25/9/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, David Walker, Mike Moxon, Jeff Broom (MCG)

2hrs

Since the end collapse last week where the boulder came out of the roof and also a large amount of spoil, we took a step back and focused on clearing everything from the roof about 5m from the end onwards. A large amount was brought down and cleared, 15 skips each and it’s getting to be really hard work with only 6, so need to do some recruitment or look to change our processes on how we dig a bit. Getting quite wet in the spoil area now and more bagging needed and we need to plan to raise the ladder soon. What looked like a boulder in the roof, is looking more like a flake of roof now and above where the big boulder had come out a few weeks back, looks to have been a bit of one of those aven type things going on as quite a lot of roof spoil there, but goes back to normal before and after. Next week or two still need to focus on the roof area. Dave agreed to collect more bags from Cheddar Ales, so thank you Cheddar Ales yet again.

19/9/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, David Walker, Jonathan Riley, Mike Moxon, Kriss Cawson (MCG), Mark Denning, Pete Hellier, Adrian Miles (BEC), Wayne (WCC)

2hrs

Moved to a Wednesday evening this week as there was an MCR meeting Tues and generally we wouldn’t have made it worthwhile, but Wednesday collected us a few new faces, which was useful to move a lot of spoil rapidly and bag quite a bit too. The 4 that hadn’t visited before headed into the upper series to have a look around it before heading into the digging section. Estelle was doing some filming for a Hidden earth video for the Mendip Roundup. Mark started digging first until he ran out of steam and then James took over and dug 10 skips, then Pete, Adrian and Wayne had a turn before Kriss went in as the last digger. During the evening there had been a bit of dig fever going on and tunnelling rather than bringing everything down from the roof and also clearing the floor out and a large boulder fell out of the roof while Kriss was digging, briefly trapping him, but he was uninjured thankfully. We brought down a load of the roof mud before exiting the dig and next session will be a major clearing session.

Video from tonight - https://youtu.be/j6HTny9XvEc

11/9/18

report from Mike Moxon
Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey
Whilst I embedded 3 pipes in the sack wall Duncan recalibrated the distoX, then we surveyed to the end from a point on the boulder. Meanwhile Stu drilled the fallen blocks & removed the aerial runway from the far wall. At the end I moved the tools a bit further back, so they aren't under the mud in roof. Several frogs had emerged in the rain, but we left them down the hole. First night of the darts season when we got to the Waldegrave ( but still managed to leave 5 mins before the chips)

4/9/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, David Walker, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Bit lean on numbers tonight, but Stu went in first to dig as he hadn’t for a while – got to just before the end and the boulder we had thought was roof was suspended and of course Stu hadn’t seen the end for a while, so didn’t immediately twig that boulder had moved since last week! Estelle noticed though and stopped Stu before he got to it and then Stu used the bar and very easily made it drop to the floor, where he set to starting to break it up a little before climbing over it and continuing digging the end. The rest of us had a good go at breaking bits off it when we were the hauling person and reduced it considerably over the course of the night. It was very calcited inside and fractured easily into gravel! Stu did dig for much of the night as the rest of the working spots are quite hard work, so we did what we could on hauling and exiting the spoil. Plan for next week when we know reduced numbers is to survey if possible and look to reduce the boulder further, possibly chemically if needed and also to remove some bits of rock from the haul path that are making it flow less easily. Capping probably best or plug & feathers.

28/8/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley, Claire Havard, Stu Lindsay, Chris Barrington (MCG)

2.5hrs

Good digging session, James then Dave in first, then Claire, followed by Estelle, Jon, Mike and Chris – all on 10 buckets each, made for a good session. All bagged and looking close to being ready to raise the ladder soon. Need more digging bags soon too. Dig is still easy digging of mostly clays and mud with a few rocks in there too.

21/8/18

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, Claire Havard, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Good digging session with plenty of spoil brought out. Cave still retaining similar size passage, although getting more and more rock out of the floor and at one point we could dig the bar into what felt like a space, but after more digging, it appears it was just looser spoil between the rocks. Dave and Jon dug first and then Duncan took over, then Estelle, followed by Mike and Claire, most of us doing 14 each. Lots of it bagged and the wall is getting quite formidable! At the end of the digging session, Mike started hitting at a rock in the roof, which appears to be dolomitic conglomerate and he had broken it up a bit just as we finished.

14/8/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Claire Havard, Dave Walker

2.5hrs

Another good digging session despite the low numbers tonight with other commitments. Did some in 2 stages and others as hard work for the top team, but everyone had a good workout and the dig face is still looking good!

7/8/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey, Claire Havard

2.5 hours

Good digging session, lots of buckets dug out of the cave and lots of bagging done, the bag wall is looking impressive now and probably don’t need to bag much more for a while! End still going down and forwards and maintaining the height and width for the most part. Getting a few reasonable sized rocks from the dig face too.

31/7/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, David Walker, Duncan Simey, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Stu didn’t dig, but the rest of us had around 10 buckets and a few rocks. Still going down well, more rock at the bottom and mostly easy digging. As 7 we got to fill some bags. Couple of frogs and toads rescued.

24/7/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, David Walker, Duncan Simey, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Good session, all 6 of us had a dig. New skip at the bottom thanks to Jon and experimenting with using old bucket bases in the buckets to help with emptying. Few toads rescued again.

