29/11/22 dried enough to dig

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Mike Wise

2hrs

No rain since the preceding Saturday night, so dig had a change to dry. Mike M headed into the end and came back reporting that the grill pool was still above the grill with water, but the end had drained down to just under wellie height so diggable. As the pool was lapping the dam, 2 of the big barrels were filled with water and put aside to stop it overflowing. The haul runs really smoothly with it so wet and it floats back over the join! About 50 buckets of spoil dug by Mike W and removed to surface in 2 stints, it was all easy emptying too, turning into mudcastles when buckets upturned. At the end of the digging, we emptied the barrels of water and bailed more water into the end, hopeful that it would drain away as the end does seem to drain faster than the pool. The pool is being fed by a fairly healthy drip near the start though. Long range forecast looking colder but drier, so fingers crossed it will be lower again next week. Waldegrave closed too early for us tonight as no darts, so headed to Hunters instead. 

22/11/22 too wet to dig

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley, Chris George, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay

1hr

48hrs of heavy rains ahead of digging evening, so unsurprisingly the end was too wet to comfortably dig. The grill was underwater and was overflowing into the dig, but it wasn't as bad as 2 weeks ago, probably about half the depth. Hopefully if we can have a few dry days ahead of next week we can get back in to dig. 

With the lack of digging, we turned our attention to looking at securing the bag wall and building a concreted and secured retaining wall in front of it as while it is ok at present, if we continue getting higher and higher, it's going to put more pressure on the bottom bags. This can be a winter project should we get flooded out completely if the water table rises too much. Duncan took away some measurements and will look at a shopping list of items needed, but mostly a lot or rebar and shuttering and also will need quite a lot of cement to build the wall. 

15/11/22 dry enough to dig!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Butler - didn't have caving kit but helped Stu a bit at surface. 

2hrs

Having had a reasonable amount of rain last week, we assumed the dig would still be wet. Sent James and Mike down to look and they reported about 4" water in the bottom and perfectly diggable. They went back in to dig and Estelle & Jon helped with the hauls and carries to stage it and then we all moved up. Stu and Duncan started working on the wall preparations at the top, Estelle had brought some cement and Mike some sand, but not used tonight. There is a need for lots of rebar and mesh to build a fronting wall to make it all safer in there. Headed to Waldy after. 

8/11/22 flooded

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jon Riley, Duncan Butler

2hrs

With all the rain recently, sort of not unexpected to find the dig underwater at Cutlers. Hopefully we'll get some dry weather soon and we can see if it will drain or not... We're a long way on from where the flooding caused us a lot of time off from digging... Last year didn't really flood at all as it was a drier winter, we don't really know what happened the previous year due to not being allowed to cave due to covid rules and the previous year we were probably 15m+ less passage when it flooded us out for several months.

Fortunately last week, we moved a lot of rock up passage, including a load that needed breaking up, so Duncan set to breaking rock while the rest of us moved it up passage to the surface. We need to visit next week to check levels, but also we can get on with wall building at the top anyway. Only just made the Waldy as they were about to close up, thinking we weren't coming and no darts on! 

1/11/22

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Butler & Chris George. James forgot his wellies!

1hr
After a few weeks of very significant rain fall, we were half expecting to find the end flooded out, but pleasantly surprised that the dammed area was full of water, but the dam hadn't been breached, or if it had, then there must be drainage as there was no more than a couple of inches of water at the bottom. With only 4 of us, it wasn't worth doing much, but we did move some boulders up passage from the dig that were manageable and also brought all the tools up a bit before retreating to the Waldy.

11/10/22

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Butler, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley

2hrs

Duncan went to the end to dig accompanied by Jon to assist other end of railway. We had to stage it as not enough people to get all the way to the surface, so we did it in sort of shifts. 53 buckets filled and emptied. Duncan was clearing the right hand wall. Headed to the Waldegrave for refreshments where James was nursing his cut hand that stopped him digging.

4/10/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley, Chris George

2hrs

Estelle went in to dig. From last weeks capping session, there's a massive pile of boulders in the pool chamber ready to go out. Will save them for when we have time. Digging down still and to the left, very slimy mud between boulders in places. Removed a good number of boulders and added them to the waiting pile, plus a few big ones that will need to be dealt with on a future capping session. Found the floor joining the wall far left, but in the middle, there is still rock and mud going down and going forwards as whilst clearing is undermining rocks that fall out. 60 buckets filled and removed from cave before heading to the Waldy for refreshments. 

27/9/22

Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon and Jonathan Riley

2.5hrs

limited numbers available so opportunity to cap some rocks and make them smaller. 

from Stu - 7 rocks reduced, and a half of one of  smaller still  ...  1 rod jammed but removed after second hole worked. very interesting in the end chamber, my first time for a while a couple of well worn surfaces peeking out of mud ...boulder [s]???  maybe a heavier hand! required?

from Mike - Jon & I also filled & dumped 36 buckets (the rock lumps are still where they fell) - we were somewhat late to the pub, but darts were on (& Estelle and James were there)

13/9/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

A tough 2 hours with low numbers, but around 50 buckets filled again. James and Jon were digging at the end and continuing the objective of down ahead of the winter in case there is anywhere that can help with drainage should the water levels cause us issues this winter. Estelle took the next haul bit, Mike at the top doing the top haul, steps and loading the top railway and Dave and Stu outside. Still no sign of the floor, but some large boulders coming out, which are too big to move from the end so there is a need to do some capping to reduce the boulders soon to help with space. Headed to the Waldegrave for refreshments after.

30/8/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Butler, Mike Moxon, Mike Wise, Fran Campbell for last 30mins or so.

2hrs Mike Moxon at the end digging, Estelle was loading onto new railway and Mike Wise in between. Duncan and James were doing the top haul, steps and railway loading between them with Stu on the surface. Digging mainly focused on trying to clear down to floor level at the end rather than pushing forwards. Still pulling out lots of boulders. The new railway is working ok, but got to be careful with the rope getting trapped. Estelle had brought over a new skip and Stu some new rope. I think it was just under 50 skips, but can't remember! Went to Waldegrave for refreshments.

23/8/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

2hrs

lean on people so we decided some maintenance work was tonight's project. Stu, James and Mike stayed top and raised the ladder by two layers of bags, plus tidied up the stone by the railway haul. We need to fill in the big hole and then a winter project of wall building probably will happen unless we are lucky enough to have a dry winter again... 

