Wednesday 27th December 2023

Mike Kushy and Sam Hill. Started with MK on surface whilst SH filled buckets from the horizontal tunnel. After an hour or so this was all clear, so we moved on down to the dig face. SH worked the point and many buckets of clatch were pulled out. These either went into the deep hole near the step down or behind the retaining wall (which seems to slope off into the deep hole anyway). Plug and feather work to remove larger boulders and an interesting few minutes watching Sam poke some large boulders out of the ceiling headed down cave. Most rocks have been taken up cave and stashed in the horizontal tunnel, now full again. Several larger blocks are to the side in the lower chamber and will need breaking up more. After swapping a few times at the front some large rocks were pulled out of the floor revealing a deep, narrow, solid, rift with a very cool draught coming out. Too narrow to fit down but hopefully working back in and under the chamber there will be bigger space. At least at the current sharp end it feels very solid and safe. Out of batteries we decided to retire without clearing the horizontal tunnel. With a decent team of at least 5, 6 would be ideal, the stuff to come out could be done in one. Otherwise it can be done between 2 (3 ideal) with some staging. It would be nice to bring all the loose out rather than filling up other voids in the floor. 3 small buckets in the cave at the moment but we could do with another 3 and a short length (6-7m) of rope to drag up from the rift. Some cement work would also be ideal around the chamber area, but all in all not too bad. 5 hours, Mike.

Sam at the sharp end sat above the rift. Photo MK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The continuing bedding behind Sam,about half a foot gap from top to bottom. Photo MK.

The vertical rift below Sam, about half a foot wide. Photo MK.

Saturday 23rd December 2023

Mike Kushy, Sam Hill and Dave Morrison (Tuska). We started with MK at the dig face, SH at the bottom of the shaft and DM on the surface. Small buckets were passed up to fill the bigger bucket on the winch rope. Cleared out some big blocks and lots of loose clatch, it certainly looks different now. SH went to the front for a while. Around 1pm we stopped for mince pies, kindly supplied by DM. DM then had to leave and the rest of us went to clear and break up more big boulders, these were put into the horizontal tunnel along with several small buckets of clatch, which needs clearing. SH then went to surface to mix up 3 bags of sand worth of cement. This was used to stabilise all the loose boulders opposite the bedding wall. The wall is stepping out as we go further down making digging straight down from the shaft an unlikely proposition. Nice draught. 5 1/2 hours. Mike. 

Before today's clearing. Photo MK.

SH at the dig face. Photo MK.

After clearing, and cementing the boulders on the left

 

Proposed line, showing that if we follow the open bedding at this height we're likely to end up in the boulder filled rift. Mike.

Sunday 17th December 2023

Later. Alex Hannam, Sam Hill, Callum Simmonds . Spent 2 hours breaking up boulders and removing spoil from the floor. Callum started digging then I took over towards the end. We've left the left part of the floor as you step in for now as not sure if it's structural. Opened it up a lot and now got 3 or 4 possible ways on in each corner almost. Hard to tell which way to go other than down for now. Floor needs dropping a lot more. Alex was up top on the winch. Sam.

Bottom. Photo SH.

Bottom. Photo. SH.

Sunday 17th December 2023

After his usual Sunday morning trip down Swildon's Hole John Cooper went across and watched the tidying up, after the bottom of the ladder had been fixed. John.

Looking down at bottom ladder section 😲

Bottom of ladder 😬

Looking up the entrance shaft 😏

Wednesday 13th December 2023

John Cooper,  Mike Kousiounis (Kushy). Cleared spoil, and did a lot of cementing (4 bags of sand!). No sand left on site, small amount of cement and small amount of water. All need topping up now. 4 hours.

Props. Photo MK>

Saturday 9th December 2023

Christmas Elves broke into W.R. & hung a new 10ft ladder section, bolted to the bottom of the  Galv ladder.

Thursday 7th December 2023

Broke up all the bigger rocks left in horizontal passage by me and Sam last night. All of these are now cleared to the surface. Worked on opening up the shaft ready for the next section of ladder. Next step is to put a scaff bar brace across to the boulder that looks like it's moving then cement up more. This will allow us to safely clear the build of of loose stuff. Mike.

Moving boulder that needs bracing. Photo MK.

One hole in the floor (1/2ft wide). Photo MK.

Another horizontal hole looking the opposite direction. Photo MK.

Wednesday 6th December 2023

Sam Hill started about 40 minutes before me, I arrived at 6.15pm. Sam had spent the time breaking up the bigger rocks that have been stacking up in the horizontal tunnel. Just as I arrived Sam had finished breaking up the last rock, so we cleared all the debris. After this Sam went to the bottom of the shaft and cleared out as much loose as possible, 2 big rocks stopped further progress. I joined Sam down the bottom and we plug and feather the big boulders to manageable sizes. There was enough room then for Sam to get in lower and fish out some bigger rocks, all of this has been stashed in the horizontal tunnel ready for downsizing and clearing. Lots of loose stuff to clear at the very bottom and a deep hole off to one side. Upon leaving went to make a video and had realise one boulder had dropped a considerable amount since leaving the bottom area. Alot more stabilising to do yet. Good inwards draught. 3 3/4 hours. Mike K

The boulders we're working through. Photo MK.

The boulder that started dropping, notice the gap between the boulder and cement. There was no gap at the beginning of tonight's session. Photo MK.