17/7/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, Jonathan Riley, David Walker, Alex Gee, Tom Elliot, Sarah Payne

2.5hrs

Good to have some fresh visitors, none had seen the current area we were digging. Rescued yet another baby bunny before Alex, followed by Duncan, Dave, Tom, Jon and Sarah, all had a digging session. Sarah and Tom did the round trip into the upper series as well. 5 new purple skips into circulation. Bottom digging skip is knackered and needs replacing, have brought out to dry it and the ropes out, rescued a frog and a toad also. Found remains of 2 more dead bunnies in the bottom dig. Mike has removed all the additional kit we’d left in there for hauling and cleared out the top dig and removed the washing line as it’s not needed and getting a bit low now!

10/7/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Dave Walker, Fran Campbell

2.5hrs

Started with 4 of us, hard work and had to stage it with digger filling all 9 buckets and then all coming up to top section to drag out and empty. Once Fran arrived, we managed to spread out enough to stagger all of it – damned hard work with 5 still… Lots of rock removed too as well as the 9 buckets each.

Need to look to replace the drag skips, get more buckets and also take a knife down so we can change one of the ropes.

3/7/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, David Walker, Jonathan Riley

2.5hrs

One baby bunny caught, other managed to escape and disappear sadly. Several toads rescued too. Another good digging session and the rock removed from passage so the bottom skip goes further now making it easier at that end. Still going down nicely, getting a few more larger rocks in the lower spoil.

26/6/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, David Walker, Jonathan Riley

2.5hrs

Couple of toads to rescue as usual for this time of year. Good digging session, steadily going down, started to remove a lump of rock stopping the 2^nd skip from going further and broke up remains of a another rock to come out. 

19/6/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mike Waterworth, Jonathan Riley, David Walker

2hrs

With a few people away, it was good to have Mike W back this week to make up the 6 meaning it wasn’t too hard to dig! Mike took the front for the first 15-20 skips, then Estelle took over, then Dave, followed by Mike M and Jon. James still suffering shoulder problems and didn’t want to dig. Changed the top rope on the bottom skip for a nicely knotted one, which made it a lot easier, need a knife for the other end as a pair of scissors isn’t robust enough. A good sized rock had come out of the wall on the left hand side since the last session, but that was broken up by Mike M and came to surface. Quite a lot of rock coming out at floor level now, so hopefully that’s a good sign.

11/6/18 - ladder lifting

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

2hrs 5mins

Arrived to find 5 baby bunnies hiding around the skips, these were soon put in a digging bag as they were going to leap from the bucket and then exited from the cave and released away from the entrances. No idea where the mum went and hopefully they are old enough to thrive on their own. Also rescued 3 toads tonight.

Good digging session, quite dry digging and filled a good number of bags to raise the ladder buy another couple of feet so it’s in a really comfortable position now. Plenty of spoil dumping space around it. Dig at the end still heading slowly on and down in same sort of dimensions. Need to replace the ropes on the bottom skips for decent knotted ropes. At the end of the session lifted the ladder.

5/6/18

Estelle Sandford, Duncan Simey, Mike Moxon, Martin Cross, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell.

2.5hrs

Good digging session, my back was playing up so only hauled for the evening, but lots of bags filled and at the end of the digging session, raised the ladder by another layer of bags. At the start of digging found a dead pigeon in the dig, looked like a sparrowhawk had given it a beating and it hid in the dig (and shat everywhere…)

29/5/18

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, Jonathan Riley, David Walker

2.5hrs

Very hard work… found a dead baby bunny at the top which we buried. Took a skip down to the bottom to try and make the bottom work easier. The poor person with the steps and the haul is hard work now, but the rest is easier! All had a dig during the evening. Still going nicely down although right hand wall has a curve going on currently.

22/5/18 back at the end digging

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, David Walker, Jonathan Riley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey

2.5hrs

Another good session, finally digging the end again after clearing the last of the infill from the winter floods. Found a baby bunny at the end, sadly we couldn’t catch it so it’s likely to meet its demise. More toads rescued.

15/5/18

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, Jonathan Riley, Martin Cross

2hrs

Still clearing the debris from winter flooding, last of it hopefully tonight so first digger in next week should be digging the end.

8/5/18

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey

2hrs

Investigated the end of the dig first and it is dry enough to access and dig, but there is a lot of slumped in spoil to clear before we can start digging again. Estelle started digging the steps until tired and then swapped out so Jon could dig. We found we needed 3 in the cave ideally, so Mike on the outside was having a hard time with having to haul and empty. Swapped again for Duncan for a while and then Mike at the end. We definitely need a minimum of 5, preferably 6 or 7 next week. Hopefully we’ll be able to start digging the end before the end of the next session.

24/4/18

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

2hrs

Dave remembered a knife so got to cutting the skip to fit the buckets. Started on the mission of clearing out the slumped in from the end of the railway. Got part way down the steps by the end of the night taking it in turns to dig. Still at least another 1-2 sessions before we’ll be at the end, assuming the water levels drop any time soon…

17/4/18

from Mike Moxon - him, Stu, Dave & Jon present.

Level had dropped again to about an inch on the shelf where we left the empty bags, so I dug all 5 lots of them out & stacked wet mud on right of passage to come out later. Stu, Dave & Jon worked on supporting the rails.

3/4/18 water levels back up, but railway work commences

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay, David Walker, Duncan Simey

2hrs

having made the decision last week that we need to give the railway a go and remove the aerial runway, that was the plan for this evening. Armed with tools and capping kit, the railway was lowered in from the top. The dig was looked at for water levels and it's back up above the step down again, probably back to nearly the highest we've seen it as it had done nothing but rain for the last few days - suspect we're a good month away from getting back into digging the end, but there is quite a bit of clearing and tidying up we can be getting on with in the meantime.

Aerial runway removed, Stu set to work dealing with the stubborn hump of rock in the middle, around 8-10 caps later and it was relatively flat. The railway was laid out and we'll look to get some bags under it to make it more stable as we fill some. Need more brewery bags. Headed to pub after. Also removed some frogs/toads and newts from the big hole and also the one with the stemples in.

