dighalloween

With Jake and Tav.

It’s been a tad damp over the past few days; I got a report of Chamber’s 3 and 20 in Wookey Hole flooding, the wettest seen in 20 years and as I drove past Gough’s Cave in Cheddar this morning that too, was spewing torrents of water. How this has affected Hallowe’en Rift we shall found out soon.

But first, there’s the pile of bags and rock in the entrance to clear. Tav and I on the surface sharing the hauling with Jake loading the skips. 61 skip loads out to the surface and while Tav volunteered to empty the bags Jake and I headed off to the end to dig some more.

There were a couple of small puddles along the approach, just damp enough to ease the passage of the skip, at the dig it was dry. Jake set about filling bags and I hauled them up the slope, stockpiled a few loads before Tav arrived at the haul and shuttle.

Another 25 skip loads were removed to the surface, bags hung up on the line and we were done.

With Jake, Tav and Pete Bolt.

I tried out a new plastic oversuit I had purchased online for £25. It was okay but the wearing of two long sleeved thermal T’s was an error, I was very warm.

Anyway, at the sharp end, while I drilled and ‘capped’ the obstructing rock in the floor of the dig, Tav fettled the skip run, Pete was clearing away and loading the skip to Jake, who was on the haul and shuttle.

Interestingly I found that dolomitic conglomerate boulder split better using double black cartridges whereas comparable sized boulders of limestone can be split using just a single black cartridge. The split boulder of ‘dol cong’ required some chisel and bar work to extricate it from the sediment but the task was completed. I swapped places with Tav and he started to fill bags with sediment while I set about using more rock splitting technique to remove a couple of stubborn obstructions along the skip run.

That done, we cleared the stack of bags that Tav had steadily accumulated. Tav carried on digging for a little longer and it was quite late, by our usual standards, when we decided to finish the session. There is a very neat stack of bags and rock in the entrance ready for clearing mid-week.

The helmet mounted video camera (SJ4000) that I had thought to try out was not a complete success – I guess I should have turned it on properly as I discovered during a quiet moment between hauling skips.

With Jake, Tav and Nick.

It was a foggy night, we mooched up the hill but didn’t quite locate the stile and had to search for it – just for a few moments!

On arrival at Hallowe’en Rift; Jake, Tav and myself set about clearing the spoil left at the weekend from the entrance while Nick headed up to the dig to wrestle the fractured rock free from the sediment.

There were 60 skip loads of spoil removed from the entrance and one frog, but I’m not sure that the frog didn’t return as I saw one just like it disappearing into a small gap between some rocks.

While Tav emptied the bags out on the surface Jake and I headed up to the end of Merlin’s to free Nick from a surplus of rock debris and bags. Jake clearing and loading the skips while I was on the haul and shuttle. Another 15 skip loads out to the surface and we decided to call it a day. The fractured rock, however remains, somewhat depleted but still there, a job for Saturday with the drill and caps!

As we walked down to the farm it was raining steadily.

With Nick and Tav.

Me digging, Tav hauling and loading skips, Nick doing the haul and shuttle.

A bit of a slow start while I tried to dig around and pry out the fractured rock in the floor. Tav started to make some adjustments to the haul slope which meant that I had a constant shower of debris which was okay as long as I didn’t look up.

When I eventually coaxed one piece of the fractured rock free the rest came a little more easily and Nick had something to do. It was warm work digging.

Working at loosening the shattered rock and flowstone to the north side of the dig I got the long bar behind a lump and prised it free to reveal a small space beyond. A large lump of rock in the floor needed a reduction in size so got the drill out and capped it. Then after some sledge work and leverage with the long bar it was out, cleared away the remaining debris and opened up the space some more.

I got my head into a narrow opening and could see about 2 or 3 metres to the west and about a metre to the east, there is some air movement, the narrow fissure or rift is partially filled with sediment, the usual reddish brown silty sand. The team came down to take a look.

We cleared some of the loose rock, but there is still more rock to dig out of the floor and it then seems to be sediment to excavate. At the entrance is a pile of rocks and bags that will remain until Tuesday evening, another excuse to go the pub and it was fast approaching that time now.

We made our way down the hill to the farm, then up to the Hunter’s Lodge Inn.

With Jake and Tav.

A rainy evening trip to clear the spoil left stacked in the entrance on Saturday.

Tav loading the skips, Jake and Vince on the surface hauling and emptying the skip. 51 bags up to the surface and emptied, 27skip loads of rock and 1 heavyweight rock in the net. All cleared ready for Saturday’s session.

