h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

N. Wales

Wednesday evening - fixing frame on to rock walls with power drill and spits, and making good solid wooden lid for Hole no.1. Slow progress, but good result. Ultimately ran out of daylight and nails for lid. Next trip down no.1 will be boulder-cracking with Hiltis

Thursdays - Dewi wheeled old wheelbarrow with 75kg of sand and cement across moor and down steep grassy path to cave no.2 entrance (the 'loose' one). Some time moving scaffolding frame to allow obstructing boulder to be hammered and dropped. I wandered off to put remaining nails in no.1 hole lid while D&P loosened and dropped more of the hanging death in hole no.2 (sometimes even on purpose).
Got back in time to start mixing sand+cement, which is being used by P to try and grout some of the larger boulders, ideally to enable some heavy steelwork to be lowered down the hole at some future date without risking one small knock bringing down an entire wall (and much of the roof and/or riverbed).
This was the second cementing trip, and it is esitmated there will have to be 2 or 3 more before the hole is solid enough to allow shoring work to be commenced with a good likelihood of survival. With my luck, the support work will be finished and they'll dig through into some going passage while I'm off in Slovenia.

Friday - up at 6-30 to pack car. Leave ~7-00 to drop K (D's other half) off in Cheshire to go to work, and then D and I get to the cafe in the Dales by 9am. Off for a quick yet leisurely trip down Bull Pot (Kingsdale), then out to pick up K from Lancaster. back to hut, eat and demolish bottle of wine each before another mate turns up and drives us to local pub about 9-30. Stay socailising and swigging beer until ~1pm, then walk back to hut. D falls over on walk back and strains ankle. Bed ~3-30

Saturday - D not caving, so off with M,P,T to do Aquamole Pot. Very impressive shoring at entrance, reasonable early pitches and awkward short narrow passage, but lovely final 40m pitch down large shaft. Plod out, beer at entrance, back to eat and then much more restrained evening in pub.

Sunday - much faffing around, then decided to pop down Rowten Pot. My first time down since it was P-bolted (faster, probably a bit safer, but takes some of the fun away). Nice quick trip. More beer at entrance. M initially unsure about the trip, but warmed to it as the day went on, and ended up glad.

It seems to have been decided I'll be doing the through-trip later this year, with the aid of a small bottle for diving through the sumps. Serves me right for having cave-divers as mates, I suppose.