dighalloween

Solo underground but Tangent was on the surface exploring the surrounding landscape, it was a rather fine evening!

Underground I dragged the kit along to the rift north at the bottom of the pot where the new drill (Erbauer 36v)was unpacked ready to be used for the first time. Kept drilling until batteries were fully discharged but only charged 5no. As usual there was high variability in the conglomerate and the calcite. Job done it was time to return to the surface and a satisfying pop was heard, cave locked, and off we went.

With Tav, Jake and Tangent. Alex arrived later to help hauling and emptying of the bags.

Note: Due to G’rumblings regarding deformation of character and his wife’s hysterical laughter everytime he enters the room, there will be no further ‘intentional’ references to A. G’ruffalo, by order!

Talking of the Gruffalo you just have to listen to ‘Cave Baby’ It made me laugh anyway!

Tangent started the session well as he carefully attached his fully charged lamp to his helmet only to find he was illuminating all who followed after him.

Jake and Tangent at the end, Tav at the T Junction, while I settled in the pot. Digging was not easy, this was possibly due to certain team members spending too much time on the beach surfing, and more compacted sediment. As previously stated an obvious way on in this particular spot is not apparent and we might resort to having a go at digging back over the top and opening out to the left (going north) of Witches Cauldron. There is also the short passage and open rift on the left (north) just before T Junction. There are plenty of options to go for. Bags emptied it was time for reflection and discussion at the Hunter’s Lodge Inn.

With Nick and Tav, Tangent was a little late on parade. Nick and Tav were doing the work at the end, I was at the T Junction transferring the filled bags from skip to skip and, when Tangent
arrived he took up position in the pot, where the bags were stashed ready to be cleared out later in the session. 30’odd bags were filled and an
assortment of rocks including some degraded flowstone. The way ahead is
anywhere you feel like digging at the moment, it is, as always, just
wait and see how things develop. All the spoil was then hauled out to the surface
and bags emptied ready for when they are needed next session. Down in the deep dark wood the Hallowe’en Rift diggers had a series of encounters until…

…Oh!”

But who is this creature with terrible claws
And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws?
He has knobbly knees and turned-out toes
And a poisonous wart at the end of his nose.
His eyes are orange, his tongue is black;
He has purple prickles all over his back.

“Oh help! Oh no!

It’s A. G’ruffalo!” He’s come to join us at midday to help haul out and empty the bags.

If you want to see more of the gruffalo follow the link to www.gruffalo.com

With Jake, Nick and Tangent. Alex came along later to help with the hauling and emptying of bags. Got a message from Tav later to say that he was stuck behind an ambulance and, unfortunately couldn’t make digging.

I did the digging, Nick the clearing, Jake at the T Junction and Tangent in the pot. Felt a bit jaded to start with probably as a result of imbibing too many apple juices at a certain hostelry last evening but got into it soon enough. Not sure about the crack in the floor seems quite narrow, a little more disconcerting is that there appears to be a rift above that has some looser fill and I removed some degraded flowstone from it. This will make forward progress a little more awkward as the rift will need to be cleared as well, maybe it will peter out, we’ll have to see. It was soon time to shift around and haul the bags out to the surface, I thought it was wise to avoid the pot, at least for this week and Nick did that job while I hauled and Tangent shuttled the bags, Jake on the surface with Alex. Bags emptied, cave secured off to the Hunter’s!

Well I’m back underground but not at Hallowe’en Rift this weekend. I went over to Hutton area to widen a constriction for the digging team over there at the upper end of the recently discovered and impressive Glebe Passage.

At Hallowe’en the team comprised Tav, Nick, Jake and, the second week in succession, Tangent. They shifted c.40 bags of spoil from the dig to the surface, another sterling effort and they were late to the pub. At the end a small rift has appeared although this will need some further investigation. I’m very much looking forward to returning to the fray next weekend.