It didn’t take too long and we were soon sat in the pub, a little bit too early really.

With Tav and Jake.

Jake digging, Vince hauling and loading the skip, Tav doing the haul and shuttle. As expected, after the initial clearance of rock debris, there was a lot more fine sediment to excavate to get to the remaining fractured rock. Progress was at a good steady pace and it was warm work.

Towards the end of the session Jake and Vince swapped places. A few more bags were filled before attention was paid to some fractured rock overhead and, after a little persuasion this was brought crashing down. Another heavyweight rock was man-handled up the slope and while Jake rolled the rock down to Tav, Vince reduced the other pieces to skip size with some swinging of the sledge hammer – there is that much space at the end.

About 45 bags were filled and plenty of rock was shifted, all stacked neatly in the entrance by Tav, who had to climb up to the ledge to place the last few skip loads, here the spoil will remain until Tuesday evening. At the dig there is still more fractured rock to remove but this needs digging out, so no rock engineering will be necessary in the coming week.

Satisfied with the effort, the gate was locked and we made our way down to the farm to change. Then up to the Hunter’s for some well-earned refreshment and discussion of plans for the week ahead.

Solo.

6no. holes drilled into the rock flakes in the floor. Much of the rock is already fractured so the drilling took some thinking about. It will likely require some exerted effort to get at all the broken rock [and sediment too]. As usual retired to a safe distance and all sounded good, leaves fluttered down into the entrance.

With Jake, Tav, Nick, Matt and from the Grampian – Colin, Frazer and Ian. We were joined later by Tangent.

Tav digging ably assisted by Nick and Ian; Matt doing the hauling; Jake shuttling and loading the skips to the surface; Vince above ground with Colin and Frazer, who was a little worse for wear following a rather heavy day yesterday.

The first task of the day was to remove the spoil left from last weekend, this done Jake started to clear the pile that Matt was accruing coming from the digging end.

Then Jake sent the sledge up to the end when it had been requested, this was soon followed by some enormous boulders being rolled out of the cave. These easily weighed between 30kg to 50kg and the net was needed along with a joint effort to get them up to the surface.

When most of the work had been done Tangent turned up, taking a detour from pedalling up the hill to the Hunter’s to say hello to the Grampian contingent. I then went along to the end with Colin, don’t know what happened to Frazer.

There’s a rather large space at the end now which should not be a surprise after the quantity of spoil shifted today. There is a good solid wall on the west side but the rock flake in the floor will need some attention so another mid-week trip is necessary.

Another fine digging session with our digging chums from north of the border. Time to go to the pub.

With Tav. Unfortunately, Jake and the Grampian team were delayed too long in Reservoir hole and couldn’t make it.

We went straight up to the current end of Merlin’s to get the rock engineering done. 6no. holes this time; 2no. in fractured rock overhead, 1no. in the rift going north, and 3no. in flake of rock in the floor. It didn’t take too long and we soon back at the entrance. Before setting the charge off we decided to shift a couple of dozen loads of spoil up to the surface, mostly bags but a few rocks too.

Job done we headed down to the farm where we spent some time chatting to Mark, the farmer. At a local, well known hostelry we met up with Jake and co. and a jolly time was had by all!

With Tav and Nick.

My turn to dig, Tav clearing back, and Nick on the haul and shuttle. Monday’s blast had the desired effect and there was a good pile of rock, gravel and finer sediment to be removed. The new skip was put into immediate use as there is quite a distance between the dig face and up the slope to the skip loading position, Tav has renamed this ‘haul and shuttle 2’, there are no easier positions now.

There is an interesting deposit of calcified sediment filling a narrow fissure. The sediment filled the fissure and carbonate rich water seeped through the sediment becoming calcified. Looking closely it is possible to see that the sediment was slowly oozing down the fissure before solidifying.

Filled about 30 bags of gravel and finer sediment, shifted a lot of rock and eventually cleared the dig ready for another midweek trip to create more rubble. There is some fractured rock that will need some encouragement to bring it down too. At the end of the clearance session both Tav and Nick came to inspect the way ahead. There is a narrow rift going down perhaps 0.7m depth from where the draught is emanating, the gap seems to widen below a block of conglomerate. This opening appears to align north/south.

Unfortunately, we had spent so much time clearing the end there wasn’t time to clear the entrance. Perhaps we can get this out during the week when I am applying rock engineering techniques at the end of Merlin’s.