27/3/18 water levels dropping a little...

Estelle Sandford,  Jonathan Riley, David Walker.

2hrs

went to have a look at the state of the water levels and see what maintenance we need to do also. There has been some collapse at the hedge end of the shaft and also under the opposite end, including one end of the washing line being ripped out, including it's rock that it was bolted to. We took a look in the dig and it was about 10m from the end and possible to see the end wall. There was a dead baby rabbit in the water, which we removed. There is a lot of mud washed/slumped in from where it's been flooded and the steps are pretty much gone, so we do need to do quite a bit of clearing. Looked in the other dig and that has also slumped quite a bit, found another baby rabbit dead in the water there. Removed that too and also there was one near the entrance to the main dig dead. Removed 10 toads and 2 newts with an additional newt from the stempled hole. With the washing line down, we collected the bags up and those that were clean are bagged up ready for use. Those still dirty put back on the other ladder and remaining section of line. Where the collapse by the hedge end is, we dug the ladder out and also the two skips that had been buried by it. One is trash and the other may be of use. Also did some wall building with the additional rock that had come down. Decision made that next week we'll remove the aerial runway and replace it with the railway Stu made ages back.

4/3/18 still flooded...

Dave Walker checked again today and the dig is still flooded. With the snow melt and more rain on the radar, i guess it may well remain flooded for a little while longer yet... 

28/1/18 still flooded...

Dave Walker had gone across on the 14/1/18 to check and it was slightly lower than previous weeks, but still flooded. 

28/1/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley went to check dig

Dig still flooded, didn't need to go down the ladder really to check as could see the levels of the bottom dig... Estelle did go down to check though as wanted to see how far it might have come up. The buckets at the entrance to the top dig haven't moved or got water in, so it hasn't reached there at all. I reckon judging by the walls though that it's been about a metre higher than it is now. What is more concerning is that there has been a slump below the hedge and you can see quite a lot of roots and not very much of one of the ladders below that had bags hanging on it as it's a bit buried! 

7/1/18 still underwater...

Estelle Sandford

10mins

A quick trip down to see where the water levels were at. They have risen by a good foot or more and possibly were more judging by the wet/dry looking patch on the rock – currently at top step level of the stepped bit. We’ve had a bit of a collapse of white stuff at the end of the aerial runway section. I didn’t drop down any further than sitting on the ledge by the aerial runway to take photo. Reckon at least a week of dry weather likely to be needed to drain this… 

NYE flood! 31/12/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Miri Simey, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley and Mike Moxon turned up just as we were leaving.

30mins

Arrived and got kitted and headed down to be met with a completely flooded dig thanks to the very heavy rains in the last week or two. Old bottom dig had about 7ft head of water and main dig, about 20m of passage is submerged and it’s up to the 2^nd step on the steeper slope… May take a day or two to clear with the horrendous weather forecast.

12/12/17

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

2.5hrs

full on session of 15 buckets each so 90 done total. Quite wet outside, but good progress. Need more people next time so we can fill some brewery bags around the bottom of the ladder. 

5/12/17

 we had expected something much smaller, not a deep shaft and a fairly comfortable-sized passageVelma Aho, Mika Ahvenniemi, Jukka Erik Palm, Pasi Suominen, Richard Sore, Miri Simey, Duncan Simey, Dave Walker, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley

A visiting group of four Finns joined the dig. We were all very impressed by it, as to dig in. Each of us took turns to dig 6 buckets' worth, and some of us got so into it they didn't want to stop. Ferrying buckets was less fun, but greatly helped by the aerial tramway. All in all a surprisingly entertaining evening; we're happy we got to see the dig and make it that tiny bit bigger!

Words from Velma Aho

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14/11/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Brewery bags obtained – thanks to Miri for collecting and Jem for supplying.

A productive engineering evening. Put up bolts and line for washing/drying line for the bags on a zigzag, Stu repaired the aerial runway, 20 buckets were filled to fill the brewery bags to fill in the hole to move the ladder and the ladder was raised by about 2ft and retied into place. Hopefully numbers permitting, we can get back to digging with buckets again next week and leave the bags to wash/dry longer! 

7/11/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Simey

2hrs 15mins

Dave called in sick last minute so we were left with 5. Decided to give it a go with bucket relay rather than using the bags as they are minging! It was hard effort moving the buckets between 5 of us, but we dug 50 out (10 each) and swapped places around to wear ourselves out equally on each location. Dig seems drier and quite a lot of smallish boulders are coming out. Floor still looking interesting and there is quite a bit of roof mud we ought to bring down… Engineering works planned for next week assuming we can obtain brewery bags. 

31/10/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Andrew McLeod, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Martin Cross (MCG)

2.5hrs

10 buckets each so total of 70ish, good fast digging and lots of spoil cleared, really need to look at some engineering works soon, aerial runway is now knackered until repaired and we need to raise the ladder soon and a washing/drying line for bags would be really useful! 

24/10/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley

2hrs 15mins

Good session of digging, annoyingly having to use bags as not enough of us to use the buckets. The bags are getting really sticky and heavy, we need to create a washing/drying line for them or recruit more people to make sure we have at least 6 each time! We all did around 10 bags each, a few rocks came out also. We will need to plan in a bit of a ladder lifting evening soon but need to get some more brewery bags before then to use to fill the hole with. 

17/10/17

James Begley, Duncan Simey, Miri Simey, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley, Simon Flower
2.5hrs
filled lots of buckets each after emptying the bags out at the start from last week. 