Still no digging for me but there was a job to do on the surface, I had bought a padlock and chain to replace the the faulty one on the entrance to Hallowe’en Rift. By the time I had sorted out tools and things I was running a little late as I headed over to the farm, as I was passing the Hunter’s I was surprised to see that Jake’s motorcycle was there – I didn’t think anyone was going to dig this weekend. I was even more surprised when I arrived at the farm to see Tangent changed to go underground along with Jake and Nick. Alex had gone walkabout on the hillside with Desmond Donovan. Walked up to the entrance with the team and when they had gone underground I set about removing the old lock and fitting the new one. That done walked over the hill to find Alex, mooched around with them for a while before returning to Hallowe’en Rift where I packed up the dry bags and tidied up around the entrance. I could hear the underground team hauling the day’s spoil out to the entrance and Alex turned up to assist in hauling and emptying the bags, about three dozen and a few rocks. The empty bags hung up to dry. it was time to lock up and head off to the Hunter’s for the usual refreshments.

Still no digging for me, the rest of the team – Jake, Tav and Nick with Alex turning up later to help haul and empty bags – kept up the good work. Jake reports from the end that a long bar can be pushed its entire length into less compact sediment and the passage appears to be trending upwards.

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.

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.”

Walked up the cave from the farm to deliver a couple of replacement skips ready for the team on Saturday.

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.

Not enough of the team were available for a worthwhile digging effort this weekend – so a weekend to be spent pursuing other interests.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Unfortunately another session lost to illness and ailments! Hopefully we’ll be back on track next weekend.

Missed out on another digging session due to being incapacitated once again!

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.

No activity at Hallowe’en Rift this weekend due to lurgy and other commitments. Back next week!

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.

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.

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.

With Nick and Tav.

We decided on a Sunday session this week due to various family type things and all that sort of stuff at this time of the year. On the way in rescued a frog from the puddle at the bottom of Witches Cauldron – it was lucky because I had just chucked a pack of bags down the pot and was moving the rope out of the way when I noticed a pair of eyes and a snout looking back at me. It’s not got any drier along Toil and Trouble – not that we expected any different! There had been some more slumping from the roof including a sizeable boulder, so I proceeded to reduce that into more manageable pieces; nearly all of the rock comprised shattered calcite flowstone of a considerable thickness and with lovely banding and can only assume it is of great age. There must have been a catastrophic event in the past to break up this amount of flowstone. Cleared away the sediment from the floor then swapped around with Nick who spent time consolidating and clearing more from the roof. After this was done it was time to shift the bags out to the surface to be emptied, the rocks were left in the pot for next session when, hopefully, there will be a bigger team. Hunter’s.

At the conclusion of Saturday’s session, Alex couldn’t quite get the timing right for an all inclusive photo and had to make do with this partial image and added message!

May all your hangovers be big ones!

With Nick, Jake, Tav and Alex.

Full team today, well eventually when Alex joined us midday after his walk to help with hauling the bags out. Jake and Tav went to the end to do the digging and reported back that there had been another slump in from the roof. Plenty of loose stuff to clear away before digging could proceed. Nick was in the pot while I did the hauling and shuttling back to the entrance. Having a drag tray makes the shuttle a little easier on the knees moving three bags at a time or a pile of rocks. Digging done all bags were emptied on the surface and up to the Hunter’s for some refreshment.

With Jake and Nick.

Glorious morning, bright sunshine and a good frost, a pleasant walk up to the cave from the farm. Nick and I went up to the dig while Jake settled into the pot. Nick did the first digging stint and filled his quota we then swapped places. At the end the walls are pinching in although it seems that there might be a lead continuing under at a height of c.0.5m. It was while investigating the prospects ahead that, rather disconcertingly, a quite large section of the roof decided to come down including a couple of fairly large rocks, at least I now had plenty of loose spoil to bag up. After clearing the loose away it was time to start hauling the spoil out to the surface. It has to be said that after some persistent rain over the last few days Hallowe’en Rift is getting back to its squalid best! Bags emptied it was time to head off to the pub, after some body sliding in the field to remove excess mud from oversuits.

With Jake.

