Thursday 25th May 2023

John Cooper and Mike Kousiounis. Tooth Dig. Two drills taken in. Started off with Mike passing rocks back for me to stack above my head. Then I used my drill enlarging the squeeze from the far side, but not very effective. Mike used his more effectively breaking up rock at the end. When I came to swap my battery I discovered it wasn’t charged. Packed up then moved all the rocks from Mike back to the alcove. As I was climbing up Boulder Rift Courtenay James was coming in. He went on down to join Mike. 2½ hours for me. John

Mike Kousiounis, John Cooper and Courtenay James. JC and I took a drill in each. Cleared the small chamber before the corner. Then cleared some back from the corner to the bottom of the climb. JC worked on the squeeze over the slab some more whilst MK worked at the sharp end. The boulder at the end is tough work, but at the end I was able to reach my helmet over the edge but not enough room to squeeze my head through for a view, next session hopefully. JC cleared some of the spoil back from the end into the alcove,  left around 3ish and met CJ on the way in. CJ then joined me and he cleared some of the alcove back. Could do with clearing the alcove out fully. The most prominent and very cool draught was clearly coming from the alcove today. Interestingly it was being drawn into the floor of the current sharp end before heading up into the bedding rift above. 5hours. Mike.

Sunday 21st May 2023

Michael Kousiounis and Andy Thompson. Tooth dig. Took both drills in. Cleared all of the alcove out to the bottom of the climb/chamber, some was left in the corner area. AT then went to work on rock at the end of the tunnel whilst MK worked on the squeeze over the slab, a good chunk was removed from the slab and should be easier to break up next time. Rocks were cleared back from the sharp end into the alcove and this is now nearly full up again. Should be enough space for one more session though. The end is draughting. 5 hours. Mike.

Andy at the end of the bedding tunnel, Tooth Dig

Thursday 18th May 2023

John Cooper and Mike Kousiounis. Tooth Dig. Two drills taken in. Started off with Mike passing rocks back for me to stack above my head. Then I used my drill enlarging the squeeze from the far side, but not very effective. Mike used his much more effectively breaking up boulders at the end. Every so often I’d stop what I was doing and move Mike’s rocks back to the alcove so he could get out. After a couple of hours I gave Mike my remaining battery to finish off whilst I went out. Mike followed an hour later. No sound of running water today. 2½ hours for me. John Cooper

Cleared the corner back to the dumping grounds. We then moved forwards, John worked on the squeeze over the slab whilst I worked on the big block ahead. This is all now broken up as well as some other large rocks near the floor, a bit of forwards progress was made too. The alcove is totally full and there's still rocks to clear back from the dig face, a big clear back is the first thing to do next visit. The far end isn't looking so intriguing anymore but it's worth pushing on to the solid wall ahead. The sand spoil from the alcove could go in here if the end of the dig craps out. Strong draught today that seems to be emanating from the floor somewhere. No sound of water apart from some dripping. Could feel the quarry set off their charges. 3 1/2 hours. Mike.

Sunday 14th May 2023

Andrew Thompson and François Tollemer. Digging at bottom of Boulder Rift. Very nice hole and a sound of water, so it sounds good.

François

François Tollemer, Andy Thompson

Today, François and I made our way down to Tooth Dig to clear some spoil and attempt to break down a large boulder that is currently blocking the route on. After clearing the spoil into the alcove, I took a small stab at the boulder, but decided it was a job best left for another day, as I had something rather evil to dispose of that was best not left in the cave. Before leaving, whilst laying by the alcove, we found that we could hear a running streamway in the distance. It is the first time it has been heard and it will be interesting to see if we can still hear it next Sunday. Hopefully sooner or later we will find some running water!

2 hours

A Thompson

Monday 24th April 2023

John Cooper and Lee Hawkswell. Lee used a Leica GS 18 T package to locate the prime point for the survey. East 353289.2, North 150560.7, Alt 241.03. Note drop the 3 and 1 from East and North if using ST prefix.

Saturday 22nd April 2023

Mike Kushy and Mike Wise. Took 2 drills in. Cleared the backlog of spoil at the corner up to the dumping ground and took all the empty buckets forward. MW worked on making the squeeze over the slab more comfortable whilst MK set to work on the boulders at the end of the tunnel. One very large boulder was dropped from ahead and broken down, then an even larger block was moved into a better position to be broken up next time. I reckon with this one removed we have just a metre to get to the solid wall ahead. MW down sized some of the boulders moved back into the alcove from the last session. Lots of smaller rocks were moved to the corner and 2 small buckets filled. 3 1/2 hours. Mike K.