Estelle & Dave filled some bags and with rocks, underlaid the grill in the dry pool chamber to make a haul, then tested it with 6 skips and 2 bags and still replace the maillons on the ladder that are knackered. No obvious sign of floor near the end of the dig. Need some knotted rope next week and normal rope around 10m length for that haul now. Also needing to get some 5gallon drums for skips as we're down to our last!

16/8/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Chris George, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley, Fran Campbell, Adrian & Jack Miles

2 hours

James and Chris at the end of the dig doing the digging work, everyone else spread between there and the surface. 91 buckets to surface. Continued digging down and forward, no obvious ways on, but the spoil keeps on coming. 

9/8/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Duncan Butler, Chris George, Jon Riley

2hrs

82 buckets tonight. Brought along 10 new yellow trugs so currently 34 in circulation! Estelle went in to dig, been a while since seen the front and amazed how big the end chamber is now. We are moving forward but need to also ensure we are clearing all the spoil out from sides and floor to ensure we don't miss anything. The spoil is very variable from red and orange very hard spoil and below the orange often false floor, to quite sticky wet texture, particularly left and just below roof. Did a couple of trial holes down, but not sure i reached anything other than boulders and there is a lot of rock intermingled with the general spoil. Duncan was digging out the right hand wall just behind me, it was hard work with only 7 of us tonight. Cave in general is very dry and weather has been almost drought level for a while now with very little rain. On exit, Jon and James had a little bit of a poke at the rocks on the wall above the hauling point, but they don't seem too bad, despite little bits of dry mud dropping down a few times during the digging time.

Headed to Waldegrave after.

2/8/22 many hands make light work!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Chris George, Stu Lindsay, Adrian & Jack (13) Miles, Henry & Harley (10) Bennett, Duncan Butler

2hrs

95 skips dug out tonight. Mike and Duncan arrived earlier and had filled 20 skips before everyone else arrived, so we set to work getting that out and then sent Adrian and Jack in to dig, followed by Henry and Harley. The kids did good, and Jack in particular didn’t leave the dig face much during the evening and both want to come back! Stu had repaired 3 x buckets and Dave brought 100s of sacks. The new skips hadn’t arrived via DPD when we left so will be next week now. Headed to Waldy after

26/7/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Duncan Butler, Chris George

2hrs

Dave went in first to dig tonight, still dry and after people gradually moving the slurry out, it is getting less and less. Dig is still wetter to the left and more boulders and really solid spoil to the right, maintaining a good sized chamber similar to the one with the pool/slurry in (feeling like these sort of chambers ought to be named at some point...). Whilst Dave was digging, Jon and Estelle looked at possible engineering ideas to put in a drag across the 1st chamber so the no 2 from the digger can be the other side of the dam and load up from there. Rocks were used to level off the 2 metal grids which have been put in a position that would facilitate a drag tray, but to stabilise, it would be better to put some bags of spoil on top of the rocks below the grids, may need conveyor belt, which Estelle has some of in garage, but will see how things go. Jon took over from Dave digging and did around 20ish buckets before we headed to Waldegrave. 2 buckets were taken out of commission with broken handles tonight.

We need to get more buckets and another spade (ES to get from CRS) and Dave is going to Cheddar Ales to pick up more digging bags before next week.

19/7/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Duncan Butler, Mike Wise, Chris George

2hrs

Duncan and Mike W at the front digging made the evening a proper workout for everyone, the buckets were relentless and we broke our record at 101 buckets, which for 8 people was good going. Dig still easy, roof seems to have stabilised now after bringing a little more down. Need some more brewery bags as we've none left, also may need to consider more skips soon as we have 22 left in circulation and a few of them are close to losing their handles or splitting too far. Headed off to Waldegrave after.

12/7/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Jon Riley, Fran Campbell, Duncan Butler

2hrs 15mins

Estelle went in first to dig and filled around 50 buckets. The digging was easy, softer on the left and hard mud on the right. Left hand roof as it got more exposed started to have loose rocks and a couple fell down, so pulled down a load more with the crowbar. Swapped over and James then brought down more roof, which slowed the digging. Only 72 buckets filled (some of the last ones were slurry from the pool area and 8 loose rocks. Too late for a dartless Waldegrave so went to Hunters.

5/7/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Duncan Butler, Fran Campbell

2hrs

Jon went in first to dig and did around 35-40 buckets, plus a few rocks also were sent out on their own, Mike then took over for the second session and made the total up to 72 buckets + 8 loads of rock so 80 total loads hauled out. Dig is looking like it's sort of heading right now and roof lowering a bit. Easy digging still.

28/6/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Butler, Mike Wise, Chris George

2 hrs

James went in first to dig and filled about 40 buckets, Dave went in after and filled a load more. Assistance was given on filling by Mike W and Estelle from around the pool area to help clear that a bit. With 9 people in the system leaving 3 outside, it meant that it was easy handling and we reached a record 100 skips to the surface. Still easy digging.

21/6/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Chris George, Fran Campbell, Duncan Butler 

2hrs

With 9 of us and a fresh to digging with us Duncan at the front on the face, buckets were fast and furious. We were able to spread out making most jobs less travel, but 2 on the surface emptying were struggling to keep pace! 84 buckets of spoil and 1 load of rocks were taken out of the dig and all were bagged, we've now run out of bags so someone needs to visit cheddar ales to collect some. Dave swapped in for about 15 of the buckets, but Duncan went back in to finish off at the end of the session. The dig face is still easy digging and heading right and forward and still going downwards having not hit the floor yet in the main digging areas. No real clue as to what is going on still.

14/6/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Chris George, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Chris dug first as he hadn’t been digging for a while, so he got to see how much we’d progressed. Much of the shelf has now gone and we’re removing a lot of larger rocks now, 2 of which were massive and will need breaking up before they can be removed – fortunately there is a bit more space to store them since clearing the rock last week. Chris filled 30 skips before swapping and Estelle took over and did a further 33 skips. The left hand side has met floor, but there is still a wet layer of mud at arms reach between ceiling of about 3inches. Ahead appears to have a bit of an arched ceiling possibly and the infill is mostly large rocks and a bit of mud. The right feels like it is also heading towards meeting floor – a lot of the very red mud coming out from that side, which is typical of the layer next to the floor.

7/6/22

Report from Mike Moxon

Stu, Jon, Dave & I capped & hammered the 5 big rocks at the end, & some of the others en route, into 9 buckets of shrapnel (up to fist size - which were hauled out) & at least 10 skips of bigger lumps (which are still at far end of top haul).

