29/8/23

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

2hrs
A welcome back to Dave to digging, he was impressed by how much further we'd progressed. He dug the side aven briefly before Stu got to the end and took over digging that one. Estelle dug forwards, concentrating on digging out the floor as there had been some tunnelling going on. The floor dropped by about 2 foot all in and boulders removed as well. Need to carry on clearing out all, but looks like it is dropping a bit there. 50 buckets were taken to the top in stages and emptied out. We're now down to 30 buckets with another handle failing tonight. Headed to Waldy after.

22/8/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jim Hayward, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Butler
2hrs

Jim and Mike digging, Jim going forwards and Mike digging off to the right. Right is looking more to be an aven, albeit still going up and probably still has a couple of sessions worth of digging out the spoil to reach a conclusion. Forward is still looking interesting and heading into more of a tube at the moment, although need to confirm the floor has been reached below. Is now a good body length past the hole in the floor now. First 31 buckets filled and transported up to the top railway and then all headed up to finish off the haul and empty them, then went back in for a second round of 31 and repeat. Finished just before 9pm and went to Waldy. 

15/8/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Adrian and Jack Miles, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon

2 hours

Jon and Duncan worked the end digs, Duncan on the forward one and Jon in the right side alcove/aven. 8 meant it was possible to get the spoil all the way out, but it was hard work as everyone had to cover more ground to do it. The mud was sticky so didn't empty easy either. First 31 buckets filled and then a further 24 were sent down in 6s until it was pub time. Right side looking more and more like just an aven now. Forwards is smaller than we're used to, but still plenty of compacted spoil coming out. Headed to Waldy. 

 

8/8/23

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Adrian and Jack Miles

1.5hrs

Adrian and Jack were given the 2 dig sites and they set to filling the buckets, did one round of 32 and then took down another 12 as we were being so efficient and quick tonight! (One more bucket now died, so we're down to 31) Adrian dug the right hand one, bringing down more from the alcove, still a fair bit to go, not totally clear yet whether it is just an alcove or more. Jack dug forwards and continued on at the same level, very compacted spoil in that part. There was also some left over spoil at the start of the pool and by the hole in the floor from Mike last week. At the start of digging, Estelle put the conveyer belt back over the hole, the water was visible and probably only a foot or so down into the hole. Waldy after to meet James who was working late.  

1/8/23 unseasonably wet!

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

1.5hrs

Mike and Jon digging the end 2 digs, the water levels were up as it has rained so much recently and the pool chamber had the grill underwater again, plus some big pools at the dig end which needed draining to dig. The hole in the floor is still draining but quite slow, not sure if we've quietly blocked it with spoil or whether it is due to the extremely high water levels for time of year. 32 buckets filled and then moved out of the cave and emptied in stages. Mike also had a go at clearing the hole and also cleared some mud around what looked like it could be a boulder above the hauling spot for the grill, but confident now it's wall. 

Having emptied the buckets, we headed to the Waldy. 

25/7/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley

1.5hrs

Estelle digging at the end on the right, interesting going down, but unsure where this is leading, lots of spoil still to come out there and also above it as it will eventually fall on your head otherwise. Also the straight on bit looks like it may be closing off, but we still have the hole in the floor. Lots of rain since last digging, and the grill in the pool chamber was under water! May have to put a drainage hole in the dam somewhere... Did one round of skips (33) and then headed to Hunters. Hoping for more diggers next week.

11/7/23 report from James

A low turnout this evening, with Jon and Duncan meeting at 18:00 to start breaking up some rocks and James joining them at 19:15. Duncan had his drill and capping kit, but forgot to bring his molegrips, so decided not to use the caps but instead broke up the rocks using just a drill and some hefty blows with the hammer. All the loose rocks in the end chamber have been made smaller, and moved back into the 'pool' chamber. 12 skip loads of mud was also removed from the end. Plenty of space at the end to resuming digging operations again next week. All out and in the Waldy by 20:45.

4/7/23

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

1.5hrs
rained a lot today, but didn't affect the dig. James and Duncan did the digging, Estelle did the moving up to the grill and Mike and Jon filled bags in the pool chamber until they ran out and then the rest of the skips went out. Estelle struggling tonight with a sore back. As we were earlier, the Waldegrave was still open.

27/6/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley and Stu Lindsay turned up for the later haul shift. 

2hrs
Estelle and Jon dug, Estelle right hand wall and Jon going forwards. Most of the spoil was bagged and then a load of buckets were taken out too. About 10 bags filled and a dozen or so skips taken out. Straight on has a flake that looks dodgy on the left, the right hand dig can dig down and bury the crow bar, so be interesting to see how it goes. some decent sized boulders removed. Hunters as Waldegrave closed early.