Another interesting bit of rock. The calcite bands at lower end of this sample are beginning to degrade while the upper bands are still competent, the mid section is a mixture of degrading and competent bands. the bands are very thin and many of the layers upper surface stained red probably from sediment flow.

Solo.

At the current end of Merlin’s drilled 7no. holes – 3no. on either side and 1no. in large flake of flowstone in the floor, all prep done, retired to a safe distance, made some loud noise, the cave shook! There will be rubble for the weekend.

With Nick, Tav and Jake.

As we walked up to the cave I joked “Nick have you walked all the way up here without your hat”…only to realise that I had done exactly that! Jake saved my embarrassment by lending me his hat as he was on surface duties this weekend.

At the end there was plenty of rubble to shift. Nick was digging, I was clearing back loading the skips, Tav on the haul and shuttle, Jake on the surface in the warm October sunshine building walls. It was warm work and the progress is quite impressive, the rift is c.4.0-4.5m deep, c.4m length and heading north as well as downwards, there is air movement. At the end of the session there is a small gap under the left (west) wall that appears to continue north. Some more rock engineering is required.

72no. skip loads to the surface comprising bags and rock, including some rather large boulders that wouldn’t succumb to the sledge, about 15kg per load – well work it out for yourselves!

Pub time.

With Tav and Jake, later joined by Nick who had been delayed by a late train.

While I planned to apply some rock engineering to the end the rest of the team were to set about clearing the remaining spoil from Sunday’s session. Tav gave me a hand to carry the kit up to Merlin’s before returning to the entrance.

7no. holes drilled – 3no. either side if the rift and 1no. in a large rock flake in the floor. Tav returned just as I was charging the last hole so I packed away the drill and he took that out for me. That left me to tidy up the loose end and connect the wires then I made my way out laying the wire as I went. All was brought to a satisfactory conclusion, the entrance clear of spoil we made our way down the hill to the farm, followed by the usual debrief at the Hunter’s Lodge Inn.

There will be more rubble to shift at the weekend.

With Jake and Nick.

Jake doing the digging, Nick clearing back and loading the skip, my turn on the haul and shuttle, it was relentless and very warm and sweaty work. By the end of the digging session I had to climb nearly out of the entrance to add more spoil to the stockpile that was awaiting removal to the surface. I didn’t have any time to break up the larger boulders and these are lined up at the bottom of the pile. It would appear that Tuesdays effort had been a success.

After the rush I went along to the end to see what further rock engineering was required. It’s getting steadily deeper and longer at the current end of Merlin’s. We could still excavate loose sediment from the base of the dig but more widening is necessary and there is a large flake of rock impeding downward progress.

21 bags were removed and emptied on the surface, but time was moving on and it’s early closing on a Sunday at the Hunter’s. As a consequence much of the spoil remains stacked in the entrance and will be removed, probably on Tuesday evening when Jake and Tav, possibly Nick intend to accompany me and clear out while I drill.

Another excellent session!

With Roz Simmonds.

At the current end of Merlin’s I managed to get 6 and a bit holes drilled after some excitement when a drill bit snapped leaving a stub jammed in the chuck. Eventually, following a god deal of cussing and grumbling the stub was extricated and drilling progressed. Roz took some photo’s, some were ok.

All things done and dusted we made our way out. There will, again be rubble to shift at the weekend.

With Nick, Tav and Jake.

Tav at the sharp end digging, Jake clearing back and loading the skip, Nick on the haul and shuttle, Vince on surface duties. 30+ bags and quite a lot of rocks were hauled out.

When time was available on the surface the retaining wall was heightened, the brambles trampled down to make for more spoil dumping space and bags were packed ready for re-use underground.

Towards the end of the session went with Nick to have a look at the end, all the small open space seen last week had been accessed and more enlargement is now required, I will arrange another visit on Tuesday with the supplier.

Still looking encouraging!

Solo.

Another peaceful evening spent drilling holes at the current end of Merlin’s, can even stand up to do it. 7no. holes in total, all charged and well stemmed, all brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

There will be rubble to shift on the weekend!

With Jake, Tav and Alex.

Tav had bought along his survey kit so we quickly did a couple of legs from the top of the pot to the present dig, total length c.14m and trending N-NW into the hill, just what we want!

Tav re-adjusting his attire after surveying.

Vince digging, clearing away the blast debris, Tav loading the skip with bags and rocks, Jake drew the shortest of straws and was on the haul and shuttle with Alex on the surface.