Also 20 buckets of slop from around the grill (some in bags) went onto the spoil heap (including most of the toadpole bodies & a dead bunny which went to the surface). Remains of some of the larger rocks along the passage are still to come out too.

Got back to cars just after 9 & I left for the pub at 9.20 - was busy again, as well as the darts, but playing away next week (& only Derek on duty), so we either need to be earlier or go to the hunters (& let him know).

31/5/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay Mike Wise 

2hrs 

Mike W as the newbie got to dig first, water levels same as last week in the pool, he dug the first round of buckets and then Jon dug the rest - 62 in total. Still no obvious way on, but equally still plenty of spoil to come out - the focus tonight was mostly to the right or on the shelf and is still easy digging. Rescued another live baby bunny from the spoil heap at the start of digging. 

24/5/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Not enough for the complete run, so we staged by the railway. James went in first and dug, still easy going. He moved a number of large rocks off the shelf that Estelle had dug out last week. Most need breaking up to get out of the dig. Maybe with hammer, probably capping or P&F. After James had done his dig, Mike went in - 48 skips in total between them. Still no real obvious way on, looks like there may possibly be another aven off to the right. 

17/5/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jon Riley, Adrian Miles, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

water levels still dropping off nicely, even though there had been a bit of rain during the last week and many of the skips were over half full on the storage shelf. Dave went in first to dig and did 28 skips including clearing some leftover rock from previous weeks which is being used to make the steps up to the ladder safer as the bags have got really slippery. Estelle went in second and did 32 skips. The bottom skip was replaced with one of the spares as the crack in the bottom was making it catch badly.  Dave mostly dug shelf and walls, while Estelle dug down at the front of the shelf. Directly in front at the dig, there is no obvious way forward yet, but the shelf is still high enough to hide anything. The right hand wall is still all mud and could reveal a way forwards, but also digging down, Estelle went down about 18" below the shelf and the bar could be pushed further into that still. Shelf needs to go, it is a number of good sized boulders, 2 of which are free but need breaking up. They look like a hammer will do the trick. It's all easy digging at the moment apart from a few boulders - there is space to store them near the dig, but be good to get them out if we can.

10-5-22 - slump cleared, back digging

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jon Riley, Adrian Miles, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

A bumper 7 of us meant a good session – as Adrian and Jon hadn’t been digging for a while, they were sent to the end to share the digging for the evening and it was clear they were very fresh after a break as the buckets were storming out – it was pretty relentless of them coming up from the dig, barely a minute to draw breath on any of the other locations of hauling and moving. Adrian started and then Jon took over and then they swapped back at the end – 64 buckets in total. Some of it was bagged on surface as well. Reports from the end were that the wall in front appears to be quite solid still, but possibly the dig turning right, the slump from the aven is pretty much gone now so it is back to digging. Hopefully next week we will get some clues. Waldegrave back on darts season so they are happy with us coming in around 9 again.

3/5/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker and briefly joined by Fran Campbell   

2hrs

Arrived to find 2 baby rabbits that were alive and needed relocating to above the hole, once done, we got to digging. The pool before the dig has loads of toadpoles in at the moment, not sure what we’re going to do about those… James went in first and filled the 23 buckets with more of the aven slump and cleared the last of the wetter spoil at the bottom. Because only 4 of us, we had to stage and then all go out to empty the buckets. Mike went in for the 2^nd round of 23 buckets and Fran joined and helped a bit at the end with the emptying work before we headed to the Hunters as after 9 by the time we left the dig and no darts so early closing. There’s probably another 3 weeks of clearance to do with the amount of spoil still left from the collapse. Also getting to a point where both skips are going to need replacing soon as they are starting to wear out.

26/4/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker

2hrs

After missing a few weeks due to lack of people around to dig, we finally got back in tonight. Water levels in the pool were right down several inches below the grill and the end dig had a few buckets worth to bail into the pool, but wasn’t very much before Estelle got on and filled the first round of 23 buckets, with Dave doing a second round from the large collapse of mud from an aven. There’s probably 3-4 weeks worth of digging left in that collapse before we have cleared everything and can look to progress forwards. Too late for the Waldegrave as they have no darts, so headed to Hunters.

29th March Aven opened and large collapse of mud below

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Fran Campbell

1.5 hrs

Restricted on time with pub opening, so slightly shorter session. Mike and Dave got to baling the end into the pool. We found several toads near the dig end and one had laid eggs attached to our grill at the end… The pool was at grill level and the dig was below that, so the end is draining – the pool seems to drain back to just below grill level when there is little to no rain. Once the dig was drained down a bit, Mike filled the first round of about 25 buckets from a collapse from an aven which has given quite a bit of height at the end. Estelle did a second round of 15 buckets, all taken from the slump and there is several more weeks to clear that slump and see where the way on is as the walls cleared in the aven are still above any way on currently from the mud height.

15/3/22

Report from Dave

Mike and I successfully removed the top section of ladder, and removed a dozen or so frogs and toads and a dead bunny. The water level in the near pool was much the same, but slightly lower in the far pool. I think we will have to invest in a pumping system...

8/3/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jon Riley, Fran Campbell

1hr
Mike & Jon went to the end and baled some water, but although not flooded it was too high to make much of an impression, so that was given up on. The pool was just over the grill, but the dig was lower, indicating it must be draining a bit at least. An attempt to remove the top section of the ladder was done, but despite lots of WD40, some of the bolts were not having any of it and will need angle grinding off - fortunately Dave has a portable angle grinder. The maillons were eventually freed, but one needs replacing as knackered. Headed to Hunters as Waldegrave advised they were shutting early this week.

15/2/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jon Riley

1.5hrs
After the heavy rains in the last few days, expected to find the dig flooded, so it was no surprise that it was, but it wasn't as bad as we'd expected. If it hadn't been that we've horrendous weather forecast in the next week, it would have been possible to bail out the dig within an hour or so to a point of being diggable. We decided not to and instead filled some bags to raise the ladder (need to bring spanners/wrench/angle grinder(!) to undo the bolts holding the top section of ladder on as no longer needed plus the maillons that are on the rope connected to the ladder). We also removed all rocks recently brought out and shelved at the pool to spoil heap and brought the tools up. Unless the forecast dramatically changes and we don't get the expected rain, we will give next week a miss.

8/2/22

 

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Chris George, Fran Campbell
2hrs
water in the dig was over welly height after the recent rains so a bit was taken off in the water containers before digging (or rather clearing a collapse from the aven just in front of us) commenced. Jon and Mike had the digging duties tonight and were working at pace as filling buckets with mud from a collapse was quick, so 50 buckets were brought out.