20/6/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley

2hrs

with only 4 of us, we decided to take some bags in and start to level off the pool chamber area. Overall target to level off at least where the grill is, so the grills can come out, probably put conveyor belt across it to make it easier to haul and also there isn't a need for the pool now we have the hole in the floor. 

James and Mike got on with digging. James at the dig above the hole in the floor, continuing forwards and unearthing another large boulder, whilst Mike worked at the right hand walk. That looks to be an aven and could be an alcove, but with a fair bit of spoil and rocks coming out of it, it doesn't look to be hitting a wall yet... Estelle passed the buckets up to where Jon was filling bags - around 9 or 10 bags filled and then filled the dozen buckets we were using and brought them out to scrape and dry for next week. Hunters tonight as Waldy closed early with no darts. 

Still need to take krabs, sort the skip and take a new hammer in. Also there are a good number of boulders now needing capping near the end. 

13/6/23

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

1hr 45mins

Estelle went in to dig, had moved on surprisingly since the last time i was at the front. The left hand side above the hole has progressed as far as a large boulder (or possibly wall) but still needs more clearance. I spent most of the session digging lower at the left and working on the right wall. Still easy digging and plenty of spoil to come out. Everyone had to be underground with only 6 of us and then once the 34 buckets were emptied, we all headed to surface to empty them, then headed to Waldy. We all still forgot the krabs, knife and skip. Also looking now at replacing the ropes, but we need to measure the distances for that. 

6/6/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay, Chris Smart

2hrs
Another dry week, Jon went in and filled a couple of buckets and then Chris took over and filled the rest of the 34 before Jon took over again for the last 18, so 52 buckets in total. 1 really good sized rock came out of the wall, which has temporarily blocked the hole at the bottom, and also a medium sized friend. Rest was mud and small rocks spoil. A number of the larger rocks in the bottom chamber have been moved to the pool chamber now with a view to gradually levelling that off leaving only very large rocks that need capping/plug and feather. Also removed the 2 scaff bars to the surface as no longer needed next to the grill. Rest of the team worked hard moving the spoils to the surface and emptying them before we headed to the Waldy for bevvies.

Need to try and remember for next week - new lump hammer, 2 replacement crabs for middle skip and either a knife to cut the rope or tools to try and undo the stuck crab on the middle skip. If we can get a better middle skip ready that would be good as the one going in for now is quite a shallow one.

30/5/23 Dig dig dig!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Adrian Miles. Duncan turned up towards the end but didn't dig tonight. 

2hrs

Mike went in to dig the end with Estelle supporting. He focussed on digging above the hole mostly (the conveyor belt covers it nicely) and was removing plenty of spoil and rocks. He worked into the top of the rift above the hole and the texture of the spoil is more 'sediment' and softer layer from water flowing rather than the harder tiered mud/clay layers we normally see. Whilst we waiting for Adrian to turn up, James cleared 8 buckets from the chamber at the end of the railway of the flood slumping and made more stacking space and emptied those buckets. Once Adrian arrived, he and James started shuttling the buckets up to that chamber. 34 buckets were filled up from the dig and sent out and emptied and then we sent Adrian down with 12 more as we still had some time left. 54 buckets filled and emptied in total. Good digging session, but hard work with only 4. Hopefully more people back available next week. Went to Hunters as Waldegrave closed early tonight. 

23/5/23 back digging again, no longer flooded!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley

2hrs

Arrived to find many of the buckets still part full of slimy sludgy water from the flooding and stagnating and sadly 3 dead fledglings and a dead rabbit between them too. We emptied all the buckets and headed down to dig. The hole at the end is now around 18" of water below the 'neck' of the rift, so heading down nicely and Jon said the pool above was at the grill last week and that was a good foot lower too. Estelle had taken down a piece of conveyor belt a few weeks ago and now it had drained, that was put over the hole in the floor to stop us getting too much spoil down it whilst digging above it. James dug, he started off by clearing flood debris spoil and then dug forward to the right first and then headed more left as the evening went on. Couple of rocks came out and there is still a mix of rock and clays, quite hard in places, so not the fastest to dig out. He filled about 30 of the 35 or 36 (not sure) buckets - quite a few were very stinky from stagnated water, hopefully by next time they will smell better! Whilst he'd been digging, the rest of us filled a few buckets with flood debris spoil in the passaged to clear up a bit and Mike and Jon managed to get most of the buckets to the top of the steps and were hauling the railway by the time Estelle and James came up with the last 4. Emptied all the buckets and lay them out to dry. Hopefully we're back digging every week now for a good while, could do with more people as only 4 of us was very hard work! Headed for sustenance in the Waldegrave after. 

