Sunday 8th November 2026

Ed Ford, Sam Hill, Meghan Hughes, Mike Kushy and Evan Stokes. We all got into the cave for 1100. Bag of sand each and a drill down to TPC. MH and ES first time in, so they went through to MHH and brought back whatever tools they could find in there. Back in TPC SH, MH and ES went to attack the higher dig. EF and MK took on the lower dig.

At the lower dig we both looked into the ongoing passage for a while humming and harring about whether to build straight away or push a bit, we decided to push on a bit and gained roughly 4m. At the bottom it seems everything wants to head back under the main trunk and towards MHH above, this is certainly where most of the draught is coming from. Lots of blocks in the way though. We didn't want to get ahead of ourselves so we decided to do that building. An extra scaffold bar was braced across the main trunk and 4 big mixes used up. 1 drum of cement in cave, 2x dust bags and 1 building sand. We all got back to the cars for 1630. Mike.

Scaff Dig. Photo MK.

Scaff Dig. Photo MK.

SH, ES And ME left the others pushing the scaff dig and started on the top dig. ES and ME took turns digging the slop out of the now soggy dig face (getting deja vu here) and passing back up to SH who emptied them. After a while this was deemed a bit to desperate so enlargement of the hole and wall building was done. Following this we set to improving the haul for the dig. So SH showed the other two how to P&F and in no time we had moved a lot of rock and now have a smooth sloped ready for a drag tray and rope. Future digging will be much easy now. ES & ME then left to surface and SH took on water collecting for the concrete factory opposite. Water is very much still flowing as it doesn't back up to much. Sam.

Higher Dig. Photo MK.

Higher Dig. Photo MK.

Wednesday 4th November 2026

Freya Bearn, Oli Hill, Sam Hill, Stuart Jellis and Alex Randall met at the car park at 6pm. Taking only a drill down we got to work at the dig hauling the backlog of rock out whilst SH down sized the large boulder in the floor. Then FB took over clearing loose material until another large boulder was met. This proved to be very stubborn and it took both FB and AR having a go to break it. OH and SJ then took a turn at the end and after some more loose material was removed it was possible to get under the right hand arch. Under the arch you can slide a few body lengths in to where there's a few boulders blocking the way, but space can be seen beyond. It's looking a lot more stable as well between the bedding. There's gonna need to be a good session of cementing to secure the under side of the choke and enlarge the hole down before pushing the end. A good draught was coming out from the end as well. Once we all had a look at the new bit it was half 8 so we headed for the surface getting out just before 9. 3hrs underground for us. Sam.

Right hand arch. Photo SH.

Support still needed. Photo SH.

Saturday 31st October 2026

Ed Ford and Mike Kushy, got into the cave for 1030. Armed with 2 drills and lots of batteries, we only ended up using 1.5 batteries out of 5. EF took point first and got to work filling smaller buckets with clatch, which were sent up to MK to fill in behind the retaining wall. Many hours doing this and breaking down rock and shifting it, the retaining wall needs building higher. First one hole was opened up, looking down slope it is on the left. We managed to squeeze down beyond the restriction and you can see a continuation but full of mud choke. It needs opening up a lot though to progress. Because of the limited immediate stacking space we decided instead to investigate down to the right looking downslope. In my opinion this looks like the better way to go and doesn't seem to directly connect with the dig opposite. Unfortunately we couldn't get into it as clearing seemed to make a few rocks higher up start tumbling. Upon this we decided it may be best to start doing some building to allow safer access next trip (there's only one rock in the way). As EF quoted 'it's all starting to look a bit Eastwatery down there'. After 3 big mixes were used we went to look at the Higher Dig. This has seemed to clear itself since Wednesday evening and a good volume of water was flowing away down the small drainage hole. Back to the cars for 1630. Lower Dig was draughting out very well, draught increasing with more cleared, the higher dig seemed to be pulling air in. Mike.

TPC Higher Dig. Photo MK.

Red = Left hand Dig. Blue = Right window. Photo MK.

Left hand dig. Video MK.

Right window. Video MK.

Wednesday 28th October 2026

Sam Hill, Oli Hill, Stuart Jellis, Mike Kushy and Alex Randall.

MK headed down with drill around 1730. Once he got to TPC 2 big mixes of cement were made and used building a wall at the top end of the Lower Dig in TPC. The rest of the team showed up together just after 1800. OH, SJ and AR had a go at the Higher Dig whilst SH and MK continued work at the lower dig. SH used the drill to downsize rock, which was then passed up to MK. Smaller spoil was put behind the newly built wall and larger, building type, blocks have been stashed at the bottom of the scaffold. Looking down the passage at Lower Dig a hole has opened up in the floor on the right and the draught increased the more this was cleared. A scaffold bar was braced across the passage and at the end we started building a base to lower the risk of a rock slide. Back in TPC we met the others who looked surprisingly wet and muddy but jovial. Back to the cars for just before 2100. Mike.

Retaining wall (Up dip). Photo MK.

Down dip. Photo MK.

While SH and MK were at the lower dig OH, AR and SJ headed to the higher dig in Tea Party Chamber. Finding a steady drip of water now flowing into the dig we started by enlarging the passage downwards to the low arch of rock seen at the bottom of the dig. In rotations we slowly enlarged this with the sediment slowly becoming wetter and more squalid. OH used the large crowbar to poke at the hole in the base of the dig with the hopes of making it drain away. A lot of loud gurgling noises followed and some of the water drained. After roughly another 30 minutes of digging downwards the hole became blocked and could no longer be found. SJ had one last go at digging in the now very wet dig before we called it a night. Hopefully the water will be able to drain away given time. Still following the right hand wall with a solid ceiling above and the floor continuing to drop away. Oli.

Perhaps also to note that it was possible to hammer the crowbar into the mud at the base of the dig which is slightly to the right of the drain hole. There’s stuff there that could be removed but it’s really restricted and awkward to access. Stuart.

Wednesday 14th October 2026

Martin Grass, Mike Kushy, Stuart McManus, Derek Sanderson and Terry Walker. Mainly to show some core members of MCR the cave and get some photos. Got into the cave for 1100 and took the old route in. Once at TPC photos were taken and we cleared several buckets from the scaff dig. We came out the newer route through the boulder rift. Back to the cars for 1330. After a bit of lunch MK went back into the cave and to The Pool Of Tears dig with a drill and 2 batteries. Good progress made and the spoil at the sharp end is now dry and sandy. Another small dam was built with the broken down rock and a good sessions worth of mud tipped into it ready to clear. Out of the cave for 1630. Mike.

P.S. Derek's 83rd birthday next week!!! He seemed to fare better coming out than any of us.

Pool of Tears Dig. Photo MK.

From further away. Photo MK.