Category: 2019

Report by Vince

Vince, Jon, Tav, Duncan,
Mike and colleague Naomi Frazier, and a massive welcome back to Jake after 8
months off following knee surgery.

At the dig, Jon and Tav
after a brief discussion went ahead to start digging, they were joined, soon
after by Jake and Naomi. Mike went to the top of the pit to load the skip, Vince
was hauling up-slope and Duncan was emptying the buckets.

With multiple bucket
fillers it was non-stop hauling/emptying action, the slope requiring frequent
lubrication. Later, Jake came up to lend a hand with spoil dispersal and
management. They say, ‘that time flies when you are enjoying yourself!’ And it
did.

All of us expected Tav to
keep a tally of loads removed, he didn’t, “too busy…” he said. Anyway, it was
lots!
Duncan and Jake arrive at the dig.

Report by Vince

Vince, Mike, Jon, James,
Duncan and Nick

We have new buckets and,
because we are all-inclusive, we have buckets of many colours.

Mike and Jon were both
filling buckets, these were cleared away to James at the top of the slope. The filled
buckets loaded into the skip to be hauled up-slope by Nick. Duncan took the
buckets and emptied them onto the spoil heap and Vince dispersed the sediment to
fill all available nooks and crannies.

There was, of course,
plenty of chatter and time passed quickly by. With two filling the buckets, a
considerable quantity of spoil was removed and redeposited onto the spoil heap. Unfortunately, no-one was counting the number of buckets emptied. We briefly considered whether we could calculate the quantity by using buckets per minute, but then, no-one had timed this. Eventually, we settled for; it was a busy evening.

Report by Vince

Vince, Jon, Mike and James
Begley

A more leisurely stroll
up through the cave to allow James time to appreciate the surroundings. At the
dig, as guest digger, James was poked to the front, given the mattock, and
prompted to get on with it. Mike was clearing away the filled buckets and
passing them up to Vince at the top of the pit. Vince was loading the filled buckets
into the skip which was then hauled up-slope by Jon. Jon emptied (and cleaned)
the buckets, returning them back down the line, to be filled again and the whole
procedure repeated.

It was a pleasantly busy
evening with plenty of chatter. Soon though it was all over, and we made our
way out of the cave to change and re-convene in the pub for refreshments.

Report by Vince

Vince, Roz, Jon, Mike, Nick
and Tav

Nick and Tav were at the
bottom of the pit, the rate at which the buckets were being filled suggests
that it was Nick digging, Tav clearing. Jon was, also clearing and loading the
filled buckets and rocks into the skip at the top of the pit. This was hauled
up the slope by Mike. The slope was lubricated, every now and again by the
application of a little water. Mike found out later that the bucket of water had
a leak and he had a damp bottom and leg.

As they had arrived a
little later, Vince and Roz took on the spoil management role, emptying and
cleaning the buckets, distributing the sediment to ensure all available space
was being utilised fully. There was a bit of wall building too.
Roz cleans another bucket, in the background, Mike awaits the next load.

No-one counted, but a lot
of buckets were filled and emptied, rocks moved too. A lot of spoil was shifted

.

Report by Vince

Vince, Jon and Mike

Vince had prepared two skips
on Tuesday evening and these were taken into the cave. One was used to replace
the old worn-out skip we had been using, the other is a spare for later. While Vince
was fettling the skip Jon went ahead, to the bottom of the pit and started
filling bags. Mike followed on and cleared the filled bags and buckets, loading
some into the now, renewed skip. Vince hauled and emptied a few buckets that Mike
had filled to clear the runnel where the water flows in wet conditions before
moving downslope to the top of the pit. The filled bags and buckets were then
stashed at the top of the pit ready to be hauled and emptied. When all the
available receptacles were filled and stashed we all moved back to clear the
backlog. The last task was to hang the empty bags along the ladder.

About three dozen loads
were removed from the dig and added to the spoil heap. We are now in need of
some additional walling work to facilitate further spoil management, and to
prevent any potential slumping of stashed material.

A very warm session, Vince won’t
be wearing two layers of thermal tops on the next session!

Nick digging, filling buckets.

Report by Vince

Vince, Nick, Tav, Jon and Mike

Nick, returned from his
travels (work-related), was digging, I was clearing away the filled buckets, replacing
them with empty ones. The buckets were passed to Tav, at the top of the pit, he
was loading them into the skip. The skip is rapidly deteriorating and really
needs changing. Jon was at the top of the slope hauling the skip away, every
now and then, adding water to the slope to ease the passage of the loaded skip.
Mike was diligently, disposing of the spoil onto the heap, ensuring that all
available space was, well and truly, filled.

All was well until it
came to the final load tally, which turned into an ongoing debate. As nobody
seemed to have been counting, a possible compromise was reached; 60 loads (last
week’s tally) + an extra person + 20%, a total of 72 was arrived at. This was
then complicated by the fact that we had used only buckets, this was likely to
have been more efficient – a factor that hadn’t been applied. We are still
debating, it is unlikely that we are ready for a meaningful vote or asking the
people to have a vote quite yet.

It was, though an
enjoyable and productive session.

Report by Vince

Forgetting to pick-up my
camera when leaving a cave is becoming a regular occurrence. However, there are
a lot of things to appreciate while caving solo – more time to look at the
caves structure and development, time to enjoy the solitude and peace at the
end of the working week and, there is the opportunity to poke into those nooks
and crannies that you find along the way. Even though the trip has been made on
numerous occasions there is always more to discover, went along a nicely decorated
passage just off the cascade, heading towards the dig site. And, I remembered to
collect the camera too!

Report by Vince

Vince, Jon, Tav and Mike

After some heavy rain we
were, sort of, expecting there to be a puddle at the dig. Surprised to find it
dry.
Mike approaches the dig

Mike digging, Jon
clearing away and filling a few bags, then chucking the filled buckets and bags
up to Vince at the top of the pit. The filled receptacles were loaded into the
skip, this was hauled up the slope by Tav. The slope was regularly ‘lubricated’
with the addition of water. Tav also emptied the buckets and bags onto the
spoil heap.

The introduction of bags
into the spoil removal system has improved productivity. The down-side to this,
the bags get rather claggy, to try and address this, at the end of the session
the bags were hung on the ladder, placed horizontally, to ‘dry’. It might work.

At the close of the
session: 60 loads had been filled, hauled and emptied. Good effort.