16/5/23 dry enough to dig now...!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley

15mins

Jon was changed when we arrived, so he headed down to check the state of the end of the dig. He came back reporting that the left side where the hole is was about 18" of water, but straight on and right was now diggable. With only 3 of us, there was little we could do, so didn't get changed and we headed to Waldegrave. We did note that there was possibly a couple of rocks that had come down from the walls by the fence and left of the fence and a few looks precarious, need to take a long pokey stick and see if any do want to come down easily to make it safer. Hopefully back digging with a full team next week and then for foreseeable.

1/5/23 still flooded

Estelle Sandford, James Begley

15mins

only Estelle went underground with oversuit over clothes as suspected it would be flooded still. It was flooded to slightly lower than where it was on 21/3 but not by much and does not look like it will be diggable for a week or two still unless very dry weather, which with the forecast is unlikely. Aim to check again on 16/5. Noted that since the last time we visited, the buckets were scattered so that indicates that it has flooded above them recently. 

21/3/23 back underwater again - unseasonably wet weather!

Estelle Sandford, Jon Riley went underground, also Duncan Butler, Mike Moxon and James Begley turned up. 

30mins.

As the first two dressed for underground, Estelle & Jon went in to check water levels. It was backed up on the floor to the usual sit point for the middle drag run, so dig completely submerged at the moment. The rains recently have been heavy and ongoing forecast to be bad for the next week, so suspect we won't get back into the dig for at least another couple of weeks.

28/2/23 Back Digging

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell, Duncan Butler

1.5hrs

Estelle went in to dig and after clearing a bit of slump on the right of the hole in the floor, started working on going straight on ahead. Tried to avoid dropping mud into the hole, we need to cover it whilst digging, maybe bag of bags, or will cut a bit of conveyer belt to bring over. It is easy digging and since popping over Sunday, the dig water level has dropped by about another foot. As low numbers, had to all come up to complete emptying so we finished at 35 buckets and went to the Waldy. We need a longer pokey stick for a couple of loose looking rocks and try and remember some conveyer belt too.

26/2/23 Water levels dropping nicely

Estelle Sandford

15mins

put oversuit on top of clothes and went to check the state of the water levels. The pool with the grill had dropped to nearly dry and the hole in the floor had around a foot or so of water above it. All means good to go with digging Tuesday.

14/2/23 surprising drop in water levels

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay

45mins

Visited Cutlers to check water levels, noted some more rocks had fallen from the roof, we need a longer bar to prod a few suspect places next week. Estelle & Duncan went to look at the water levels and were surprised to note that the water had dropped to a level where there was an inch or so on top of the grill and beyond the dam was 2-2.5ft below the dam height. Suspect if the weather forecast is correct, then we may well be able to dig next week as the water levels have dropped way more than expected. We came back out, each took some rubbish from the pile to go and headed off to look at a dig called Eric. 

7/2/23 still flooded but dropping off

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Stu Lindsay

1hr

went to check on water levels and also have a bit of a clear up as a lot of the items we had stored had been scattered all over by the flooding. Looked at the water level and it's down by the bag hole in the floor area. Everything above is looking pretty stable with the bag wall and also passage around the cave. Jon prodded a few ceiling rocks around the edges in the top shaft that were loosened by the water levels reaching above the entire pit. We went through the bags and bagged up a load that need throwing away and also all the dead skips, we'll gradually remove these over the coming weeks to our bins. Tidied up all the usable bags and skips and hopefully it won't flood again this winter now and the water levels will continue to drop. 

31/1/23 less flooded, but still flooded...

Update from Mike Moxon

I had a quick look around the bottom of the ladder last night before going on elsewhere.

5 sets of buckets are still sat where we left them, more surprising is that 3 scrapers (as the lightest items) are also on top of the wall. I guess that means another set of buckets is still adrift underground (they were only ones floating when Jon & I visited). Bags are covered in a thin layer of silt, wall hasn't moved but at least one of the steps has (a bit) - 2 photos. Red winch box still in situ, mini mattock next to it precariously perched! Empty bags are scattered all over with one still half way up the wall (need a pole to dislodge it). Loose stones at base of wall are washed cleaner & water was at c.155m level on survey in left side dig (so you can step down from Stu's rock, but flooded from there, other photo - presumably same in main passage, which means chamber at other end of railway would have been chest deep - I didn't check as wasn't wearing caving kit).

