Sunday 4th February 2024

Dave Morrison, Mike Kushy and Sam Hill to start with. SH down in the pit, MK on the step and DM on surface winching. Lots and lots of clatch cleared, MK pulling up smaller buckets on rope from SH below, and transferring directly to bigger buckets to get winched up by DM. Constant work until 1pm, then SH had some large rocks to dismantle at the dig face. DM left about 1.30pm and MK went to the dig face with SH pouring small buckets into the rift at the end of the bedding bit. Around 2ish Alex Randall and Issac Whitcombe joined us. MK in the pit, SH at the step, IW at the bottom of the ladder and AR on winch (15 minutes later John Cooper and then Rich Witcombe joined the surface team). We cleared all the pit of any loose clatch. Holes all over the place. Lots of big rocks sent up to surface too. A very large boulder in the middle of the passage seems to be blocking a decent bit of space. SH decided to squeeze around the boulder to look at what's beyond. He said there's more boulders...but all looking a lot bigger. We need to keep heading down. IW came to look at the bottom. 5 1/2 hours for me. Mike.

MK's YouTube Video from today

SH squeezing around the offending boulder. Photo MK.

The offending boulder, view looking 45 degree down, from the floor of the pit . Photo MK.

Proposed drill holes, expecting some movement from above, but unable to stabilise so happy for stuff to fall. Photo MK.

Sunday 28th January 2024

Dave Morrison, John Cooper, Jake Baynes, Geoff Newton and Mike Kushy. DM and JC on surface hauling buckets, JB at the bottom of the fixed ladder transferring small buckets into the larger ones, GN on the step pulling up smaller buckets from MK in the pit. Lots of clatch cleared for ages. GN and JB came down for a look at the bottom at some point, then GN filled small buckets at the dig face. JB left around 1ish, DM left around 1.30. Then we decided to put some cement in. One decent mix made and support put in around the pit walls. GN left around 2ish then JC came down with MK to finish off the cementing work. Would have liked to cement more but hard work with just 2. Lots of clatch left at the bottom to clear and some large rocks should come out the floor fairly safely. Cemented around the blasted boulder that's left, but we could take the face of this now to allow more working room at the bottom. A good view on down and a view up cave following a fossilised wall. It's possible to dig with 3 people. 4 1/2 hours. Mike.

The very bottom. Photo MK.

Looking down into the pit . Photo MK.

Looking 'up cave' from the very bottom. Photo MK.

Wednesday 24th January 2024

John Cooper, Pete Hellier, Trevor Hughes and Wayne Starsmore. Pete and Wayne went for a look round the old cave, Bedding Chambers and top part of Boulder Rift, recovering a tackle sack in the process. Meanwhile John kept Trevor company whilst he drilled holes in a couple of boulders. Once everyone was out the boulders were popped. 1½ hours.John.

Tuesday 23rd January 2024

John Cooper. Solo trip to survey the new bedding below the entrance. 1½ hours.John.

Saturday 20th January 2024

Mike Kushy and Dave Morrison to start with. DM surface and MK down cave. MK broke up and moved rocks from the last session to the bottom of the shaft where DM hauled them to the surface. After 20 minutes or so Sam.Hill and Callum.Simmonds came to join us. With MK at the bottom of the shaft, SH at the step down and CS at the dig face (breaking up boulders) we cleared for a while. MK then went to the lower rift area and filled small buckets with clatch, a small line of rope with karabiner is now in place and helped with pulling the smaller buckets up. All the rift and the continuing bedding is fully cleared, can now be surveyed. CS continued breaking and moving boulders from the pit, then left around 1ish. SH then worked the pit and MK transferred waste from the step. DM left around 1.30pm after a non-stop hauling session. Around 2ish Alex.Randall came to join us. MK in the pit  with AR on the step and SH on surface. SH took point for a while with MK on the step and AR on surface. Many buckets were cleared until 4pm ish. At the dig face it is now possible to look up cave (towards Swildon's way) for several metres. A solid floor can be seen dipping down towards the pit. In the pit a view over some large boulders gives sight to the clean washed solid floor that looks to be headed off towards proper cave! Unfortunately the gaps between boulders are not large enough to squeeze through. I propose a few short holes with some 20g to shape the boulders and get us into the next area. If anything collapses we will just have to deal with it. Great draught getting sucked into the 'proper cave passage'. 5 hours.  Mike.

MK's YouTube Video from today

Sam.Hill sat in the pit. Photo MK.

Obstructive boulders with proposed drill holes. photo MK.

Can look over and down to see what looks like solid floor. Photo MK.

View over the boulders, red area looks like potential cave passage. Photo MK.

Sunday 14th January 2024

Mike Kushy and Dave Morrison to start with. A big cementing session with 3 bags worth of sand, building up to the ceiling and propping natural pillars. DM left around 1.30 and John.Cooper arrived not long after. JC helped with the final cement buckets. After all cementing done MK worked on widening the bedding wall of the rift where we propose to dig down next. Should be safe to move/break boulders in the floor now. Unusual draught, air from outside being dragged into the dig, hitting the bedding passage which draughted outwards, then the draught got dragged into a void in the floor. 5 hours. Mike.

MK's YouTube Video from today

Draught cycle. Photo MK.

After plug and feathering and cementing. Photo MK.