1/2/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Josh Henry, Chris George

2hrs
James dug first and after sending Josh to visit the upper series, we sent him to the end to dig as a newbie. Water levels still low and allowing easy digging, around 45 buckets dug out. Josh being a keen newbie was overfilling a bit, but this was intercepted by Mike sharing it into other buckets before they reached the surface. Another good session and the water levels down again.

25-1-22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Jon Riley, Chris George

2hrs

Jon and Mike went in to the end to dig and Mike dug first with Jon second. The water levels were same at dig with about ankle deep water and the pool had dropped by about 4 inches so was well below the grill since last week. 10 new buckets meant lots in the system with the old ones and 50 skips were filled from the dig and bagged up at the spoil heap. Quite a lot of shattered rock coming out from the end of the dig. All good going forwards, just hoping the rain stays off and water levels remain fairly low!

18-1-22 unexpected dryness!

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Chris George, Fran Campbell

1hr 15mins

Expected to find the dig flooded and no possible digging, so was pleasantly surprised when it wasn’t underwater, in fact the end was 2ft below the dam, so clearly has some drainage and the pool was just below the grill at the point when we arrived. Estelle checked it out and then went back out to get the others to come down and bring some containers to drain off more water and digging stuff, rather than heading to the pub early! There was a dead rabbit on the step that was rather stinky and looked like it had been washed in during the recent rains, so that was evicted and disposed of first. Pool at the end was drained into containers and then using digging buckets, baled over the dam into the pool to a point where it wasn’t a pain for digging. There had been quite a reasonable slump at the end so clearly the water had reached the roof at the dig at some point since the last digging session before Christmas, but that wouldn’t have been surprising with the amount of rain we’d had… Once drained, digging commenced, Estelle did 18 buckets and then Dave did 10 buckets as due to lack of darts, we’d agreed to get to the pub by 8:30pm! Next week, Estelle will remember the new buckets and with no rains forecast, should be continued easy digging.

21-12-21 easy digging

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay,

2hrs
Still been quite dry weather and the water levels were still remaining low with no breach of the dam thankfully. Estelle and James dug tonight and still getting quite a bit of rock out. The dig is nicely going forwards still and easy digging. We need some skips as the ones we have are starting to demise badly, Estelle has managed to locate some online to order. Another 40 skips tonight came out.

14-12-21

 

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Water levels lower than last week and Jon & Dave dug this week. Dam hadn't been breached and the dig is going nicely forwards still with some quite large rocks coming out. Around 40 skips dug before heading to the pub.

7/12/21 Storm Barra made no difference to the water levels...

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell

2hrs

James and Mike went to the end, the water levels were unchanged from last week, despite Storm Barra causing a bit of rain in the last day. James dug first continuing down into the floor where Estelle and Dave had been digging last week, pulling out more gravel and rocks, not clear it’s at the bottom, but definitely a different floor to what we’ve been used to. Estelle turned up about 30mins in with buckets being backed up at the inside end of the railway and hauled them out and emptied. At changeover digger to Mike, who continued more forwards on digging, Jon came outside and everyone else moved down one apart from the 2 at the bottom, Fran appeared with about 30mins to go and helped Jon with emptying. 42 skips filled during the evening. We need to look at getting some replacement trugs soon as many of them are splitting and handles going now.

30/11/21 driest we've seen it!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jon Riley, Stu Lindsay, Adrian Miles

2hrs

Estelle went in first and dug around 18 buckets, focussing on digging down. There was no fresh water in the dig beyond the dam and the water before the dam was about the lowest we have seen it all year. The weather has been kind to us for a while, which is great for continued digging. Going down saw the usual layers of multi-coloured sediment and yellow false floor and eventually hit a gravelly layer and some rock, which was probably wall rather than boulders. Dave then went in and dug, continuing down and he found the definite right-hand wall, not sure we’ve got to the bottom in the middle, but he then moved onto digging forwards. Estelle moved to the taking the skips from the digger to the haul - an annoying roof pendant had to be beaten into submission after stabbing in the back a few times! It’s now much easier to walk across the metalwork. After around 15 bags, Adrian swapped in and dug so fast no-one could keep up! Packed up and headed to pub!

We worked the dig with one in dig, 1 taking across the puddle grill to the lower haul and one on lower haul, one top of, one doing steps, one doing outside haul and one emptying – could do with one more on the steps really, as with 7 and the digging being easy, you are going to get a bottle neck somewhere!

22/11/21 no rain, so keep on diggin'

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jon Riley, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

No rain since last week, so minimal bailing to get the dig ready to dig. Mike initially went in to clear the water and start digging, but Stu then took over and did about 25 skips before Mike took over again. The grill is making it a lot of difference with not having to walk through the pond at the end. During the session we increased the rope length of the drag haul so it’s about 5m longer, which means it’s a little less hard work for the person behind the digger, but all jobs are quite hard work with only 6 of us – we need more diggers on a regular basis!

16/11/21 - a decking across the pond!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell, Adrian Miles

1hr 45mins
Mike brought along 2 scaffold bars with an idea we could put them across the pond at the end and then put the 2 metal grills over so we can get to the dig end without ending knee (plus!) deep in water when we are trying to deal with the water levels. The water had dropped back down to relatively normal levels again and the scaffold/grill idea worked a treat. Mike and Adrian filled all the water containers several times each until the dig beyond the dam was empty and did a few more in the pond too bringing all the water out, so as to help prevent it lapping over the dam. Digging was then possible so Fran went in and dug 16 buckets worth before we headed to the pub. It's easy clay digging at the moment with the passage lower in height and less wide, but we don't know yet how far it goes down due to water levels and not having dug down as much recently. Long range forecast is for mostly dry weather so fingers crossed the water levels won't rise for next week and it may well just be a few containers of water to clear the other side of the dam.

 

2/11/21 flooded!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay

1hr
After several weeks of a lot of rain, unsurprisingly the dig was flooded at a high enough level it wasn't diggable - water up as far on the floor as where the lower haul is. We checked the length of the electric which goes to the top of the step currently and then exited and went to the pub to discuss our options... Basically either quit for the winter and buy a pump in the spring or buy a pump now... we will chase to get the updated survey from Andrew and also look at the pump options a bit further and see how the weather goes.

18/10/21 just Mike!