At the end there was plenty of gravel -20 bags of it- and numerous rocks, barred away fractured rock from the left hand wall and in the floor, it was warm work.

As things started to slow down, the blast debris being mostly cleared, I began to pull some cobbles and small boulders away from the end of the rift to reveal an open space below. There is a drop c.1-1.5m and a continuation of the rift c.2-2.5m and c.0.5-0.7m width. There are a number of loose rocks, most of these appear to be of detached, degraded flowstone and a good draught.

While manoeuvering a boulder out of the way my headlight became detached and fell through the narrow opening down into the rift, I had to retrieve it. After quite a lot of hammering I eventually managed to squeeze into the rift and reached my light but I couldn’t really do or see anything else. Will have to arrange another mid-week visit to widen access into the rift and enable the removal of rocks and sediment.

The prospects ahead good, very good indeed!

Digging over, it was time to make our way down to the farm, get changed and up to the debrief in the Hunter,s, satisfied with the mornings effort.

Solo.

Drilled some more holes at the current end of Merlin’s in the draughting rift to continue the widening, starting to trend downwards now. All went with a resounding boom. There should be rubble to shift on the weekend!

With Jake and Tav.

Jake at the business end, Vince clearing back and loading the skip, Tav on the haul and shuttle probably the busiest task of today.

Tuesday’s blast had done the trick and there was plenty of rubble to shift. It was a little frantic for the first hour or so as rocks and bags of gravel were moved quickly back. Then as digging was required it settled down a bit. A message from Tav that the stack of spoil at the entrance was approaching the ledge just below the gate.

By the end of the digging session the way ahead (well it’s down really) looks good indeed, small stones can be heard to rattle down a short distance and there is a good draught. There is some more widening required so I will have to arrange another mid-week trip.

Back at the entrance, Tav had created an impressive stockpile of spoil and it must have been an effort to get the last few bags and rocks up to the top. On the surface Tav and Jake rotated the hauling – 20 bags, then swap around. 70 skip loads were removed to the surface including a couple of boulders in the rock net that needed a joint effort to get them out.

Thirsty work and the refreshments at the Hunter’s Lodge Inn were welcome indeed.

A fine digging session!

Solo.

Mark, the farmer, walked up to the woods with me before going on his way to continue walking the dogs.

At the end drilled some holes in the large detached flake of conglomerate, a few more to widen the way lower down, and another in an obstructive rock in the floor. Six were charged, well stemmed and the task was completed from a safe distance in the usual satisfactory manner.

There should be another large pile of rubble to shift on Saturday.

With Jake, Tav and Nick.

Vince digging, Nick clearing and loading the skip, Jake hauling and shuttling to the entrance, Tav on the surface, in the rain apparently. It was lovely and dry at the end.

Tuesday evening’s blast had worked a treat and there was plenty of rubble, comprised of lumps of rock and gravel, to shift. There is a large flake of rock, probably half a ton in weight, on the left side that is just about loose but, realistically is too big to do anything with. This will require further attention at a later date.

Towards the end of the session I pulled out a large piece of old detached flowstone from the narrow rift at the end to reveal what appears to be a clear way forward. A small, draughting gap that looks to widen lower down. There’s plenty of work to be done before we can access it though. I will have to arrange some supplies and a midweek trip to apply some rock engineering techniques.

60 skip loads out to the surface, plus a joint effort to extricate the last lump of conglomerate.

At the Hunter’s caught up with John and Ally Beauchamp who are visiting from Australia, haven’t seen them for about 20 years I reckon.

Solo.

A gentle evening trip to drill some holes and apply some rock engineering techniques to widen the rift at the present end of Merlin’s.

6no. holes drilled, charged and well tamped and task completed in the usual satisfactory manner. Should be a good pile of rubble to clear on Saturday.

Jake, Tav, Nick and Matt.

Tav and Jake took turns at the dig face, Tav taking the first stint; I did the hauling; Nick on the shuttle with Matt on the surface.

Nick hauling back a skip loaded with rocks and a bag [click on image to watch video].

I don’t think Matt realised just how much work there would be after Wednesday evening’s blast. Rock and gravel was coming from the dig face at a good rate of knots for over an hour, every skip I hauled back was two or more skip loads out to the surface. Some of the larger rocks almost overfilled the skip and Nick reduced these in size with some mighty swings of the sledge hammer.

Jake works at loosening another boulder.

At the end some good forward progress had been achieved and the end still looks interesting. Another blast will be required in the week which will increase the working space and allow a better look ahead.