10/10/17

Blog from Duncan Simey

Attended by Jon, Dave, Stu and I - All last week's bags were emptied and packed back up to go straight back down the dig. We managed to get 44 filled bags back to the start of the ropeway. One more person would have made a heck of a difference

Passage is obstinately still going straight on

3/10/17

Blog by Duncan Simey
Last night was James, Jon, Dave, Stu and myself and we filled nearly 50 bags and stacked them in the entrance. They will need emptying next time.
Opinion is split about what the passage is doing. James thinks it might be about to turn to the right, Jon points out that it is still in a dead straight line. I wonder if it is starting to twist from an upright passage to being off-vertical. Either way, it is still going along the joint between the grey and red rock and the air at the dig face was mist free. There was a trickle of water in the passage last night which was seeping in from the full length of the joint on the left hand side and not from the entrance. It's all looking very promising.

27/9/17

Blog from Duncan Simey

Good session last night - James, Mike, Jon, Dave, Leoni and myself.

Tidied last weeks digging. Approx 24 bags hauled from storage at the start of the ropeway and approx 12 bags in a wall at the entrance. All bags are currently empty and laid out for 'cleaning'.
Approx 70 buckets removed and everybody got a turn at the dig face. About half the spoil went into sacks walling in the bottom of the ladder, just a few more and we can raise the ladder.

Most of this weeks digging concentrated on the roof, which is high enough that at one point Leoni was digging standing up. Still another session needed to clean the roof out properly.
Passage still looks like it is going straight ahead.We ought to start a betting book on how far the passage will go before it changes direction.

19/9/17

From Duncan

Tuesday night's digging was steady progress - approx 50 bags dug between 4 of us. Half were taken to the surface and half are stacked at the start of the aerial ropeway. The tube is still going straight ahead. Only minor glitch was Stu locked himself out of his van blocking the rest of us in. We managed to squeeze our cars past (tight and slippy). Dave took it on the chin and shuttled Stu home to get a spare set of keys while Miri, Jon and I retired to the Hunters.

11/9/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth, Dave Walker, Duncan Simey

2hrs 15mins

Despite arriving just after a downpour and the hole nearest the gate taking a stream, the dig itself was quite dry. Emptying the bags from last week was quite gloopy at the spoil heap though. Stu did a bit of maintenance on the wire, and apart from Stu not wanting to dig tonight, we took it in turns and did 10-15 skips each and are still steadily moving forwards with the floor still being like there are sort of boulders there and not following the trench anymore. Think we need to continue to follow the main passage forwards for now as it’s still heading onwards with similar dimensions although drying out and the digging is definitely harder. 

6/9/17

Blog from Duncan Simey

Just five of us last night - Jon, Dave, Stu, Miri and I.
Emptied last weeks bags and brought about 40 more to the surface. Reasonable progress considering the team size :)

The two rocks in the floor just past the hole still aren't fully uncovered yet. Discussion in the pub about whether they will need banging. They aren't particularly in the way at the, so only need to move them if want to see what is underneath. We think that will depend on what we find in the metre or so of passage on the other side of the rocks.

Digging is quite a bit slower than it was. There is enough stone in the clay that the mattock is getting less effective and the clay is drier/firmer than it used to be. Colour banding in the dig face is rather beautiful.

I was loading the aerial ropeway and noticed the rear roller has a flat spot so bad the rope is actually cutting through the central pin. Front roller is badly worn but not quite so bad. Stu is on the case.

28/8/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Miri Simey, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

3.5hrs

Arrived to find Duncan had filled the place with canned smoke! Unfortunately there was very little draught tonight, despite the good signs last week, so can only assume we’ve blocked the floor hole or something else has changed below us – to stop the hole filling anymore, an empty bag was put in to block it anyway. Good session tonight though with the longer time, end is changing - no longer following the groove in the floor and changing shape and the angle of the sediment layers is more diagonal. Very little draught tonight, but with 3.5hrs digging session, quite good progress made.

22/8/17 a draught!

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

2.5hrs

A bagging session tonight as only 5 of us. A large boulder was moved by Estelle and then removed by James and Mike and this exposed a hole in the floor that started draughting a lot – can lose the crow bar in it and it looks like it is surrounded by boulders rather than the floor now, but need to expose some more before we can work out what is going on. You could feel the draught up by the inner end of the aerial runway! 

15/8/17

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

2.5hrs

6 of us can just about work it with the skips rather than resorting to bags, but it’s harder work having to take them further, but we each took it in turns to remove 15(ish) buckets from the dig. There is a large boulder we’re digging around in the floor and seems to be going down a bit as well there – suspect the boulder will need some additional persuasion of the Dr Nobel’s kind to reduce in order to get it out. Still a reasonable amount of digging around it to actually see how big it is though. Estelle removed the 2^nd of the catch boulders with hammer/bar below the aerial highway so the buckets are staying on better now too as the line has sagged a bit again. 

8/7/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Simey, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Andrew McLeod

2.5hrs

Good digging session and we tightened the wire for the aerial runway too and also filled a bunch of the new brewery bags we’d got. All bar Stu had a dig tonight and still going down slowly although lost about a foot on height at the moment at the end. Floor channel still there and a bit of an alcove off to the left. Pulling out a few larger boulders now. The spoil heap outside is slowly rising! 

1/8/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth, Luke Edwards, David Walker

2.5hrs

Really good productive digging session. Firstly moved from staging area to outside and emptied the 30 odd bags Kevin filled last week, then we set to digging using the skips this week as with 9, it gave us easy movement. Mike showed Luke around the site initially as he’d not been before and also with his geology knowledge would hopefully give us some ideas of what’s in the spoil. Stu dug first and as there was a lot of us, we did roughly 15-20 skip changeover for everyone. David went in second, then Mike W, then Luke, then Duncan. We were into 3 figures of skips, by the end, lost count though! The spoil heap is noticeably getting bigger and we’ve put another layer of bags around the base of the ladder. Needing to get some more brewery bags before next week’s session. 