 Just Mike, the weather had been rubbish all day and not enough interest in heading over!

from Mike - 

I was already at chew valley lake when Estelle got hold of me, so I headed over for a look anyway. It was only light mizzle when I arrived, although pretty murky on the hill (not nice driving). A bee greeted me in the entrance & a newt was hanging out by the buckets, but they had less than 5mm of water in any of them & the pool was 2cm or so lower than last week (so not washing over into dig).

I discovered a lost bucket still in the water, so filled it up (obviously we only did 17 last time! - the roof is still dropping ahead), then carried it & the spade & bar back to steps. Air quality seemed to be less fresh than last week - not too surprising, as when water evaporates it releases any CO2 it contains (& it would have been hard work with only 4 again). The bucket load filled one of last week's bags & I left after only half an hour or so on site.

12/10/21 report from Mike

 Dave, Mike, Jon & Stu 

Stu got there (with sharpened trenching tool & another 2 fixed handles on buckets) just as we were going in.  

Jon checked water levels, which were much the same as last week (possibly slightly more in the dig, where it had spilled over wall, & a baby frog swimming vertically, which I rescued on my glove & handed over to Jon to take out). Dave dug 18 buckets which we carted out & used to fill the slop bags from a couple of weeks ago (somewhat smelly) before adding them to the far end of wall. 

Buckets were then scraped before making an exit to the pub, where Jon bought the first round & I did second. We did consider putting the steel grills back into end pool to reduce depth back below welly height, but couldn't see the bottom by then, so thought it better to wait until next week. Another consideration is bailing the main flood so we can empty the water out of the dig, but that depends how much rain is due next week...

 

5/10/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Fran Campbell and also Stuart MacManus and Mark Denning

2hrs

The weather had been awful in recent days with a lot of rain so we expected the water levels to have risen. Thankfully only slightly over the end dam in the end. Mark had come to check on the electrics ahead of putting a pump in, so he did his checks and assessed it as looking safe and it tripped fine. Mac had come to do some air checks after the last 3 or so weeks of it being quite ‘thick’ to breath and everyone feeling breathless. His results are as below. While all this was going on, Mike and Dave started filling the water containers up from the end and we assisted taking them out. We did several rounds of this and lowered the water level a bit and also the end beyond the dam, so hopefully with long range forecast looking warmer and drier again, the levels will drop off again before we get to a point of needing pumping. After a couple of hours, we headed off to the Waldegrave for sustenance.

 

the results from the CO2 and O2 sensors.

 

End 2.96% CO2 17.83% O2. Pressure 993hPa

Steps 2.4% CO2 18.4% O2

Bottom Entrance shaft  - 0.08% CO2 20.73% O2

 

Interesting was the CO2 was 3.2% in that small alcove above the end pool where there was a heavy drip.

28/9/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell

1hr 45mins

Weather had been rubbish for last couple of days rain/wind wise and the water levels had risen slightly with a flow running into the pool at the end. The air wasn’t great still when Estelle went in to take a couple of photos of the end and check water levels ahead of starting to dig. Dave dug first, then Mike and 2 rounds of 18 skips were filled. No headaches but heavy breathing while working anywhere from the bottom haul down. Hopefully will sort itself with the weather pressure changes as this is a new phenomenon

 

21/9/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell, Jonathan Riley

1.5hours

Arrived at dig and Estelle and Dave went to the end with bags to fill and load into buckets of watery stuff to drain as this had been proven to help a bit with water levels. The air was quite poor at the dig end. Filled about 6-8 skips with bags of watery spoil and sent up then went to the end to get on with digging. Air wasn’t great, lots of hard breathing, but not headachy, so suspicion this may be lower oxygen than a CO2 big problem. Last weeks team said it wasn’t great then either and this isn’t something we’ve had to deal with before, but it has had a long period of dry high pressures with harvesting season all around which is typical of bad air problems in caves. Estelle dug around 18 skips and then James dug 10 before the poor air drove us out and to the pub. We agreed to look to get someone to analyse the air or borrow the MCR testers as this was out if the ordinary.

14/9/21 report from Mike

 Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley

I handed the bolts over to Stu, then all 4 mouseketeers made it to the bitter end where despite the rain today, the water level had dropped since last time. So we took in 14 bags & all of us filled them with slop from the pool (to variable weights) & chained them back out in trugs, along with the other 3 buckets, which were filled with drier mud - this did destroy the central skip, so that came out as well (along with the tools, to steps). Emptying the buckets was much easier with bags in, so that didn't take long, but we found it to be almost 8.30, so headed down the waldy, where Alan was playing darts. He said most weeks they will be now, so can get there later & he will let Estelle know if different. Bags are all sat by the ladder awaiting further fill, an adult & baby toad were around the hauling boulder, and the skip still needs ropes switching to a new one.

31/8/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Fran Campbell

2hrs

Water levels had dropped and we got 2 rounds of digging in before heading to the pub.

24/8/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Opted for a later start as the pub is getting happier with late as they’ve started more darts. Water levels up, lots of discussion re pumps after, but we need to look at the electrics and make sure we’re getting the right pump for the job. Usual round of a couple of diggers before heading to the pub.

17/8/21 water levels still high, time to start looking to pump...

Dave Walker, Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Chris George

30mins

Dave was quickly ready to head down so he headed down to check the water levels while everyone else got ready to go down. He was met coming up the ladder on his way out. He reported that despite mostly dry weather in the last week, the level had dropped about an inch, it was still extremely unpleasant level and the area Estelle had been digging 2 weeks earlier was under water, only high level digging was available. It was decided that there was no point in the unpleasantness of digging in those conditions and that we should go to the pub and discuss planning what we do next – while the water may slowly drop again over the coming weeks, it is unlikely to get to a point where it is where it was before the rains of the 8^th August and if we want to try and dig more through the winter, we need to get back to pumping

Plans in the pub involve looking at acquiring 1 or most likely 2 110v pumps as safer than 240v, we will need a transformer, but between us may have ones that could come and go each week if needs be. We need to look to secure the pipe at the end as currently it is crossing the path and effectively in the way and it needs to be set up to allow a bit of future proofing on length to pump a bit further ahead than we are now. We need to decide if we want to split the level and pump to a barrel which could be located by the outside end of the railway line and then a 2^nd pump would pump up to surface and towards the pond. We also need to look to check the electric cable that is currently in the cave and make sure it is safe and sound. Will look to ask Mark or Ben to come over at some point soon and take a look for us. We will ask around re 2^nd hand pumps, but also look to price up new from online, they need to be able to cope with the sludge and also the height.