Matt looked a little shell shocked at the end of the session but happy. Refreshments at the hostelry were well earned today.

Solo.

I was in Wookey Hole with others on Saturday so didn’t make it to Hallowe’en. The rest of the team, however, did and had cleared the sediment that was surrounding some large rock obstructions.

My task this evening was to start the process of removing these inconveniences using some chemical persuasion. It was very pleasant working away drilling the holes, six in total five of which were 400mm depth, charged, stemmed and all brought to a satisfying conclusion. Should be some debris to shift on Saturday although I will bring along the capping gear just in case it’s required.

Up to the Hunter’s to bid farewell to Snablet, Annette and family who are leaving tomorrow after an all too brief visit from New Zealand.

With Jake and Alex.

Me digging, Jake clearing and Alex doing the haul and shuttle to the entrance. We started off by clearing the loose rock debris from last weeks ‘capping’.

Jake’s hands are a blur as he shifts back the loose rock debris!

Then I got the bar to work levering out the fractured rock that was still in situ. Eventually managed to drop two large lumps that required further reduction so asked for the capping gear to be sent up. While waiting for the bag to arrive I set into one of the boulders with the lump hammer and managed to split the rock. I was surprised to see that it comprised entirely of flowstone, the various banding clear evidence for a succession of formation episodes.

Those rocks cleared I moved forward to clear some loose rock from a narrow rift that had been exposed and then detected cool air movement with more open space beyond, not massive space but compelling. Much of the blockage in the narrow rift had been caused by detached, degrading calcite flowstone. After some effort a better view was gained and the space c.2 metres length is looking interesting indeed with a good draught. Jake came forward to have a look and confirmed my initial findings.

Vince reaches forward in the narrow rift to clear out some more of the blockage.

The rift appears to widen to the right hand side lower down and it seems like the best way to proceed would be to lower the floor half a metre or so. To the right there appears to be some large boulders that can be reduced in size and subsequent removal will create working room.

The way ahead!

Time was moving on so tidied up the loose spoil and made our way out to clear what was a considerable pile of rock stacked in the entrance. We didn’t count the number of skip loads but Jake’s back indicated it was c.40-50 and probably the best part of a ton, there were 10 bags of spoil too.

A sign of the times is when the conversation goes along the lines of [quote from AG] “I’ve had some f*****g good tomatoes this year”, gone are those day’s when it might have been “I had a f*****g good time last night 18 pints and…”

The cave cleared, bags empty, it was time to head back down to the farm, then the rain decided to fall. We got changed and headed up to the Hunter’s Lodge Inn satisfied with our mornings effort.

With Jake and Tav.

Jake digging, Tav clearing away, me on the haul and shuttle. Digging was fairly steady so had a little time to mess around with the new camera.

The Tissue (Triphosa dubitata). This species is often seen in caves and is a regular sighting in Hallowe’en Rift.

After about 20 loads of rocks and bags were shifted back and stacked in the entrance a message came back that there were a couple of largish rocks that required some reduction. Jake and Tav came back to clear the spoil out to the surface while I headed up to the end with the capping gear.

Bags and rock are stacked in the entrance shaft ready to be cleared to the surface.

At the end drilled a total of 5 holes, after each hole was drilled it was then ‘capped’ and the resulting debris cleared to one side ready for the next hole to be drilled. The rocks suitably reduced/fractured it was time to pack up and join the others on the surface and to make our way, eventually, back up the hill to the Hunter’s Lodge Inn.

With Alex Gee.

It was really good to see Alex up at Hallowe’en again.

The first job of the morning was to pack all the dry bags into 10’s ready to be taken underground and refilled on later digging sessions. Then, as I opened up the cave we were joined by a fledgling robin that showed no fear of human presence and sat next to us, within less than 0.5 metre, this is probably not a good indicator for a long term survival strategy, but a pleasant experience all the same.

While I slipped underground to take some photo’s Alex went to look at a feature he wanted to check out on the hillside.

In particular, I wanted to try and take an image of the current working area, and here it is below, the lump hammer for scale.

On the way to the dig face there are some decent formations, not all that big but worth preserving and taking a look. The bluish tinge is a consequence of lighting by LED I assume.

Back on the surface I had just started moving some of the rocks when Alex returned from his foray and we started work to build the retaining wall a little higher.