25/7/17

Estelle Sandford, Jonathon Riley, Kevin Clinton, Joan Goddard, David Walker (WCC & Wells museum)

2.5hrs

Emptied the bags from last week and then got on with digging. Kevin stayed digging the face all evening and filled some 30-40 bags. David and Joan were collecting samples of the spoil to get it geologically investigated. 

18/7/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Liz Wire - Jon had car problems and didn't make it

2hrs

emptied the bags we filled last week and then Liz filled about a dozen which we brought to surface for emptying. Few baby toads to rescue too. 

11/7/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Miri Simey

2hrs

Not enough to do the full haul so a bag filling session – did 10 bags each and stacked ready for moving next week as ran out of time. Dig still looking good and heading nicely downhill following water worn passage. Toad rescue for 3 big toads that were in the spoil heap. 

27/6/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Miri Simey, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Last week Duncan, Mike and Jon filled a lot of bags from the dig and stashed them as only the 3 of them, so first job was to get them out. Duncan’s bags were massive and I think he may have learned he will lose friends (to a hernia if nothing else!) if he overfills bags again! They need to be smaller and more ‘rugby ball’ shaped rather than massive footballs to make it easier for emptying. Once emptied, digging and hauling out commenced. Estelle did all the digging tonight as we didn’t start digging until a bit later. We must be a good 10m down the slope at least now and there is a water worn channel in the floor and still getting mini-avens above. 2 large rocks removed from right hand shelf tonight as well. Usual quality of random coloured and textured spoil coming out. 

20/6/17

Duncan Simey, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley

from Mike - As we were short on numbers we filled 40 bags with mud & found another tiny aven before retiring to the Hunters'.

13/6/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, Miri Simey, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Duncan, Miri and Mike rotated through digging all evening while Stu was fettling the aerial runway and James, Estelle and Jon were hauling and emptying buckets and Jon filled bags to go around the base of the ladder to protect it from getting buried! The aerial runway takes the need for 2 extra people out, so means we can get away with 5 now. 3 below and 2 surface hauling and emptying. The base of the wall is in place, so getting some filled bags in place as a path was the next mission as the mud is still very sticky. Repaired buckets with string for handles don’t work on the runway so we need to get some more as down to 4 useable ones. Hopefully back to more regular digging again now the engineering works have been done and we’ve set up for better spoil dumping – hopefully we might find cave with space to dump stuff before we run out of space…!

6/6/17

blog post written by Mike Moxon

Duncan & I arrived before Stu & Jon, so Duncan went to look for survey points in the top passage, whilst I went to check out the main dig - turned out some of the mud had collapsed at the end of the passage, so I levered out some more & found another small aven. Once Stu & Jon had arrived they started fixing the cable & I filled the buckets from the collapse before hand over handing them back to the spoil heap. Cable fixed at both ends & first bucket run back along it, but needs more work in removing rock that gets in the way (mainly on floor). Some more of the collapse still to remove as well.

30/5/17

Blog written by Duncan Simey

Relaxed evening at Cutlers Green.
Stuart fettled the ladder to make it easier to step on and off.
Jon and Mike built the wall
Miri and I improved the rock to clay ratio in the foundations at the right hand end of the wall.
Wall building finished with a team effort getting large boulders into the foundations at the right hand end of the wall.
Last job of the day was for Stuart to measure and plan for installing the Ariel Ropeway.

22/5/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Estelle and Jon descended the ladder whilst it was held securely at the top and set to work levelling the floor out to make a good base for it while Stu and James broke down the old ladder and moved the scaff bars back with the rest of the tower from the ladder and drilled the bolt holes to retain the ladder at the top properly. Once the ladder was properly sited at the bottom, the top was secured and then all continued moving rocks and mud around at the bottom to get ready to start building a wall of bags/rocks to retain the spoil in the rest of the shaft. Noted a rock in the underhang not looking too good, but unless it decides to move itself, best left until we’ve added more mud at the bottom for it to splat onto! Next week’s session will be creating aerial runway for hauling from the bottom of the dig to make that easier!

16/5/17 New Ladder!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley

2.5hrs

New ladder! Stu had attached a bit of wood to the bottom of the section we retrieved from HLIS. He set to drilling the holes to join that to the longer section from WP. The rest of us moved the remains of the scaffold tower to by the greenhouse and then assisted Stu with bolting the sections together. Long section is in the middle and the shorter WP section at the top. It was very heavy, but we decided the best way to handle it was for Estelle to go down the bottom via the old ladder so as to help move that and guide at points where it was safe to do so! Estelle assisted lifting the bottom of the old ladder to the right to give space for the new one and the new one was lowered into place with ropes, while Estelle hid at the entrance to the dig in case any rocks came down. Once the ladder was on the floor, Estelle guided the bottom, but it was decided the old one needed to be removed to make it easier to relocate the new one into the best position. Old ladder removed, new one in position, needs some work to stabilise the bottom and build up some rocks around it as it’s above the location where the old one and there’s a hole where the old one was. The top has been temporarily tied off with ropes as bolts need to be put in place to secure it with chains, but ran out of light and time (and weather as it started to rain!) so retreated to the pub. 