10/8/21 water levels back up after a storm at the weekend

Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley, Estelle Sandford turned up about half hour later

1hr

Sunday had seen rain of biblical proportions locally and the dig had suffered a rise of around a foot or slightly more of water thanks to that. Along with limited people turning up tonight, this made digging challenging as it was over the knee height now to walk to the end and digging was kneeling on a wet ledge. It was too wet to bother to try and bale water, so just one lot of 17 skips was brought up and emptied and the decision was made to abandon and go to the pub, where James and Stu turned up also.

3/8/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Chris George, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Dave went in first, water levels lower than last week, not affected by rains, he sent out 4 bottles of water and then some slurry before starting digging proper. The rest of the spoil was digging. Easy going… Estelle in next for her 17 buckets and then Chris in after and then off to the Waldegrave. Hopefully it will dry out further…

27/7/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Dave and Max Walker, Jon Riley, Chris George, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon

2hrs

Good session, James went in first to dig, followed by Jon and Mike. Mike brought over some empty containers to fill with water which helped reduce the water levels a bit. Easy digging for the most part at the end, all bagged with us being an 8 and then off to the Waldy after.

20/7/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Chris George, Dave Walker

2hrs

Chris, Estelle and Dave dug tonight, puddle down a bit further and making steady progress forwards with the roof coming down a bit. Usual 17 skips each then Waldy.

13-7-21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Jon Riley

2hrs

James went in first to dig the end, the water levels were slightly up on last week, but it had rained a lot in recent days. The hole in the floor we’d dug out had flooded, but there is still a good seat to sit on for digging. As the start was just Estelle, James and Dave, with the backlog, everyone came out and helped bag/empty the buckets, before Mike went in for a dig and then Jon took over for the last buckets, which totalled 43 tonight before heading to the Waldegrave.

6-7-21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Dave went in first to dig and as the water levels had dropped a couple of inches, the mud at the sides was now exposed, so the first 10 buckets were like chocolate blancmange! (didn’t go down well with surface…) after that, started digging down in the floor just in front of the bank at the end. The water was dammed by clay and a rock to a point, but we didn’t expect it to last… Estelle continued digging in the floor after and it went down about a foot at it’s deepest along side a boulder and false floor above. Could sink most of the crow bar in through a small gap at the end too! Between us did 44 buckets and then headed up to help empty before heading to the Waldegrave.

29-6-21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

2hrs

James went in first to dig and the water levels were surprisingly slightly down on the previous week, despite a lot of rain. He continued digging the end going forwards with leaving a bit of a shelf to sit on. Mike went in 2^nd and did his round of buckets and a few extras to total about 40. Between each digger, we all went surface to help empty buckets and then after digging off to the Waldegrave.

22/6/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker Stu Lindsay

1hr 45mins

Good to have a team of 6 for a change, another 1 or 2 would make it even easier though! The water levels were about the same as last week, we had fairly constant rain over Sunday and Monday, so not unexpected, but it does feel like it isn’t going down as fast this year, probably down to the clay puddling in the pool and making a good seal! Jon went in first to dig and dug at speed to fill his 17 buckets from the higher level of the bank of spoil ahead. Estelle then dug 17 buckets worth continuing working down the spoil bank. The roof is coming down a bit at the moment, but we are not able to easily dig the floor out due to the water so don’t know how deep the mud/clay/rocks below us actually are. Dave then went in and did 17 buckets too. There was no requirement for all to go out and help empty buckets between each digger, which saved us a lot of time and meant we were able to fill 51 buckets (+ 1 rock) quicker than we’d done 34 last week! Hopefully we’ll have a drier week and the water levels will drop by next time a bit further. We have got several buckets and also some of our digging tools heading towards end of life, so will need to go shopping soon. Headed to Waldegrave afterwards

16/6/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

1.5hrs

Moved to Wednesday as MCR AGM on the Tuesday. Water levels down a bit further, so not quite at welly height for slopping over anymore. Mike went in first to dig and carried on removing the wall of mud in front, lots of higher mud/sediment, which is the easiest to empty out of the buckets. He did his 17 and then we went out to empty them, the next batch James did and these were bagged by Stu as he hauled and then topped up when we all came out. 37 skips in total tonight, then off to the Hunters as it was a Wednesday!

8/6/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Despite little to no rain since the previous week the water levels had barely gone down, which is annoying as they are at that height where they will just about lap over the top of your wellies! Estelle went in first to dig 17 buckets and then Dave the second round of 17. With only 5 of us, we have to stage the emptying so everyone has to come out in between. Still digging from an island at the end, so digging is actually quite easy at the moment. Still seem to be extending the chamber at the moment. Stu took the top sled away for repair/modification to improve it

1/6/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

2hrs

40 buckets filled between James and Mike. Water level back down to approx. where it was 2 weeks ago, which means it just catches lapping over welly when you get it wrong. First 18 emptied, rest bagged, one bucket demised as a handle fell off. Still easy digging.

25/5/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

1.5hrs

Wetter again than last week after a week of heavy rains and the puddle is at knee height. Dave and Estelle the only ones with wetsocks on so Estelle dug first filling the 18 buckets and then Dave did the 2nd round then we went to the pub slightly earlier. In between the 18 bucket hauls, we all came to surface to help empty. End still easy digging and grateful for the seat. Hopefully with good weather forecast indefinitely at the moment we’ll see it a lot drier next week.

18/5/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

1hr 45mins

Water levels back up around 3-4 inches since last week after recent rains, so just lapping over welly level when you are moving around or leaning over to move skips. James went in first to dig, followed by Mike and then Dave. Digging forward is still pretty easy and until the water levels drop, keeping a seat level just above water, but once dried, will need to go down to rock in the pool. A section of roof mud came down in what is looking to be another mini aven above as well during the dig. Good to be back in the Waldegrave for the first time since they opened after lockdown release.

11/5/21

 Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

2hrs

60 skips between us - Estelle went in first and did 18 as at that point we were only a 4, then people arrived and Mike went in second and did 18 and then Jon 3rd and 18, followed by Dave doing 6. Going forwards nicely, easy digging although it seems to stick to the skips. The water level was a bit lower than last week, but not a lot, but then it had rained a lot. Hopefully the last week of bring our beer and drink at the cave...

4/5/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley

2hrs

4 diggers today – end puddle had dropped by about another 6inches, the end was dry to dig. Easy digging. Estelle first, then Jon, then James and then Dave did a short shift of 10 compared to everyone else doing 15-27 buckets.