There was a good supply of rocks, these were put into position and sediment will be packed behind the rocks at the next digging session to consolidate the wall. When the rock supply was exhausted it was then that we decided to make our way to the Hunter’s satisfied with the morning’s effort, a little earlier than anticipated but thirsty all the same, and the flies were becoming very irritating!

With Matt Tuck.

Started the session scratching away some sediment from the passage floor before deciding to see what effect ‘capping’ would have on the slab of rock in the roof. The slab measured about 1 metre in length, 700mm wide and ranged between 150mm to 250mm thickness, only 1 hole was required to bring it down but several more were needed to reduce it to manageable sized lumps. On examination of the fractured rock it is clear to see why the drilling is variable, there are limestone and occasionally sandstone clasts, surrounded in an iron rich matrix that has changeable density, and there are vugs containing calcite crystallisation, the slab also had a flowstone up to c.70mm thickness on one side. The outcome was 13 skip loads of rock and 6 bags of mostly gravel being hauled out to the surface, the rock was put to one side for walling and the bags were emptied on the spoil heap. There is more space at the end for digging now, so it was deemed a successful morning.

The refreshments at the Hunter’s had been earned.

24th July 2016:

Sunday morning and the dog needed a walk so decided that I would go over to Hallowe’en Rift and get the lump of flowstone that I had left there. Parked at the end of Dursdon Drove and walked along the hilltop at Rookham before crossing fields down to Hallowe’en Rift. At the cave I took some photographs, put the lump of flowstone into my bag before spending a few minutes placing some more stones onto the retaining wall.

As previously mentioned (23/07/2016 entry) after splitting a lump of flowstone yesterday another older speleothem was revealed encased within it, as is clearly seen in the image below.

The other lump of flowstone also reveals an older speleothem. Just to the right of centre the remains of a small stalagmite ‘boss’ can be seen below successive layers of flowstone.

Both these remnants of flowstone have been recovered from the sediments removed from the ongoing dig at the end of Merlin’s Magic Milk Parlour. It would be interesting to get these dated to establish whether the ages are similar to the dates from previous samples.

With Tav and Nick.

It was a warm walk up to the cave entrance, underground it was much cooler. Dragged my tackle bag with ‘capping’ kit and drill to the dig face to deal with the rocks that were impeding progress. A couple of holes and the resulting debris was passed back to Nick, who was doing the clearing away. A rather hungover Tav was on hauling duties.

I set about clearing spoil from the end while Nick seemed to be trying to bury me as he was working on enlarging and tidying the passage behind me. I managed to remove a couple of large rocks, creating some space to the right hand side of the passage. More bags filled and rocks barred out of the way, the digging was progressing quite well. By the end of the session there were a few small gaps/spaces appearing and the prospects look interesting. There is plenty to do to enlarge the space I had created and it might require some removal of rock from the roof to make a bit more working space.

Nick and Tav went to the entrance to start clearing out to the surface while I drilled one more hole to split a rock ready for removal next session. Packed the kit away and headed out to help the others.

At the entrance I was a little surprised to see just how much spoil had been removed – 25 bags and 15 skip loads of rock – some of the rock required reduction in size, this was achieved with the use of the sledge hammer.

Interestingly one large lump of flowstone was split open to reveal that it had formed around an older speleothem. This was put to one side on the surface with the other interesting lump of flowstone that I, once again forgot to pick up and bring home for further examination.

As usual the morning ended with a trip to the Hunter’s Lodge Inn for some refreshment and debrief.

With Tav.

After fiddling with my light at the cave entrance I ventured underground to join Tav, who had gone ahead to start digging. It was soon decided that it would be better if the large rock to the left side was removed. So Tav and I swapped places and I got to work with the ‘capping’ gear, 3 holes drilled and the rock was reduced to rubble. After clearing the rock debris away Tav moved forward to continue digging, filling bags with sediment and passing the odd stone back every now and then. There are a couple of obstinate wedged rocks that are impeding forward progress, these will require some attention but that can wait until the next digging session. It was surprising how soon we had amassed a considerable pile of spoil at the top of the pot, so we dropped back to shift it all to the entrance.

17 bags and about 10 skip loads of rock were eventually hauled up to the surface. It was very warm and humid, the flies were particularly very, very annoying, we could have done with a very large flock of spotted flycatchers at the entrance.

Bags emptied, rock stacked to one side, cave entrance secured, it was time to depart. Once again I forgot to pick up a lump of flowstone that I wanted to examine in closer detail, try and remember it next week.

The beer at the Hunter’s was, as ever, welcome.

