digwookeyhole

Vince, Nick and Jake

At the current dig in LoH&G, I was down in the ‘pot’ digging, Nick was hauling up the bags and ‘tossing’ them through the narrow hole to Jake. Jake then moved the bags along the passage towards the slope.

It isn’t the loosening of the sediment that is especially slow but crouching down in a very constricted space to fill the bags with the loose sediment. It is barely shoulder width and doesn’t (at this stage) appear to be getting any bigger! We had a look, we talked about it, and we will persevere!

Once the few bags were emptied, we made our way out of the cave stopping briefly to look at discuss the various areas where there is contact between the Dolomitic Conglomerate and limestone, in particular, in Colston Hall.

Refreshment in the ravine. It was unseasonably warm!

Vince, Jake and Nick

In LoH&G, Jake digging, me ‘tossing’ and Nick in ‘drag’. Digging was not easy, the way ahead has become narrower and in the constricted space filling bags is difficult, progress slow. We’ll give it, at least, another session.

As usual spoil was dragged through to Colston Hall and dumped into Pointless Pot. We made our way out for refreshments in the ravine. It was dark and drizzling!

Vince, Nick, Jake, and Jon

The usual warm trip to LoH&G, no time to cool down, straight into action. Nick digging, Jake ‘tossing’, me ‘catching’ and loading the skip, Jon hauling the skip away and dragging/lugging the bags along the passage and up the slope (as far as possible). At 20:30, 21 bags had been filled with sediment from the bottom of the pot. The digging is not easy – awkward and constricted. Now it was time to get the spoil along to it final destination in Pointless Pot. The bags now empty were placed on the old spoil heap to ‘dry!’ Another pair of hands made the task much easier.

Refreshments were enjoyed in the ravine with plenty of banter.

Vince, Nick and Jake

The minimum required number of diggers assembled in the car park, unfortunately, Snablet did not make it. No matter, off to the cave we ventured, changed at the entrance, and then the customary warm trip to LoH&G.

I was digging at the bottom of the c.4m deep pot, Nick was at the top hauling out the spoil and ‘tossing’ the filled bags back to Jake, who was ‘catching’ the bags then dragging them along to a wider section where they were temporarily stored.

Digging is awkward and quite slow in the constricted base of the pot, but it is still going. The empty bags are damp so won’t ‘stand to attention’ making them not so easy to fill, but we persevered. The sediment consists mostly of loose to medium dense, silty, fine to coarse-grained sand with frequent inclusions of mineralized calcite fragments. The sediment is slightly moist. It is less compact than the silt/clay layers encountered when excavating higher up in the pot. At about 20:30 digging was curtailed, and the temporary stack of bags was moved along the narrow passage, up the slope, through Fuzzy Wuzzy into Colston Hall to be emptied into Pointless Pot. The empty bags were then laid out on the old spoil heap to see if they will ‘dry-out’ a little bit. We exited the cave.

Refreshments in the ravine. “Nights are drawing in!”

Vince, Nick, Jake, and Tav

From the current dig in LoH&G, another 25 bags filled, hauled, and emptied into Pointless Pot.

Jake was digging, Tav ‘tossing,’ Vince loading the skip, and Nick hauling it away and dragging/carrying the bags part way up the slope. At about 20:30 digging stopped  and the spoil was cleared. The dig is not yet broken but, digging is not easy!

As usual, refreshments in the ravine. It was dark but, at least, it wasn’t raining.

Vince, Jake, Nick, and Tav

At the current dig in LoH&G Nick was digging, Jake was ‘tossing,’ Tav was retrieving the bags and loading the skip, I was hauling the skip away and dragging/carrying bags along the narrow passage and part way up the slope as far as I could get them until returning for the next ones. It was very warm work. At 20:30, 25 bags had been filled, hauled, and stacked on the slope. The dig is still going downwards, but now it was time to empty the spoil. As usual bags were chained up the remainder of the slope, through Fuzzy Wuzzy to Colston Hall and disposed in Pointless Pot. It had been another warm and energetic session and now it was time to leave. It was dark when we exited the cave to change and enjoy refreshments in the ravine. Nights are drawing in!

Vince, Roz, Jake, Nick, and Tav

After a break for a couple of weeks for one reason or another we’re back to the ongoing project in LoH&G.

My turn to dig, Nick was “chief bag tosser”, Roz was shuttling the bags along to the skip, hauled away by Jake, Tav transported the bags to the top of the slope. The dig continued on its downward trajectory and is not yet broken. About 20:30 digging was ceased, all hands put to shifting bags through Fuzzy Wuzzy to be emptied into Pointless Pot. Job done time for exit and refreshments in the ravine. We’ll be back!