27/4/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

1.5hrs

Estelle checked the end on arrive and success, we’re digging tonight. Mike headed in and dug first with Estelle digging a bit in the passage above where there is still flood debris. Once the first round of 18 buckets had been filled, we all headed up to the top to help empty them as it’s hard going with only 5 of us. Once done, Dave went in and dug and the rest of us hauled and carried. Again headed out to empty the bulk of them. Decided we were all feeling a bit achy after 2 rounds of buckets so decided not to push for the 3^rd one this week! Beers at the top again – starting to get a little midgey, need the pub open soon before we get eaten alive!

20-4-21

 Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

1.5hrs

Water levels had dropped by about another foot since last week, and it looks like we’ll clearly be back digging next week. We spent the evening cleaning off some of the passageway of the mud caused by the winter flooding to make it a little cleaner and also help smooth the passage for the skip run. Another night of a beer at the surface as no pub yet!

13/4/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker

2hrs

Cement and dust brought over tonight by Dave, so wall building session planned. James went to the end and reported back that the levels had dropped a little but probably not that much and there’s still no way of digging the end without it dropping further or sorting pumps. Dave then went in and took a look too. We then set to Dave cement making, James wall building, Estelle digging out the collapse at the end of the railway and Mike hauling and between him and Dave, more bag filling for the retaining spoil walls. 3 mixes later and the wall is probably about where it needs to be and Estelle had dug out the bank – lots of the white clay had been exposed and there is a rock that may need removing at some point – am sure it’s slid down that bank more than it was before! As it was warmer, we sat at the top of the ladder for a beer before heading home – roll on the Waldegrave opening properly!

6-4-21 first visit after lockdown restrictions easing

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

2hrs

First look at the dig since before COVID-19 lockdown. Headed into the dig to look at the end and it is currently flooded to approximately where you would sit for the lower haul. There is probably 3ft-ish depth of water at its deepest. It is possible to traverse along the edge a bit and see under the arch into the chamber at the end, but far too wet to dig at present. Since our last visit, there has been a subsidence from under the hedge line and most of the spoil buckets were buried under this. We soon retrieved these, but made the decision to spend the rest of the evening building up the retaining spoil bag wall in case of further subsidence, plus as it was quite chilly and windy that evening, it kept us warm for a while until we decided to crack open a beer each whilst down there! We discussed possible pumping ideas and also mused over whether the dig water level was at water table level or just backed up thanks to the thick clay we usually dig out. We also discussed the ideas of pumping and are looking towards a 2 pump system as most likely and Stu has brought over a big blue barrel that we could use for the middle level. We’d need 2 pumps with less lift that way and thus cheaper to acquire, plus looking at options to make sure the bottom pump is a 110v for safety, where it won’t matter for the top pump down to its location. We’ll look at the options over the next few weeks on all this, but meanwhile we can bring cement to continue building the wall up the side of the steps and also there is a small collapse the other side of the railway needing clearing.

3/11/20

 

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker plus Kevin Clinton at the start

2hrs

More cementing by the steps, water levels down a little bit. Kevin and Estelle headed into the top part above the main dig and Kevin showed Estelle a possible place where he thought likely to be worth digging. It’s worth a go whilst we’re unable to dig the end down to flooding. Made sure we tidied up a bit and didn’t leave cement as we know we’re not digging for a month down to lockdown #2 and had last trip to the Waldegrave for a while too.

27/10/20

 

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

2hrs

Cementing the wall by the steps as reinforcement to stop slumping. Also filled a load of bags with mud from the top to add to the wall levels at the top for retaining spoil before heading off to the Waldegrave.

20/10/20

More wall building! Checked out the water and it had dropped around another 6” facilitating access to the metal grills without getting excessively wet but a long way of being able to dig again any time soon! Mike went in and retrieved the grills via the side shelf and brought out to the surface to remove them to go to Pearl Mine as we no longer need them. Cement mixing underway, James and Estelle moved some rocks back into the cave and laid them out a bit for the first layer. Took cement in and did that layer and repeated for 2 more skips of cement before we ran out of supplies. Probably 1-2 more sessions will see the steps wall sorted so it doesn’t risk a collapse in from the wall from the mud behind. 2hrs

13/10/20

Estelle & James brought sand and cement and there was already some dust over there to make up a mix with, so we set to clearing where there had been a slump on the right of the steps. Tools recovered and removed to higher ground and James cleared all the mud away to reveal back to the previous cemented wall level. Dave made mix up while the spoil was removed and the rocks we'd taken out a couple of weeks back were brought back in for wall building! The big boulder at the top of the steps was undermined and then a wall built under it and cemented in place and continuation just below it until we ran out of mix for now. Will continue this over the next couple of weeks unless it happens to dry out enough to dig. The levels had dropped maybe 18" at most since Sunday, but still very much under water.

11/10/20

Estelle popped on an oversuit over clothes to go and check the state of the cave. The water levels had clearly been quite well up the step and currently sitting at about a metre below where the hole in the floor was. There has been a reasonably significant collapse from the right side as you go down the steps, burying the tools on the shelf there and water appears to have come in from above from the top dig area. It would be useful and sensible to do some walling at the step area to try and prevent further collapses from that side and also secure the boulder at the top better. Unlikely to see the end again for digging for a while. Noted that there had been a rock fall just below the ladder and we may be prudent to prod a crack as more looks a bit unstable there.

29/9/20

Andrew came over to survey the cave we’ve found since the 2016 survey around our digging session. We completed this promptly around the others digging and we have gained approx. 25m since then – it is 30m total to the rock at the start of the railway. Dave started at the dig, the water levels were the same as last week, about 6inches of water in the floor and easy enough to dig the face ahead and the spoil is easy digging varying clays, mud, etc. – it’s so much easier to haul the skipnow the hole in the floor has been filled and the top lined with spoil bags. Mike and Jon had their goes at digging and then we all headed to the pub. Have a feeling the forecasted weather may flood the dig, but we’ll see if it is as bad as forecast!