Looking into the rift, under where we've cemented
(the top void is sucking away all the drill dust). Photo MK.

Saturday 13th January 2024

John Cooper, Billy Evans, Damon Fentham, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Billy, Damon and Jude loading spoil. John and Adrian hauling. All spoil removed BUT Damon then moved another few rocks up the bedding. 1 hour.John.

Wednesday 10th January 2024

Mike Kushy, solo trip. Again breaking up more rock and making things more comfortable. Then finished off clearing the rift some more, sat in the rift working back under the step down. I think the best place to go down is immediately at the step down. Very good draught again. Came out to meet Tuska wall building and John popping over. Too cold to make a mix. 2 1/2 hours. Mike.

Looking horizontally into the dug out rift, heading back up cave. Crowbar is 18inch. Photo MK.

Tuesday 9th January 2024

Mike Kushy, solo trip. Downsizing rock and clearing out the rift at the bottom, trying to figure out best way on down. Really cold outside and cold air being dragged into the dig and dragged into the on going bedding at the bottom. 1 1/2 hours. Mike.

Monday 1st January 2024

Started with Mike Kushy, John Cooper and Dave Morrison. MK went to bucket fill the spoil in the horizontal tunnel with JC and DM on surface. After half hour or so Monica Bollani showed up. With MB and DM on surface, JC took over the bucket filling and MK went to the dig face to break up the big boulders above the rift. After a while MK moved up cave and cleared out behind the retaining wall, passing smaller buckets and rocks up to JC. MB left after a couple of hours. After this, time was spent downsizing a large boulder at the bottom of the step down. JC came down to inspect the lower chamber and we both agreed after a good cementing session we can look at opening up the step down to make a straighter pull to surface, JC also agreed it's worth pushing the rift at the bottom of the slope. Good draught coming out at the end once the big boulder was removed. The rift at the bottom has a lot of loose clatch to come out. Could potentially be done with 3, a rope would be needed to pull buckets up the slope at the bottom though. Probably over a ton of spoil taken to surface today. Came up to a poly fram that had been constructed by DM, ready for the shelter covering. 4 hours. Mike.

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.

Wednesday 29th November 2023

pm. John Cooper and Mike Kushy. John on the surface hauling and mixing cement, Mike underground. Cleared the spoil Mike created with plug and feathering. Then 3 mixes of cement (8 loads) and loads of building rocks sent down to Mike for wall building. There’s probably enough sand for 1 good mix left. 2½ hours. John.

Before cementing. Photo MK.

Cement Work. Photo MK.

Cement Work. Photo MK.

Sunday 26th November 2023

am- Mike Kushy and Sam Hill. Setting charge. Strong draught.

pm- MK and SH. SH clearing the bottom, MK on winch and buckets. After an hour or so MK went to join SH at the bottom and evaluate. Sketchy looking boulders everywhere with gaps between. Decided to clean up rock and prep for cement. 2 1/2 mixes done. John Cooper joined us near to finishing. Right hand side looking into dodgy chamber now stable and the pillar built last week has held up well. Can probably cut some steel to put in place at the roof of chamber, strangely draught lost in the afternoon. Plan is to keep driving down in the floor closer to the shaft and try to stay clear of the dodgy chamber, but leave accessible if needs must.

Before cement work. Photo MK.

Cement Work. Photo MK.

Floor of the Dodgy Chamber. Photo MK.

Thursday 23rd November 2023

John Cooper. Went to drill some holes in the bottom. 6 holes 300 – 400mm deep ready for Mike next time he’s about. Nice draught from below. 1 hour.

Sunday 19th November 2023

am: Michael Kousiounis and Dave Morrison . Setting of charge. All went well. Samuel Hill joined us at the end. 1 hour.

pm: Started about 12.30. SH cleared the bottom with DM on winch and MK emptying buckets. After an hour or so SH came up and MK went down to inspect. Some more movement to previously stabilised rock, but still holding. Several more buckets were cleared then we started cement work. A pillar was built from a solid floor hoping to stabilise a large boulder in the ceiling that's dropping Also some stabilising of the right hand side. John Cooper joined us in the midst of this and Monica's mum and brother came to see.

Spoil after bang. Photo MK.

The dropping boulder in the ceiling, note the cement work opening up. Photo MK.

Some decent voids that draught very well are now visible in the floor, just off to the side of the vertical shaft. It's tempting do use a charge to get rid of a few boulders in the floor and see what happens and deal with the outcome. Getting in and stabilising anymore will be dicey in itself. Finished around 3pm, so 3 hours.

The voids in the floor. Photo MK.

Possible next step. Photo MK.

Pillar has been built up from the slab marked by the green cross to support the dropping boulder above.The blue crosses are the boulders that could be removed to perhaps reveal more void below. Mike.

Wednesday 8th November 2023

John Cooper. Went to drill some holes in the bottom. 8 holes 300 – 500mm deep ready for Mike next time he’s about. 1 hour. John.

Sunday 5th November 2023.

 Mike Kushy and John Cooper. 

AM- set off charge, laid and fired in half hour.

PM- after setting charge at Valinor we cleared WR. About 2 hours clearing. A bit of movement after the charge, some large boulders in the horizontal bit have dropped and some of the concreted boulders have moved slightly. Not too concerning though. Ready for drilling. Mike.

Bottom after clearing. Photo MK.