Saturday 26th July 2025

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Cloudy and cool to start but more sun and warmer as the afternoon progressed. Once Kate was at the bottom the lower ladder was removed. Today 1 frog, 1 toad, 1 newt and lots of miscellaneous critters were sent to the surface for rehoming. Kate then dug out 42 loads of mud which went in the tractor’s large bucket. The extra 2 today were from Kate trying to free up a large rock in the floor. The lower ladder was reinstalled and Kate came out to be replaced by John who broke up the rock into smaller bits that were removed in 3 loads. 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 19th July 2025

John Cooper, Pete Hann, Sarah Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank (Kate away on training course). Jude and Pete at the bottom. A total of 42 loads were hauled out today (2 were mainly rocks) so 40 in the tractor bucket. Need stronger digging tools - bent shovel! Hot again today! 2 hours. John.

Saturday 12th July 2025

John Cooper, Pete Hann, Nigel Graham, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank (Kate haymaking). Started with Adrian and Pete at the bottom. Adrian was capping the large rocks and Pete was checking their suitability for wall building. Adrian then capped a bulge in the wall that was stopping a nice lie for the second ladder. The resulting “fragment” then had to be broken up. Once complete Adrian came out and left Pete with one mix of cement and the rocks for building his wall at the South end of the rift. Finally all the surplus rocks, 14 loads, were hauled out. HOT again today! 2¼ hours. John.

Saturday 5th July 2025

John Cooper, Pete Hann, Nigel Graham and Kate Lawrence. After lowering the bottom ladder John went and cleared bits of loose rock off the wall before Kate went in. 13 loads of rocks and 10 loads of mud then hauled out. Pete then took over and used 2 mixes of cement adding to the wall at South end of rift. Needs 1 more mix which Pete can do using the rock that Adrian will produce by capping next week. Rocks at bottom too large to move at present. 2½ hours. John.

Thursday 3rd July 2025

John Cooper, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. John levered a couple of large rocks off the West wall before drilling 8 x 10mm holes to 800mm depth. Adrian used 7 of them but only a tiny bit of 12gm cord left for the middle one. Will see what it looks like on Saturday. 2 hours. John.