3/5/17 - measuring pit and ladders

Estelle Sandford, James Begley

30mins

We have measured everything up properly now - from the ledge (allowing nothing above for safety!), the depth is 7.02m to the rocks on the floor the existing ladder is now resting on. The WP ladder is 2.37m + 3.79m = 6.15m (to the holes, so this will be the actual joined length). It's width is 27cm to the outside edges. We need to locate a 1-2m section of steel ladder from another location or if someone has a section spare – putting the feelers out around club/diggers forums to see if anything is available. We’re thinking that we would gradually fill in that side of the pit for safety as we’re seeing more and more loose rocks at the top now from ‘weathering’ and it does solve the spoil dumping issue for quite some time. The idea then being that we’d raise/shorten the ladder as required (so the section can be a loan for a short period of time!), but looking to wire/chain/bolt it at the top to fix it securely and also put a bit more safety around the top for getting onto it. 

2/5/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley

2hrs

Mike checked out a couple more bits of precarious looking rock on the hedge side and a couple of bits came down with no effort, but the worst bit visually is actually quite solid thankfully. We then set to work digging the ladder out. Initially we assumed that we’d buried just the one rung, but it appears that the spoil has slowly crept up around it and we had actually managed to bury 4 rungs. Once uncovered, which took most of the evening, we were able to raise it. 2 of us exited to the top so we could hold the ladder up with rope while Mike and Jon filled the hole back in and topped it off with large rocks to sit the ladder on for now. The bottom run and the feet are buckled and not looking good having been buried for some time, so replacing the ladder is now a matter of urgency. It is now tied off to 3 fixings at the top as it’s a bit unstable! James and Estelle agreed to pop back over Wednesday with tape measure and distoX to measure what we need to get to put the steel ladder in place. 

26/4/17

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley

2hrs

Spent the evening dismantling and removing the remainder of the scaffold tower. We need to replace the ladder as soon as possible as that is looking a little banana shaped these days and quite vulnerable without the scaffold tower. Also need to arrange to get some digging bags from the brewery. 

18/4/17

blog from Mike

Stu, Jon, Dave Lossl & Miranda Litchfield (both MCG) helped remove the top level of scaffold tower (and a bit more loose rock around that edge) before I showed our visitors around the dig & the others worked out where a winch could be placed, as well as the length of ladder required, before retiring to the Waldegrave at 9pm..

10/4/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Simey, Miri Pihlaja, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Good digging session, lots removed from the bottom – Duncan and Miri dug first and then Stu dug for the remainder of the evening. Going down nicely and still easy digging. Scaffold tower needs removing and then we need to look at best methods for spoil dumping – with the collapses on the walls far side, it’s making sense to actually fill up that half of the hole with spoil to help protect it. We also need to swap the ladder out as soon as possible. 

4/4/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Simey, Miri Pihlaja, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Before going digging, we decided to check out a rock that looked like it was getting loose near the top of the shaft to the left of the ladder as you look in. With no effort with a crow bar at arms length, a large boulder came down, hitting the scaff tower side bars quite badly and bending 5 of them. During the course of the evening whilst digging the other side and spoil dumping, the spoil dumping people reported smaller rocks coming down over that side too. All bar Stu dug tonight for around 15 skips each and dig is still progressing well and easy digging. 

27/3/17

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Simey, Miri Pihlaja

2.5hrs

Estelle went in first to dig for around 15 or so skips, still easy going, still following floor, ceiling and 2 walls and still draughting, plus still getting the array of colours out of the spoil! Jon went in next and did around the same number of skips before Duncan had a go and did his 15, then Miri’s turn and she just carried on until we stopped supplying her with empties! Dig is continuing down and still looking very interesting. 

21/3/17

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
After checking the place for surplus frogs/toads/newts and putting about a dozen in a bucket to remove later, we got on with digging the top dig. Estelle got 2 new buckets of the good type and set to work digging first. Fairly easy digging through layers of sediment and gravels, clays, etc. like usual. Still following a solid floor at the moment and have solid roof about 4ft above and about 3ft wide with solid walls. Air circulating well. Jon went in after Estelle and then Stu and Mike, all doing 15 buckets each, but Stu stuck in a sneaky one, so we got to 61! By the end of the digging the roof is going up slightly so maybe another aven? Dig continuing well forward and can lose the bar in it. 

15/3/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
1.5hrs
spent the evening removing frogs, toads and newts from all the holes, around 120 frogs and toads and about 10 newts - all relocated to the pond. Quick look at top dig found a small pool on the left, but will resume digging next week. 

21/2/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, Suvi Miri Pihlaja, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley
2hrs
Good session in the top dig, Mike went in first and dug and was followed by Duncan and then Estelle, the floor is now solid rock at the end and sloping off slightly towards the left hand wall. Both walls appear to be reasonably solid although not probed far enough to see where the gaps are yet and the last greyer boulder exposed towards the end of the evening  looks more like a boulder than floor. Going forwards is a wall about 4ft of mud/clay/sediments of many colours and textures - all fairly easy going and still following down the scalloped roof. 

14/2/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Jeremy Fry, Stu Lindsay
2.5hrs
Estelle started on bottom dig and this was soon dug to a point of conclusion that the only way forwards is to attempt to blast with a dose of Dr Nobel’s – will debate this before deciding if this is worth following. To the far end, it has closed down to rock, which does feel like it might be reduced, but hard to tell. The ‘way on’, getting narrower and narrower, is heading back under the entrance and means undermining everything and would be too dangerous to continue. Having done that, James took to the top dig and continued work in there as that does look a lot more promising and is still easy digging. After a number of skips, Stu took over digging and then the final session was Jon’s. Lots of spoil removed and continuing downwards and onwards. Bit of an issue exiting as the gate decided to fail about a metre wide and needed the key to get out! Still made it out by pub time so all ok!