With Nick, Matt, Pete Bolt and pleasantly surprised to see Tangent pedal over to offer his services on surface duties.

We met up at the Hunter’s a bit later this morning as I had to take the dog to the vets in Wells, anyway we all piled into the truck, except John who pedalled, and headed down to the farm. Got changed and walked across the field, keeping a watchful eye on the bull, into the woods to the cave entrance.

At the entrance I gave a quick demonstration on the use of ‘capping’ as some of the team hadn’t seen it done before, successfully splitting a largish boulder.

Underground it was my turn to dig, Pete clearing away with Nick and Matt hauling and shuttling to the entrance. Digging was slow progress, raking out sediment around cobbles and boulders. We are following a narrow rift at the moment, to the left side the bedding is becoming lower with bedrock rising, to the right side tightly packed rocks and sediment. There are a couple of obstinate slabs of rock in the way, loose but not quite loose enough. The task wasn’t any easier as the lump hammer had a loose handle that kept slipping whenever it was swung into action. The slabs are not deemed suitable for ‘capping’ in their current position and it seems that forward progress will likely be slower for a while as we deal with the rocks.

Back on the surface it seemed that Tangent hadn’t emptied the bags because he didn’t have any gloves, a poor excuse! There weren’t too many so it didn’t take long to empty them and hang the bags up. A quick squirt of WD40 on the lock and it was time to head back to the farm, get changed, and up to the Hunter’s for refreshments.

Matt then announced that he didn’t have any money, he was saved further embarrassment by Tangent who gallantly volunteered to cycle to a cashpoint in Wells then pedal up the hill to the pub to deliver good English pounds to the cash-strapped Matt who could then buy a round for the rest of us, especially Tangent.

Spent the afternoon mooching around Priddy Folk Festival and it was good to catch up with some old acquaintances. Even got to listen to some half decent music in the free tents.

With Jake, Tav, Matt Tuck and another new participant to join the quest for ‘caverns measureless’, Duncan ‘Smasher’ Price.

Tav went to the dig face, Smasher clearing the spoil away, Matt hauling, me on the shuttle and Jake on the surface. With a good strong team it would be possible to shift the spoil all the way from the dig-face to the surface.

My first task was to ‘cap’ the boulder at the bottom of the entrance. When it was broken into more manageable pieces it was hauled out by Jake who was busying himself building up the retaining wall. Meanwhile Matt had been hauling the fractured rock from the boulder I had ‘capped’ at the dig-face last week and there was now quite a pile of debris to shuttle back, it was warm work for a few minutes. Some of the rock still required a bit more size reduction, this was achieved by battering them with the sledge hammer. Didn’t count the number of skip loads of rock that were hauled up to the surface but it must have been a couple of dozen or so.

After the rock came the bags, around 60 in total, along with even more rocks and some remnants of flowstone that was recovered from within the sediment. These remnants are likely to be of considerable age.

After spending the morning on the surface Jake, by now was fed up with the flies and it was time for us all to take some well-earned refreshments at the Hunter’s Lodge Inn.

At the Hunter’s came the quote of the day “can’t make it next week I’ve just signed up for online dating!”

Going to be a reduced team for next week, Jake’s off touring the Hebrides, Tav is working and Smasher will be at Priddy Folk Festival on first aid duties.

With Jake and Tav.

Following a recent visit at the end of May to the Yorkshire Dales where I participated in the Haggs Brow Cave Excavation Project I had been reminded how effective ‘capping’ was in the reduction of boulders. I decided that I would obtain the necessary equipment, made a few enquiries and now there is a set of ‘capping rods’ and sundry items in my possession and ready for use.

At the cave there were several large boulders at the bottom of the entrance that were awaiting removal and I set about the task of reducing them to more easily managed pieces. While I was busy in the entrance Jake and Tav went ahead to continue digging.

In general, the boulders split well, although sometimes a little too aggressively, this might be a consequence of the variable density of dolomitic conglomerate. I will need to get hold of a mixture of cartridge strengths to overcome this. Anyway the outcome was a good pile of rubble to shift later.

I packed the kit away and went along the passage to start to clear away the back-log of filled bags to the entrance only to have complete light failure (should have changed batteries). So had to go back down to the farm to get a spare light from the van. On my return I discovered that Tav and Jake had effectively walled themselves in at the end of the cave with an increasingly large pile of rocks and bags. It was warm work removing the blockage, especially rolling another large rock towards the entrance. Tav then called back to say that Jake was filling the last couple of bags and digging was now impeded by a large rock that required my attention.