Just the two of us today so straight up to the end to start filling bags. Filled a dozen bags each and shifted a few rocks back. Used the sledge to reduce one boulder that proved to be a lump of flowstone nearly 200mm thick with bands of growth clearly visible, there must have been a catastrophic event in the past to shatter flowstone this thick (- earthquake?). The bags were stashed in T Junction and the rocks left for a bigger team. When we had filled our quota [24 bags] we started to shift the bags out to the surface, quite an effort with two people. Bags emptied it was time for refreshment.

With Jake, Tav and Alex.

Nick called earlier to say he couldn’t make it today. Alex decided to go for a walk along the ridge and would meet us at the entrance later to help with hauling out the spoil, so dropped him off at Dursdon Drove. Got to the farm and started to get changed when I realized that I didn’t have any wellies (they are in the shed on site in Charlton Marshall) so had to wear my nice clean trainers much to the amusement of my colleagues! Jake and Tav did the digging while I settled down in the pot and tried to avoid standing in the puddle at the bottom. 30 bags later along with some rocks it was time to shift the spoil out of the cave. I carefully bailed out the puddles along the approach passage and my feet remained dry but my trainers were rather soiled. Alex was at the surface as arranged and did the hauling. Diggers report that there is a solid wall to the left and there is looser spoil ahead [north] and that the air is fresh at the end, all sounds good to me. To the pub!

With Jake, Tav and Nick.

Me and Nick went to the end, Tav in the pot and Jake on the shuttle. On arriving at the T Junction I took a couple of minutes to bail out the puddles before settling into position, Nick was at the end filling bags. Tav and Jake set about clearing the stash of rocks in the pot. After a short spell of digging Nick called back to say he could see a very small space ahead and the spoil was becoming more rocky, which sounded interesting, a change in character. Nick filled about 20 bags and we then changed over and I went to have a look at the progress. On the left there appears to be a solid wall, or a very large boulder, with what looks like some old flowstone and fluting, ahead [north] and there are some tiny spaces amongst the stony fill, lower down close to the contact with the bedding the sediment in mostly stone free. I filled another 10 bags and cleared a pile of rocks back and it was then time to go and clear the entrance of bags and rocks. Easily 60 skip loads of bags and rocks out to the surface, cave cleared ready for the next session. Time to head up to HQ and refreshments.

Went to the Digging thingy in the evening at the Hunter’s. Good to meet up with some old chums.

With Jake and Tav.

Drove up from a fog filled Chew Valley onto a gloriously sunny Mendip plateau to meet up with the team at HQ – the Hunter’s car park. Pleasant walk up to the cave from the farm, sorted out the empty bags and set off for the end. Then came the message back from Jake “there’s a puddle in the crawl” – after a week of fairly persistent rain the cave is becoming wet again. Jake and Tav went to the end while I settled in the pot, I could hear the splashing as puddles were emptied, then I noticed that my arm was wet as the water trickled down the wall, last trip in cotton overall’s for a while I suppose. Jake took the first stint at digging and bags were soon being shifted back to pot. I then had the company of a rather irritating buzzing bluebottle that always settled down just out of reach, then it was joined by the rest of the squadron some of them making their way up to Tav and Jake, some did not return. 30 bags were filled and a few rocks and it was time to clear out the spoil to the surface, and it was still warm and sunny. Getting to the stage where some extra help wouldn’t go amiss! Returned to HQ for refreshment as usual.

With Jake, Tav and Alex.

Tav took the first digging stint, I was at the T Junction and Jake opted for the pot. Unfortunately Alex didn’t make it underground, not feeling too good at the entrance and returned to the farm. Tav soon got into digging mode and with some ‘new’ tools to aid the task made some good progress. The dig seems to have a few more rocks within the sediment and there are a few quite large boulders appearing. After a while we swapped around and it was my turn to dig and I managed to open up a tiny hole to the left (west) that seemed to have a very feint air movement. Ahead there is another small crack the is ‘clean washed’ and it would appear that there is a change at the north end of the dig occurring. It was soon time to move back and start clearing the bags and pile of rocks from the pot out to the surface. We concentrated on the bags and left the rocks until we have a bigger team and because Jake needed to get back for a personal commitment. 26 bags were emptied on the surface and there must be a dozen or so skip loads of rocks left in the pot – another good effort! Time for the Hunter’s.