7/2/17

Written by Duncan Simey - Estelle and James skiing so not around!

Productive session at Cutlers last night with Mike Moxon, Leonie, Jon, Suvi Miri Pihlaja and Stu doing electrics above ground.
The team worked in the right hand dig continuing last week's effort.
The layer of black/red/yellow clinker has largely been removed. Underneath that is approx 6 inches of bright pink bubblegum (a sod to dig out). We dug a hole through the bubblegum and hit a large flat rock surface with a trickle of water running across it. We tried to look for a join between the flat rock and the wall in case it is floor, but we ran out of time.
We also attacked the far wall of clay. The expected ceiling continuation didn't emerge. Instead, we have what could be the start of a round tube promising an easy horizontal crawl onwards.
The air was in tip top condition with no mist all evening and a noticeable constant drift towards the entrance. Breathing at floor level still looked like it was heading towards the entrance. It seems it is coming in from somewhere and is not recirculation.
Stu says the clinker is not iron - he is working out what it is.

31/1/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Suvi Miri Pihlaja, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley
2hrs
Top dig session tonight, bottom dig has a puddle in it at the moment. Jon went in first and had a dig and initially the work caused a fog, but then Jon found a little hole somewhere and the fog cleared and for the remainder of the evening there was a draught and no real fogging again. Stu in the meantime capped a boulder nearer the top that was in the way. James went in after and continued digging down, before swapping with Duncan and Miri. Lots of interesting yellows, reds and blacks in the mud, not really sure what it is, may need to seek some advice from a geologist! 

24/1/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay, Liz Wire
2hrs
Digging the top dig for a change as we had enough. Haven’t touched this since the flooding back in November so most of the first couple of digs by Estelle and Mike were clearing the spoil that had come in from the flooding before Mike and then Liz were able to continue actually digging the bottom. Some of the roof isn’t looking great since mud has washed out from between some rocks lower down and we need to investigate some stabilisation for the future. 

18/1/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Tony Massey
2hrs
Digging the bottom dig, need a rope to haul up the buckets now as too far down to pass them up, but it’s useful to have knots in the rope so not using the bolt yet. Estelle dug first, followed by Jon then Tony followed by James for the last bit. A good 8-10 ft down now and possibly hitting some more solid boulders/rock. Need to clear more out. Need to bring more rope over and a pulley. 

10/1/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
digging in the bottom hole again, still going down nicely and dig a little drier, making it easier to empty buckets a bit. Stu turned up late to cap the boulder at the top, which took 3 caps to break it up enough and then that was removed and also drilled for a bolt, so we can now look to haul up from the dig as it's getting to be too high to pass the buckets now.

3/1/17

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Fran Campbell.
2hrs
Fran slightly late and others all not available, so Estelle and Jonathan got on with digging - it was very hard work to dig and transport buckets and empty and ended up doing this in 2 stages until Fran arrived. Good digging, going down nicely, needs a boulder capped on the ledge at the top and will need a bolt soon too for hauling up from dig as it's starting to get out of reach. 

20/12/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Digging in the bottom dig, Mike started off, lots of clay & gravelly stuff coming out, continuing straight down. Estelle took over and removed a bit of rock as well. As you look into the dig, the right hand wall is closing off slightly, but appears the left hand wall is undercutting, so just keeping on digging down and removing everything! James took over for a bit until pub o clock! Said Merry Christmas to Kevin before heading to the pub. Next trip 2017!

13/12/16

James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mike Richardson, Duncan Simey

Digging bottom dig, continuing down. 

6/12/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
2hrs
Having confirmed dry enough to dig on Sunday, 3 of us digging in the lower dig. Few large boulders removed and digging gravelly corally spoil out now. Quite a reasonable sized hole - about a metre wide by 2 long going straight down pretty much with solid walls around it. James not feeling too good so didn't dig as long as usual. 

4/12/16

Estelle Sandford
1/2 hour
Estelle went down to check water levels. Top dig still had a little puddle in but had some subsidence on the way to the dig and tools mostly under water. Lower dig was driest and no sign of any subsidence. All good to dig on Tuesday. 

22/11/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
30mins
The rains had been torrential on Monday and Kevin had observed the dig so the spoil heap was 2ft underwater, so a lot of flooding and backing up. By Tuesday the digs were still very full of water, but the main spoil heap area had drained. Suspect it will take a couple of weeks of dry weather for the digs to drain. We only went down to look and take a few photos. 

15/11/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, Miri Pihlaja, Jeremy Fry, Stu Lindsay
2.5hrs
No-one made last week, so clearing rubble from bottom dig - there was a lot, the bang did good! and also digging the top dig. Now needs 5 people as it's getting quite deep. Following a good solid roof and both left and right walls are solid too. Going down steadily around a metre wide and keeping good working space in height. Bottom dig cleared well and still going fairly well straight down. 

1/11/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jeremy Fry, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Mike Richardson
2.5hours
Estelle & Stu prepared the bottom dig for a bang while the others worked on the top dig. Lots more spoil removed and the bang went off well. Will be interesting to see the damage!

25/10/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Mike Richardson, Andrew Horeckyj, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell, Jeremy Fry plus James Begley arrived late.
2.5hrs
7 of us to start and then James joined at 8ish. We split into 2 groups to dig both top and bottom digs. Bottom dig was Estelle, Jeremy and Andrew mostly and was very messy still and hard work going in and out for spoil emptying with the levels of clay trying to glue you down! Both digs made good progress and the spoil heap is getting larger and larger. Good to have so many keen and enthusiastic people there digging. 