22/9/20

Having lost Mike and Jon to the recent Wookey breakthrough and continuing work in there on that, plus Stu came over and capped some rocks yesterday as he couldn’t make tonight, we were reduced to 3. The water levels at the end are 6-8 inches in most places, but lots of clay in the floor which would prevent drainage. Plenty of remains of boulders from Stu’s efforts last night so Estelle set to filling buckets with rocks as it is easier to handle and they were all taken only as far as the hole in the floor, which we’ve been discussing filling for a while – we also used up most of the small rocks we’d been using in the space by where the grill was. Once we’d run out of rocks, James took over and was digging the area where the grill was down to rock level. This was bagged and Dave placed them so the skip should flow over the top. The boards were taken out, the grills are both stashed at the side of the passage for now in case they are needed again. More work to continue getting down to floor level and could do with breaking up the boulders we stashed as they are no longer neatly walled and would be better removed from the cave! Headed out to Waldegrave.

15/9/20

About 10inches or so of water in the end area and James went in first to dig and after the efforts last week removing the grill, the continuation was filling buckets from around that area and into the first of the deeper pool as we have pretty much decided we need to find the floor still. There’s a lot of clays lower down and the end does drain, albeit slowly so clearing the floor down to rock may help… James filled his skips and then Estelle took over and filled from the area where the grill was and just beyond, before Mike took over and carried on clearing out the same area. We’re down to floor in a number of places now and it’s clearly got a bit of a gap between where the wall hits the floor, which may help with drainage if we can keep this… Hopefully another dry week ahead might see the water levels lower.

8/9/20

From Mike. Stuart capped most of the boulders in the end chamber, despite forgetting any spare drill batteries, whilst Dave, Fran & I lifted the 2nd grill & removed most of the mud from underneath it (18 buckets worth) in stages. Stu then put most of the bits of rock up on the right hand shelf before running out of oxygen & exiting. Then Dave & I headed back down for 5 minutes whilst the others got changed - Dave dug out the remaining wall between the 2 puddles & I lifted the rest of the rock onto the shelf, except 1 large block (that is lose) & any that I couldn't see (pool was crystal clear when we arrived, & a couple of inches lower than last week). Still some mud (grill is up on the side) & the rocks to remove next time.

1/9/20

James’s birthday treat, he got to go and dig first! Quite a wet muddy puddle at the end still, but able to dig the end wall ok and just get wet up to the knees while kneeling in the water! He filled 18 skips and then Estelle took over for around 18 skips – she dug around the pool/stones more and lowered the water level a bit. Mike Moxon went in and did around a dozen skips as pub was calling – the spoil was being bagged on the surface this time as enough to make it worthwhile. Hopefully the water levels will drop off further by next time. 2hrs

25/8/20

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon, Fran Campbell

2hrs, plus an extra 1.5hrs for Stu and Dave

Stu arrived early again to cap more boulders in the chamber, but this was a bit fruitless as with Storm Ellen and Francis having gone through in the last week, all that could be seen was the tops of a few of the larger boulders, the rest of the chamber was under about 2.5ft of water. He capped a few of the larger ones that were just above that area and then headed out soon after. Dave had arrived a bit earlier too and had helped with clearing and Jon went in next to break any boulders he could. Jon then moved onto digging the ceiling, Dave swapped out further up the chain with Fran who also did some digging in the roof and floor where the grill and puddle is. Lots of roof coming down from a very drippy aven. We came out around 8:30 to get to the Waldegrave in time for another ‘eat out to help out’ half price meal.

If we don’t see more dry weather to dry the chamber out, we’re going to have to look at pumping options – looking at 2 pumps, sludge pump for the end to bring up to the end of the railway to perhaps a water butt we can install there, and then another pump to bring to the surface, but this doesn’t need to deal with sludge then.

18/8/20

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon

2hrs plus Stu an hour earlier

Stu arrived early to cap boulders again. Very successful capping session, so much so that the 3 diggers after didn’t manage to clear all the boulders he’d broken up! Dave was there a little earlier too, so he filled the first round of buckets with mostly rock, then Estelle went in and cleared a load of rock and mud from around the removed rocks, followed by Mike doing the last session before heading out to ensure we got to the Waldegrave in time for a ‘eat out to help out’ half price meal. Stu planning on doing an early capping session again next week as some of the boulders that were broken up, are not smashing with the hammer and too big to carry and for the skips. The chamber remains mostly dry despite there having been a bit of rain in the last week.

11/8/20

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon

2hrs digging with an extra hour for Stu

Stu arrived early to cap some boulders in the chamber at the end so we can clear the floor. He’d just about run out of drill power/caps by the time we all arrived at 6:30. Jon went in first and smacked up some rocks making them small enough to fit in the skips, most of his session was rocks, then James went in and cleared more rocks and headed into removing some mud too. Finally Mike went in for the last session and mostly clearing spoil from the end wall and noted there seems to possibly be an inlet or aven above too. All easy digging and still nice and dry at the end. Headed out 8:30ish to pub.

4/8/20

 

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon

2hrs

Despite it being bone dry on last visit around a month ago, there was now a pool at the end on the grill and a little bit of water in the floor around the boulders near the end. Stu went in to dig first and filled all 18 buckets, before Estelle took over and filled about a dozen as nursing a bad back – the digging was mostly in the wall going forwards, and is fairly easy going. Dave then took over and filled around another dozen or so and as we had arranged to visit the Waldegrave from about 20:15 as first week of being open since the COVID19 restrictions were lifted, we made a point of packing up to give us time to get there!

Friday 3rd July

Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

(from Mike)

Well, we had a look at the end, then spent about an hour clearing the slump by the start of the 2nd grill (10 buckets) & other bits of the passage / steps (another 6), staging them back to the steps, then our to empty. Dave & Stu swore they'd bring kneepads next time. A song thrush serenaded us whilst changing (& it decided to start raining again). A calf on the road just the other side of Litton & a roe deer nearer East Harptree interrupted the drive home, but still managed in daylight for the first time ever (for an evening session).

27-6-20 Recce trip to check state of play

Estelle Sandford & James Begley

30mins

Dig was flooded up to COVID19 lockdown, but having agreed with Kevin it was ok to start back digging as the COVID19 lockdown starts to release, James and Estelle headed over to do a quick recce post the winter flooding and get an idea of where we are at on any water levels. There is no water at the end at all, although plenty of the usual sticky mud/clay. There’s a few places in the passage that have seen minor slumps from the flooding, but overall, probably one session of tidying up and we’re back digging the end. Kevin mentioned there appears to be a resident rat, but it hasn’t been in the dig area as the first footprints of any size are ours! Took some photos and a short video and headed home.

22/12/19

Estelle & James popped in to drop xmas bottle to Kevin and check the water levels. Up to about 4" below the railway line and looking like we'll be flooded out for some time. Kevin has suggested we re-investigate the top dig as he feels it may go the other way. We'll plan a trip in the new year for this.