine session was concluded and we made our way down to the farm to get changed, and head up to the pub.

With Tav, Jake and Nick.

Tav, back after missing a few sessions due to work commitments, upfront digging, Jake clearing the bags and loading the skip to Nick at the top of the slope. I was on the haul and shuttle, stacking the bags in the entrance, ready for removal to the surface later.

The drips are making the passages quite damp now, almost squalid in places. When the skip first arrives, there is a splash, a face full of muddy water, that later turns to slurry. it does, however, lubricate the skip run and hauling gets easier.

Thirty bags filled and we all moved back to clear them out to the surface. The spoil is becoming claggy, so the bags aren’t so easy to empty, some mumblings were heard.

There was a chill east wind across the field on the way back down to the farm.

With Nick, Jonathon, Matt and Jake.

While I headed off to the end of Merlin’s, the rest of the team set about clearing the 40 bags plus rocks left from Tuesday evening.

At Merlin’s, the rock barring progress was reduced to smaller, manageable pieces by capping. Then, I removed a ‘nose’ of rock that enabled another boulder to be moved to a position, where that could be split. Job done, packed away the capping kit and sent it out to the surface. I was then, able to start filling bags.

There is enough space to stand up and swing the mattock, loosening a matrix of fine sediments with clastic material consisting of cobbles and boulders of conglomerate and degraded calcite flowstone. It is a bit claggy due to a persistent drip of water, it has been quite wet lately.

Progress to the north-north-east follows a narrow partially filled rift, that cut’s down from a low bedding; classic T shaped development. It’s c.2.5 to 3-metres high and after a pinch point, appears to widen to c.0.75-metres. There is, of course plenty of spoil to shift.

All too soon, it was time to shift back and help clear the last few bags and rocks out to the surface.

At the surface, Jake had found time to add considerably to the retaining wall. We are not short of building stones, and some of the sloppier bags of spoil, are a good substitute for mortar.

With Jake.

I couldn’t believe it, stung by a wasp in January. I had decided to retrieve a long unused oversuit from the horsebox. When getting ready to put it on, I noticed a wasp on the cabin floor, then another was seen, and as I slid my arm into the oversuit, a third was located. I didn’t survive after the first sting, some vigorous patting of the arm, followed by a digging trip. As for the oversuit, I won’t be wearing that one again, far too tight, like trying to cave in a strait jacket, restrictive and very uncomfortable.

At the end of Merlin’s Jake and I took it in turns to fill forty or so bags, plus a few rocks. Most of the spoil is at the top of the slope. Jake ended the session by loosening a large boulder into the way forward. This will need capping next session before much progress can be made.

Quite a strong drip in the cave this evening and the puddles were noticeably deeper in places.

With Jake, Jonathon, Matt and Nick.

Jake was at the sharp end, filling bags and shifting rocks, Jonathon clearing away. I was positioned at the top of the slope, loading skips to Matt, on the haul and shuttle. Nick was on the surface but, also helped Matt with the haul and shuttle duties.

First, there was a backlog of spoil that Nick and I had dug on Tuesday evening to move out of the cave; about 30 bags plus an assortment of rocks. While this was done, Jonathon piled today’s spoil at the base of the slope.

When Tuesday’s stuff was cleared, we set about moving today’s pile out. No-one was counting really, but it must have been another 50 bags plus several loads of rock, some of them quite large.

At the end of the digging session, Jonathon and I went to look at the end. After a couple of hours full-on digging effort, the air was clear and fresh, and the chamber is getting bigger. There is, air movement, from the north and/or north-east side.

Still more to be dug out though!

Cave cleared and secured, it was time for some refreshments.

With Nick.

I did the digging, Nick cleared away the bags and rock, up the slope and stacked the spoil at the top, ready for removal later.

I concentrated the digging effort to the north side of the fissure, where air movement can be detected. Removed a lot of rocks, a mixture of conglomerate and degraded calcite flowstone, some were quite large, and filled bags with sediment. There is still plenty to come out before a clear idea of how this will develop can be made.

How time flies when you are enjoying yourself, all too soon, it was time to depart.

With Jake, Tav, Nick, Matt and a first-time trip for Jonathon Riley.

Jake opted for surface duty this session, I was on the shuttle, and later the haul and shuttle when Matt went up to the surface to empty bags, Tav, was in a busy spot, top of the slope, hauling the skip up and transferring the load to the drag tray down to Matt. Nick was upfront digging and filling bags, Jon clearing away and loading the skip to Tav.

The first job for Jake and I, was to clear the backlog of rocks and bags left stacked in the entrance on Thursday evening; 60+ loads out to the surface.

I looked o up to the surface and thought to myself, should have brought the camera, lovely blue sky seen through an ash tree, and framed by the entrance of Hallowe’en Rift.

When the entrance was cleared, I went to clear the pile of bags and rock that Matt had accrued. It was a full-on effort for an hour and a half. Eventually, things settled down, Matt went out to empty bags, and I took over the haul and shuttle. Another 70+ loads of rocks and bags were cleared out to the surface. Another good session.

With Jake, Nick and Tav.

Tuesday evening’s effort had been a success, the way ahead blocked, temporarily, by a pile of fractured rock and gravel.

I began the task of clearing the debris out of the way, Nick was at the bottom of the slope loading the skip to Tav, who was at the top. Jake was on the haul and shuttle, stacking the rocks and bags in the entrance ready for removal on Saturday.