18/10/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jeremy Fry, Mike Richardson (MCG)
2.5hrs
Gained Mike R this week and we hadn't scared Jeremy off. Mike M did the guided tour of the rest of the cave for them while Stu started digging and Estelle handling the buckets back. Soon the rest arrived from exploring and we started relaying the spoil. Mike R took over for a bit and pulled out a massive boulder and then swapped out for Jeremy who dug until pub o clock. Good session, getting deeper and still easy digging in mud/rocks. 

11/10/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jeremy Fry from Waldegrave
2.5hrs
Good digging session, lots cleared and dig getting bigger and bigger. Having met Jeremy last Friday in the Waldegrave, he experienced his first trip underground by going digging, we probably should take him caving sometime soon! He seemed to have a great time and managed to remove a pretty hefty boulder during his digging session. Mike dug first, Jeremy second and Estelle third. 

4/10/16

James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey

James to add detail... Estelle went to Brownsea Island instead and left the lads digging - think it was a bit too much hard work with only 3! 

27/9/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon
2hrs
When we arrived we decided that we'd try and move an RSJ to nearer the cave, but between 5 of us, this was still quite hard going. Kevin had provided an old trolley, which didn't look like it would take it, but was stronger than it looked. We got it across the lawn and down the slope but there is no way that will go across the field, so need to wait until Kevin is back and do it then with the digger.
Good digging session, James in first, Duncan in second and then Stu in to finish the session off. Is easy digging in mud and some water-worn rocks in the mud. The mountain of spoil heap is getting quite large now! 

6/9/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Mike set to work in the dig first and removed the two boulders in the floor, but these were too heavy for Estelle to move, so she set to trying to break them up a bit with the hammer. Noticed that another rock in the roof looked a little loose, so Mike came out and prodded a bit and brought more ceiling down. Mike did a little more digging while Estelle passed up to James and Stu the boulders that were small enough. Mike then took to beating boulders while Estelle had a dig. Mike did some then James had a go and finished them off. Dig itself is draughting well from the right, which probably links to the dig from the higher section and is digging very interesting colours of sediment layers to the level which is very squidgy on top, so probably where the water flowed. 

23/8/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Mark Denning, Kevin Clinton
2.5hrs
Mark went in and saw all the cave and digs as he'd not been here since the big hole was dug, but the rest of us didn't really go far underground as the evening was spent putting a scaffold tower ready to start work putting an RSJ above and getting a staircase put in. Scaffold tower fitted nicely around the ladder, there can't be too many digs you can fit a scaff tower in apart from Templeton!

9/8/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey

2.5hrs

Estelle was late getting there down to work, but the others got stuck in and lots of progress made on the middle of the digs. Slight draught and easy digging in the mud and rocks. Duncan B had a dig, followed by Estelle and then James. The mountain outside is getting greater!

2/8/16

Estelle Sandford, Duncan Simey, Mike Moxon, Jackie Bishop, Anya Keatley, Mike Waterworth

2hours

After Mike M had shown Jackie around as her first trip, they joined in digging and we were digging from both digs and clearing the spoil - good progress in both cases. The spoil mountain is getting higher and higher! Ladder work for new staircase had to be delayed as too much rain and it would have been dangerous working near the edge. Hopefully next week... 

26/7/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay and Mike Moxon

2.5hrs

Mike had arrived earlier and gone in on his own to the top end dig at the very top. James and Estelle arrived and Kevin showed off the new staircase he has acquired for putting in there instead of the dodgy ladder - like a stairway to heaven or something... Anyway plan for as many as possible to arrive from 6pm next week to try and install it.

Stu arrived soon after and we headed down and removed all the ceiling rocks we could between the 3 of us that were on the floor from last week's effort. Stu then set to capping the last 3 big ones that were too big to move while Estelle and James dug in the bottom hole. Mike continued to dig the other dig on his own. Estelle removed 2 large boulders from the wall in the bottom dig also. We then joined Stu and assisted clearing the remaining broken up rocks before pub called. Quick look at the end seems to be draughting from the right... Mike thought the dig he was working on at the top was draughting from the left and it's very close to this dig as the survey showed.  

19th July 16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Sarah Payne

2hrs

digging in usual middle hole, starting to get drier mud in general and still pulling out reasonable sized water worn cobbles and rocks from the floor. About 2.rds of the way through the session started to look at a rock in the roof above the dig and thought perhaps it might not be so secure, so made the decision to gently bar it and see what happened - it came down rather easily! We then decided to have a go at a few more bits of the roof that appeared to have gaps or looked like they were being held up by mud cement! Quite a lot of the roof brought down. Cleared some of it and then Mike had a final go at it and we'll have a proper look next week for safety and remove what's there. 3 large rocks need capping. 

Tuesday 12th July

Present: James Begley, Duncan Butler, Mike Moxon (?) and special guest Jon Riley.

Estelle was away with the puffins at Skomer, so it was a reduced team to go digging at Cutlers, boosted by the arrival of a guest digger, Jonathan Riley. Whilst James gave Jon a guided tour of the dig sites, the others started to clear the spoil left over from the previous weeks session at the middle dig site. James and Jon then went to the lower dig site and moved some mud and rocks, whilst the others continued to work at the middle dig site until the call of the beer at the Waldegreave Arms became too strong and we left for some refreshment.

5/7/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Claire Havard and Kevin Clinton joined us to catch up with what we'd been doing.

2hrs

Claire's first visit so lifelined her down the ladder before showing her the digs and then letting her explore the top bit with Kevin who had been away for a few months and we've made a lot of progress on the lower digs, although he's still keen the top digs look interesting. The draught of the middle dig was good again and that is what makes it most interesting. James dug for a while then Claire had a go then we gave up and went to the pub.