Saturday, 17 February 2024

Saturday 17th February 2024

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Carried across a new bag of cement. John pointed out yesterday’s cementing so Adrian and Pete could avoid it. Capping kit taken in and used by Adrian breaking up boulders. One mix of cement done and taken down for use by Pete then John was despatched to get his drill and more caps. Lots more breaking up boulders by Adrian as well as clatch deposited behind retaining walls. Another mix of cement then done before calling it a day. No sand left, only stone dust in 1 dumpy bag. Third of a bag of cement left. Nigel got down the ladder and back up it again but didn’t get off the bottom. A couple of boulders hauled out to show willing, however plenty of space to build them into support walls. 4½ hours.John.

Loose blocks on the floor and far side capped. Some larger boulders in the floor also capped. Cementing on the near side with the intention of building a pillar to support the rock in the roof. Also infilling gaps on the left hand side with rocks and cement. Adrian.

Friday, 16 February 2024

Friday 16th February 2024

Mike Kushy and John Cooper.

MK started at 11am, took in drill and used the batteries taking apart the big boulder, still some of it left over. Buckets of clatch were filled and emptied behind the retaining wall. At 13.30 JC arrived and came down the bottom to help move a few dozen more buckets of clatch. Cement mixes were then made. 6 decent buckets were used in total, John filling some gaps higher up and MK working on stabilising the bottom. A decent pillar was built up to an overhanging boulder and a step was created to ease getting in and out of the very bottom. Interesting holes appearing at the bottom, one deep hole in the floor and a few straight ahead. 3 big blocks to dismantle and we could be into a new area. Finished at 16.00. 5 hours for me, Mike.

MK's YouTube Video from today

The dig face. Photo MK.