Sunday 16th April 2023

Mike Kushy, Andy Thompson and Courtenay James. Tooth Dig. Andy took point clearing out the floor of the tunnel just beyond the undercut dig. After a couple of loads were cleared CJ left. Then MK and AT moved forward to start inspecting the boulders at the end of the tunnel. Soon we moved some blocks higher up. It was possible to access a higher level of bedding and have a good view back up cave into space but we both agreed it would be too dangerous to enter and only goes back to the entrance. Just under this a view along the bedding to a solid wall, there's a decent sized strike here (est' 1m wide). The strike leads down to  what looks like a phreatic break in the solid wall, inaccessible at the moment. We then worked on taking more boulders out lower down to keep progressing along the bedding. A couple more sessions will be needed to do this, but some white curtain can be seen at the entrance to the 'phreatic' bit. At least there's a dig for just 2 people at the end. 4 hours. Mike K.

Picture showing a proposed strike line (where the solid wall is) this can be seen in the higher up bedding level too

PS We need to open up the squeeze over the slab, just after the corner.

Wednesday Evening 12th April 2023

Mike Kushy and Sam Hill got to the dig for just after 6pm. We cleared the backlog of spoil at the base of the climb down to the dig. We then took 11 small buckets forward to the undercut dig. SH filled all the buckets, then MK ferried then back to the dumping ground whilst SH worked on moving some of the bigger rock. The 11 buckets were sent forward to Sam again. Just as all 11 were filled and stacked back in the small chamber Adrian Miles arrived with Chris George, Ben Holdstead and Stuart (yet to know his second name). It was Stuart's first ever digging session. MK waited for the others to send a couple of empties back then moved up to SH again. A couple of hours was spent chaining buckets back and with 6 it was smooth and efficient. For the last 20 minutes MK went to see the sharp end. We're probably another 2m further in and a decent size.  We've lost the bedded ceiling,  instead there's now calcited boulders with gaps and a good draught. In the floor we're starting to hit big rocks also surrounded by sand. Sam and I said we'd like to have a go at the end of the tunnel where it heads across the cave,  got a feeling there is something more open between Tooth Dig and Cement Dig than the undercut. Even if it doesn't prove right we may find some decent stacking at the end of the tunnel which would allow digging with a smaller team. Everyone had a look at the sharp end and the other dig before finishing up. 3 hours. MK.

Wednesday Evening 5th April 2023

Mike Kushy, Sam Hill and Adrian Miles. Took some more buckets to Tooth Dig and a drill. Started with Adrian in the dumping grounds with Sam at the top of the climb and Mike at the bottom clearing back all the built up rock. Then we all moved forwards and cleared everything back from the corner. Then we moved back one space again to clear up to the dumping ground. After this MK went to the start of the tunnel with SH in the little chamber before the corner and AM at the base of the climb. Cleared back a lot. Eventually AM joined MK and the rest of the rock blocking the dig face was broken up and cleared back. A couple of dozen buckets were also sent back for clearing. Everyone had a look at the sharp end and remarked how cold it felt. It's definitely looking prospectful with a rising ceiling, digging at the end is now just sharp sand material and some gloopy mud that drops down from higher up. Hard work with three, the ideal number would be 6 now to get stuff back smoothly. We could do with a few inches off the block at the bottom of the climb down, a few inches off the corner block on the left and the squeeze over the angled slab past the corner could do with a few inches off the top or removed completely. 3 hours. MK

Wednesday Afternoon 5th April 2023

John Cooper and Mike Kousiounis. Survey trip. Started by updating the Cement Dig at the lowest point of the Bedding Chambers. Then moved up to Boulder Rift where we did Tooth Dig. 2 hours.

Tuesday 4th April 2023

Mike Kushy, solo trip. A cold draught could be felt from the first climb down after Pocket Watch.  Went to Tooth Dig and moved the rocks back from the small chamber before the corner to the bottom of the climb, then moved forward and moved the stuff from the corner back into the small chamber. Then moved forward again and broke up some more rock in the floor and cleared any loose stuff out of the tunnel back to the corner. Removed some large blocks from the floor going into the undercut and made smaller then sent back to the corner. Filled up 6 small buckets of sand and mud. Draught was stronger from straight ahead today. Dug a little along the strike line and found more sopping red mud, there's a round hole in the ceiling all clean washed with water dripping out of it, must be where the worms came from? The ceiling has lots of phreatic remnant and seems to be rising up. Finished off by moving some stuff in the corner back to the smaller chamber, lots of clearing back up cave to do but mainly good sized rock so won't take too long. 3 1/2 hours. Mike. 

The entrance to the tunnel, before starting work

Along the tunnel from the undercut

Looking into the undercut

A closer view