Back to Mountbatten

23/01/22

Back for a proper ferret about at the bottom this time. After paying Roy the farmer, we found the 2 Oxlow laybys completely rammed so had to park round at the Eldon Quarry track, which makes a far more pleasant changing area.

We came armed with some proddy tools and a few rubble bags and I brought a bag of the ex-turbine rope with us so we could leave it rigged.

I took both bags with me at the head of the tight pitch so Rob could go down unencumbered. He found it easier than he expected, which I’d presumed he would and we were both soon at the bottom moving rocks about. It feels much smaller when 2 people are down there!

I got straight to at the bottom of the widest part and was a bit disappointed to find the rubble immediately beneath the surface layer was quite tightly packed with mud. We took it in turns for what was probably about 2 hours and dug out 6-7 bags worth.

By the end of the session we’d started to dig about a foot beneath the stacked rubble bags and uncovered a few large rocks that will need breaking up. We may need to cut back into or remove the bags that have previously been stacked as they appear to have been placed in the widest part of the shaft, possibly supported by a fin of rock.

Stacking is a problem. There’s very little space left down there and it will need some Sampo-level engineering to sort out. We’d probably only get one more trip before a longer-term solution would need to be thought about.

Rob steadily went back up the bottom pitch as I struggled to get my SRT kit back on. We both agreed its best not to wear yourself out too much digging down there as the bottom pitch could be quite a struggle if you’re totally knackered.

Out to the last of the daylight. (Rob, Mike)