21/1/23 still flooded

from Mike Moxon

Jon & I visited this afternoon after rolls & crisps in the Hunters'. We left there in bright sunshine, but beyond Green Ore was freezing fog (pic of ice crystals on gate, but they were also all across grass around the holes)

The water has dropped about 10 feet & Kevin has removed some of the floating debris (surprisingly 1 stack of buckets is still on the surface!) & we recovered some more that we could reach - yes there is one bag stuck on the back wall...). Otherwise only hole 1 had a small puddle visible in bottom.

Water level is now under the overhang above where Stuart sits, but still a lot to drop (probably 20ft vertically to the dig face). Couldn't see the spoil heap yet. Pic from today attached.

17/3/23 water levels higher still

Update from Kevin. Still rising levels without it raining and all the other holes are now same level. 

12/1/23 Flooded out...

Kevin sent us some photos, with continuous rain for weeks, the water levels have risen dramatically as per the images below. The various holes were not at the same height so indicates groundwater pushing up and that the size of passage (or blockage) means the water hasn't pushed up as high. 

20/12/22 underwater again...

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Chris George, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon, Mark Edwards (MCG) + Paul Quinton (MCG)

45mins
Headed in expecting to find it diggable but with perhaps the pool before quite high, but we were wrong. It had rained extremely heavily over the last 48hours until Tuesday 5am-ish with around 1.5inches of rain falling in the area and all local river levels were up and many mini-streams flowing along the roads as drains or drainage channels couldn't cope. The end chamber was at least a metre deep above the hole in the floor, although the pool area was not up to the level of the grill, so this means that the water levels probably came up rather than flowed down, unless the pool has gained more of a leak at a level since previously!
We can only surmise that either this is water table level at this point in time - may be possible to verify with a comparison to the bore hole levels, or the hole in the floor ongoing passage is too small to cope with the recent rain (or possibly become blocked) or possibly that due to the proximity of the pond to the end of the dig, maybe there is an overspill level which enters the passage ahead of us and doing so faster than it can drain. This is all guess work, and hopefully by the time we are next back in the new year, we will have had enough dry days for it to have drained away again...

13/12/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mike Wise, Jonathan Riley, David Walker, Chris George

2hrs

Arrived to find that there was no sign of water in the bottom of our new hole, that had all drained away since last week. We all came down at the start to take a look before letting Dave loose on digging around it. A few small boulders removed and plenty of mud of varying consistency. Everyone else spread up the passage to haul and work and Jon/Mike M at the top by the railway added to the buckets by adding some shelf so there is more stacking space there. It was quite cold outside, so did all the clearing as a batch from the other end of the railway. James took over and dug for a while and then Estelle & Jon came down for a look and Jon took over digging to the right of the dig. The ceiling centre arches to the right of the hole and everything there is mud/rocks, so we need to clear that to get an idea what is going on there as there may be wider ways into the void nearer the centre of the passage possibly, but also need to expose all the rock to the right to decide if it needs chemical persuasion or not. The hole itself is bigger, but more of a rift shape and there is lumps of churt on the walls just inside, which may break off, but currently only about 6" wide, but a couple of foot long. You can get your legs in a bit and not reach the bottom, but going in head first, you can't really see anything yet. The water in the pool above had nearly all drained away, but there had been no rain, just ice/cold weather since last week. 

Photos below are start and end of digging session (Chris's knee in it for scale!)

6/12/22 glug, glug, glug

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

2hrs

Estelle went in to dig, the grill was a good 6inches or more above water, but the pool at the end was not that much lower than last week when Mike W was digging. Estelle set to filling buckets, pool lapped the top of wellies a few times and meant wet socks... Everyone was underground as there wasn't enough to move to the surface. Still easy digging and around 10 buckets before the end, Estelle put a crowbar under a rock in the floor and there was a very audible glug, glug, glug and the pool started draining. This continued and then a hole in the floor appeared with a pool/passage below. Much of the remaining buckets were filled with the gloopy mud in the pool with a little digging around the hole. The hole itself is around 4 inches wide by 8 inches long at present. It isn't clear if when the spoil/boulders are removed we can get in without chemical persuasion, but on arm length plus crow bar, it wasn't possible to reach the water below quite. Dropping small rocks into it gave a good sploosh, so think it's got some depth. We will no doubt find out more in the coming weeks as we make the hole bigger. 

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.