Some of the fractured rock required a bit of persuasion, but most of it was moved out of the way to give a view of the potential way forward. There is still quite a bit of loose rock and gravel on the floor to be shifted out of the way, another job for Saturday.

At the end of the session, both Nick and Tav came forward to have a look, the consensus was, we need to dig some more.

Another busy Saturday session for us.

With Jake.

The focus of this evening’s trip was the application of some rock engineering techniques to try and open access to the north and to widen the fissure a bit more.

While I was drilling holes, Jake got to work with the mattock, filled some bags and removed some hefty flakes of rock and degraded flowstone. Eventually, Jake had to cease digging because he was undermining, my now, precarious position.

Six holes plus an extra for the trimmings were drilled; these were split into two groups, 4 holes on the north side to remove some blocks of rock to open the access to that side and, 3 holes on the south side to remove a bulge and widen the route a little.

Everything brought to a satisfactory conclusion, the sound of falling rocks could be heard in the distance. Could be interesting on Thursday evening.

With Matt, Nick, Jake and Tav.

Jake set off for the end to get on with the digging, Tav followed on, stopping at the top of the slope to load the skip and shift the stockpile of bags there. Matt settled down at Stal Bend to haul the loaded skip, while Nick was shuttling bags to the entrance. I was on the surface hauling the bags and rocks out of the cave.

It was a very pleasant morning too, warm in the sunshine and sheltered from the breeze.

At first, there was a rush of bags and rocks, eventually though, the pace slackened and I could empty the bags. Several bags had come to the end of their usefulness and these, were given a fitting burial in the spoil heap.

Jake and Tav had alternated the digging, the result was a spurt of bags and rock towards the end of today’s session. Thankfully, everyone had moved back and there was help on the surface. About 100 loads were brought out of the cave and added to the ever-burgeoning spoil heap.

With Nick.

A covering of snow on top of the hill.

At the business end of Hallowe’en Rift, Nick filled two dozen bags with sediment, I cleared. There’s room to put the mattock to good use. We, then, changed places and I filled 20 or so bags, until time ran out.

All the bags are at the top of the slope, it was a rather snug fit passing them.

There are several puddles below strong drips after today’s rain.

With Tav and Nick.

Tav went along to the end to have a look and to take some bearings, while Nick and I busied ourselves clearing some of the backlog of spoil in the entrance.

When Tav returned, there followed some discussion. The fissure we followed from the bottom of the rift [pot], as we thought, heads west and the lead we accessed is trending north-northeast, which is just what we wanted.

We decided to all go up to the end and clear the bags that were stashed there. After some persistent rain yesterday, there are drips in several places and the passages have become lubricated, this does make the skips progress easier, but it is becoming muddier.

When the bags and rock were cleared from the end, it was back to the entrance and cleared that; 50 bags and about 80 loads of rock in total to the surface.

We needed some refreshment!

With Jake, Nick and Matt.

On arrival at the end, the way ahead was now obstructed by a pile of rock, Thursday’s effort had been effective.

I was upfront, Jake cleared away and loaded the skip, Matt hauled it up the slope and Nick was on the haul and shuttle.

I started to clear away the larger of the lumps of rock, reducing them in size with the lump hammer, as necessary. Beforehand, we had sorted out a skip making the clearing of fragmented rock easier. It wasn’t too long before we had cleared enough to squeeze forward into the open space beyond.

With just a bit more digging, I was through. I am going to claim the term ‘micro-breakthrough’. About 3-metres length, a vertical range 1.5 to 2-metres (there is some sediment to be removed). There was enough space for me to, just about, stand, and after clearing away a few lumps of degraded calcite and assorted stones out of the way, could peer into another c.2-metres of [probably] caveable passage, but access is too constricted. It’s heading c.NE and air movement is good. The removal of a block of conglomerate should enable a better look ahead, but clearing the pile of spoil already created is the priority.

Jake and Nick both came forward to look at the prospects, and Matt came down to the end too.

Then we returned to the task of clearing spoil. I bagged up the gravel and sediment, while the others moved the stockpile of rock to the entrance.

There is a lot of spoil to clear out of the cave, plenty to keep us busy for the next few sessions.

With Jake and Tav.

On arrival at the current end of Merlin’s, it was evident that Tuesday evening’s effort had been successful and there was a pile of rock to shift before any drilling could be done. I passed the larger lumps of rock back to Jake, the biggest of these were then reduced to skip size with the sledge hammer. Tav was at the top of the slope, hauling up the skip and stockpiling the rocks and bags. I pushed much of the smaller cobbles and gravel to one side, this will be bagged later. probably on the weekend. Ahead, the passage looks caveable and we should be able to gain access on Saturday.

When enough space was cleared to drill, Jake and Tav began to move the spoil stockpile to the entrance. Six holes were drilled, charged and well stemmed. As I was about to lay out the wire Tav and Jake were just about clear, so good timing.

Everything was brought to a satisfactory conclusion and we were all done for the evening. It will be a very busy morning on Saturday.

With Roz. First trip of the New Year.

After a wet and miserable day on Sunday 1st, there are several puddles along the approach passage and some drips elsewhere in the cave.

At the furthest reaches in Merlin’s, still heading west, into more open space beyond, so near and yet…

Drilled a total of 6no. holes plus an extra for the trimmings, these were split into two groups of three. One group was placed as far forward as I could drill, just beyond a natural joint in the rock; the second group, including the trimmings, was placed to create more space to ease future digging operations. These groups were about a metre apart so two detonators were used. Everything was brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

The plan is to return on Thursday evening and continue the rock engineering process.