Jake and Tav returned from the dig to clear the spoil to the surface while I headed up to the end. It was indeed a large rock and required half a dozen or so holes to break it into suitably sized lumps ready for removal. A second boulder to one side needs to be better exposed before that can be dealt with. Packed away my kit for a second time and headed off to re-join the others.

The considerable pile of rock, rubble and bags had been cleared to the surface and the large boulder that I had dragged part way back was now sat on the ledge at the bottom of the entrance ready for capping – but the consensus of opinion was that it will wait until next week. It had been a good session and it was now time for the pub.

With Tav.

Had to climb over the farm gate as it was locked and headed over to the shed to change. It didn’t take too long to get changed and up across the field to the cave. While I opened the lock Tav packed up 20 bags ready to head off to the end. At the present end of Merlin’s set about digging away and filling bags (click on image below to see Tav’s digging style) and I hauled the bags and assorted rocks down to the top of the pot to be removed later.

The beauty of this dig is that at the end of each session the forward progress is noticeable. Tav had expanded the small opening overhead that Nick had exposed last week and there are a couple of options for further progression, enough to keep it interesting.

When the bags were all filled we shifted position to remove the spoil to the base of the entrance prior to hauling out to the surface. We ended the morning by clearing out our spoil for the day plus some of the accumulated rocks that had built up over the last few sessions. Bags all emptied at the end of another productive digging session, a total of 20 bags and 11 skip-loads of rock out to the surface, we headed down to the farm, ready for some refreshment, it was quite warm and humid, and we were thirsty.

With Nick Hawkes and Matt Tuck.

Really good to see Matt re-join the fray, the last log entry I can find is dated 25/01/1992. Mind you Matt has spent most of the that gap based overseas.

Anyway I digress, back to the job in hand. Nick went to the dig face while Matt went to clear the bags from him, including those I had filled last weekend. I did the long haul back and shuttled spoil to the bottom of the entrance. Access to the West Series at the moment is blocked by a wall of rocks still waiting to be hauled out to the surface. Matt’s shiny new kit was now slightly soiled and he appeared rather warm. The cave is drying out nicely now so definitely more suitable for lightweight cotton overalls than cordura oversuit.

At the end of the digging session we moved back to clear the accumulated spoil up to the surface, first the bags – didn’t think to count how many but it was certainly well over 30, then a slight reduction of the pile of rocks. On the surface the bags were emptied on to the ever burgeoning spoil heap. The retaining wall now requires some further expansion, there is a ready supply of rocks unfortunately they are still below ground. Another job that awaits a full team, at least that team has grown by one.

To the pub!

After recovering from surgery on a dodgy elbow and recently spending several days in the Yorkshire Dales digging at Haggs Brow, Lower Winskill with a group of fine like-minded individuals, it was now time to get back to the local project.

No-one was available due to a whole host of reasons so decided to go solo. This was okay with me because it meant that I could check on the progress made and work at my own speed.

It was a warm day so got partially changed at the farm and packed the rest of my kit into a rucksack and walked up to the cave. At the entrance I got kitted up, packed 10 dry bags and made my way underground. The approach passage is drying out nicely just a couple of small drip puddles. The dig is really dry so I was comfortable in cotton overalls -£6 from Mole Valley Farmers, bargain. A wall of sediment consisting of silty sand with frequent cobbles and boulders including fragmented calcite formations confronted me. I set to work with the small pick, loosening the sediment, hooking out rocks, filling bags as I went and dragged them down the passage to stack them just out of the way along with several rocks. Working slowly forward I eventually opened up a small gap over the sediment that appears to continue, not overly large c.100mm but it is encouraging. The ceiling also looks more solid and it would be good to get away from the small choked rift that is presently overhead. It’s rather disconcerting feeling the tree roots tickling the back of your neck and the constant trickle of sediment falling down into your collar. I filled my 10 bags and found a few more already at the end so rounded up a baker’s dozen plus several rocks. That was enough for me, my elbow was a little tender in certain positions but generally felt good, I made an exit from the cave satisfied with the morning session.

Met Mark, the farmer, on the way back across the field cutting hay so stopped for a chat before going down to the farm, getting changed and making my way to the Hunters Lodge for some refreshment.

Due to a whole lot of reasons there was no digging action at Hallowe’en Rift this weekend!

Just Jake and Nick in attendance at the dig in Hallowe’en Rift this weekend and between them shifted over 50 bags.