With Jake.

Filled 10 bags of spoil each, putting some rocks aside until next session, then moved back to clear the 20 bags out to the surface.

Yesterday I went over to Upper Canada Cave, Hutton to do a little job for the Axbridge CG digging team. Plan was to reduce a couple of boulders at the end of the cave to something of a more manageable size and enable a better look at the potential beyond. I’ll have to wait until next week to find out how it went.

No digging today as the Hallowe’en Team went for an end of summer time tour to the west end of Mendip.

From left: Nick, Alex, Alan Gray (ACG) and Tav

Met up with the Axbridge Caving Group (ACG) diggers to have a look at their latest project and very interesting it is too. Had a great trip into Upper Canada where there appears to be some potential to extend beyond the known cave. Look forward to the presentation at Wells Museum on the 27th November.

With Tav, Jake and Nick.

Tav and Nick’Two Bags’ Hawkes did the digging, ‘Two Bags’ because every now and again there was a tendency to try and get two bags worth of spoil into a single bag. I did the pot duties while Jake did the shuttling. 40 bags later and several loads of rocks and boulders it was time to clear out to the surface. Cave cleared out it was time for the pub.

As the Johnson’s were child free this evening it seemed like a good idea for a few of us to meet up for a little soiree – so the Johnson’s, Hawkes, Simmonds and Keith and Carole all met at the Hunter’s and at closing time instead of going home we got some carry out’s and with a bottle of Johnson’s Sloe Gin we visited some local caving hut’s to continue drinking until the early hours of Sunday morning. The result was quite a few sore heads for the rest of Sunday, I for one did nothing!

With Alex, Tav and Jake.

Back for another good session in the Hallowe’en Health Club – best 2hr workout on Mendip, it’s better than any gym I’ve been to!

I took the first digging stint shifted some rocks leftover from last session and then started filling bags. Used the mattock to loosen sediment from digging face which was then bagged up. Filled 3no. bags at a time before moving them up out of the c.2m deep pot where they are hauled to the T Junction and out to the entrance. Jake was at the ‘T’, Tav in the pot and Alex hauling and shuttling to the entrance. I filled c.20 bags then swapped over with Jake and cooled down at the ‘T’ while Jake filled another c.20 bags. That done it was time to move back and get all the spoil out to the surface. Another fine session shifting about a third of a ton of spoil out of the cave; there’s still plenty more to come. To the Hunter’s for some re-hydration fluid.

No team available to dig today so took the chance to get out on the bike and ride some off-road trails on Mendip. Ended up at the Hunter’s for refreshment obviously.

With Jake, Nick and Tav.

Jake and Tav on digging duties, I settled down in the pot and Nick got the shuttling job because he was late on parade. A bit of frenetic action as the remaining rocks were removed from the dig and then some fairly steady bag filling. It was reported back that digging was much easier without the boulder in the way. 30 bags were quickly filled so the number was made up 40 before we moved back to clear the bags to the surface. Nick had made an impressive stack of bags in the entrance almost up to the ledge. The cave is very dry at the moment, almost dusty and this makes emptying the bags relatively rapid and the bags are cleaner. Jake stayed a while longer at the dig to batter some more boulders, he reports that there is a possible lower bedding plane beginning to appear – time will tell! To the pub for refreshment.

With Jake and Nick.

I took the first digging stint, Nick at the T Junction, Jake in the pot. We are still working around the ‘Sword of Damocles’ a large boulder of dolomitic conglomerate that is beginning to get in the way. Used the mattock to loosen spoil and then cleared the spoil off the flat bedrock floor into bags, then up out of the dig, into the skip where they begin the journey out of the cave. After a while it gets a little warm so swapped over with Nick. 30 or so bags later it was time to start shifting the bags out from the pot to the surface, Nick stayed at the dig face a little longer to batter the boulder, eventually into submission; although most of it remains at the dig some large lumps were removed. Bags successfully emptied we retired to the Hunter’s for a couple of pints of some fine Bath Ales Special Pale Ale, Nick missed out as he had to get back and prepare a presentation for the week ahead.