Sunday 22nd October 2023

John.Cooper and Mike.Kousiounis. Setting charge in holes drilled by John mid week. All went off fine. No sign of any newts in the tunnel. 1 hour. Mike.

Saturday 21st October 2023

Pete Hann, Jude and Adrian Vanderplank, Nigel Graham as surface support.

All down the entrance shaft to firstly look at Johns drilled shot holes, (Very nice!)

Then on down into the original dig, a couple of times there seemed to be a strange grunting noise particularly in the more snug sections, strange?

Pete was impressed with the bedding chambers and thought they could be quite photogenic. We went to both ends, but not the very ends and I missed the way into Tooth dig, and found myself looking at a small bucket and rope and an even smaller hole and thinking if they’ve gone through that I’m seriously impressed. A steady trip out, looking for draughts and anything else which might be of interest. Adrian.

PS from John Cooper. When Pete returned the key he said "Don't ever give me that again!"

Thursday 19th October 2023

John Cooper. Went to drill some holes in the bottom. 6 holes 300 – 500mm deep ready for Mike on Sunday. 1 hour. John.

Wednesday 18th October 2023

Mike Kushy, John Cooper and Dave Morrison (Tuska). Clearing out bang spoil, clearing the tunnel and bringing the builders ladder out. Some suspect rocks left in place, not sure about pulling the smaller rock out as it had alot of resistance and decided to cement up to provide some support. 2 hours. Good draught. Mike.

Spoil to clear. Photo MK.

More spoil (looking horizontally). Photo MK.

After clearing. Photo MK.

Cement/building work. Photo MK.

Plan for next stage. Photo MK.

 

Yellow + blocks questionable and shouldn't be touched. Red X ones for drilling and blasting.

Sunday 15th October 2023

AM: Mike Kushy and Dave Morrison (Tuska). Banging the holes drilled by John Cooper mid week. Really good holes to widen out the bottom.

PM: Mike Kushy, Tuska and John Cooper. Cleared the debris from the morning. Drilled 6 holes at 900mm then set off.

Debris after 1st bang Photo MK.

Bottom cleared. Photo MK.

Weird little insect. Photo MK.