Some Fun Images From Vurley Over Three Years.

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Of course " fun " is a relative word.

The " boys " get muddy .



TOR gets a touch.



Heave Ho



TOR boxed in by Mr O' Doc.



Mr O'Doc takes a break.



In the beginning.





Two to tango.



Tis a fine hole we have.



 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Last of the summer wine.



From small beginnings. The way on at the bottom of the pipe.



Those warm Summer days.



Quite mad.



Flutterbyes.



When the music stops ---



The long drop.



Onward to glory.



We have the power



Our first chamber.

 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Kate gets a leg over.



Fixing the fixable fixed ladder.



A startling revelation. Our second chamber.



Its so wonderful !



He said what ?



He is asleep again.





Lets have a cement fight.



Huh. Rocks don't scare me.



Easy with plug and feathery things.



I may trawl the archives for some more.
 

Badlad

Administrator
Staff member
Two questions

Is there any solid rock down there  ;)

And what has that guy done to his hands and head?
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
We are now in solid rock. The 4 pitches (with a combined vertical range of 40m)  are all in proper cave.
 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
We have been unable to reach the visible "bottom" of the cave since early autumn. The survey is still incomplete. This is because we have CO2 gradually increasing in level until the top of the 11m pitch where it is currently about %3. Beyond here is a 20m pitch and two more shorter pitches. The cave is all solid rock from the top of the 11m pitch. The CO2 levels are being monitored and we hope to be back in spring.
 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
My idea for this post is to celebrate the fun and effort in cave digging rather than a write up of the cave which will be done in due course in the caving literature. I have done 144 trips and have had the old TG2 with me each time. Firstly because I think that keeping a record is important but also for my liking of caver portraits. Maybe something that some photographers miss. The camera can tell a good story but one has to be persistent ( and annoying ) to achieve it.

Some strange goings on in our field.



Getting too old for this lark ( Aren't we all ? )



Yes a tempting target Mildred . Shame about the fence.



There is a certain satisfaction in mucking about with scaffolding. Takes one back to childhood days with Meccano I suppose. Sometimes the photographer makes his own best model.





Power on. Eventually the cable went down over 60m.





Do ya think I am sexy ?











 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
OK a few more then whilst Photobucket is behaving. You do have to refresh it after a while.

Thought this a nice one of his Lordship. Its his birthday today.



The washing facilities at the club hut could do with an upgrade.



All mod cons inside though.



There are times when it all looks hopeless. We went 3m down this wall in solid mucky fill with no sign of a draught. We were not even sure if we were in the right place. Eventually it turned to gravel then I knew we were in the right place.



The arrival of Santa cheered us up no end.



More of the folks.







Well you cant win them all.
ET call home.



Acros and ladders. I do love acros and ladders. ( and base jacks ).



Sometimes its all just too much.



Some idiot gets cement in his eyes.



Just when you think its all over up pops another chamber. This after digging for months in mud and slop. Start a new shaft in the floor.



Technical work. We send a probe down though the choke.



" Damocles " and a nice pillar to hold him up.



Lady with scaffolding.



January 2017.





Vurley closed karst basin.


 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
The winter 2017 rains make life difficult.



Who is going down first then ?



Some fool always volunteers. It was too wet for selfies.



So after many more weeks of digging this hole appears. Being a considerate fellow I let the good doctor go though. Well it looked horrible to me.



Yet another chamber. As always just as things get desperate a chamber comes along. We shall call it La La Land as the funny business at the film awards took place that week.
 

braveduck

Active member
Proud to have supplied you with my digging buckets to achieve what you have so far .
Hope you find something really big down there . :)
 

tony from suffolk

Well-known member
Oh, thought you might be interested that Google Earth renewed their satellite images over Mendip in June 2018, so Vurley's rather easier to see.
 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
La La Land from where the epic dig The Egg Timer was to be.



All those boulders have gone now.



Cheddar is that way states the venerable doc.



Following the solid wall at The Egg Timer.



Digger secured in The Egg Timer.





We try to stay happy.





The Egg Timer has a few more weeks to go before finally timing out.





Head first down a hole I look into a void and see what is holding the entire Egg Timer choke in place.





Time Out. The Egg Timer has gone . We are back to square one.



Summer 2017.

A new Egg Timer has been built. Stronger, deeper . We shall prevail.



" The Great Wall " rises in La La land.





Can we go home now ?



Base camp La La Land.







At the coal face.








All angles.











Dr Hilti's magic hammer.











 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Just people and things. Summer 2017.






























Ultimately I want to believe that I can approach a form of artistry. I want the images to say more than here we are in a muddy hole in the ground. I want them to be a record but more than that. I want to do it simply with just a little camera. I don't want anything to be posed. I want to see and record " the moment ". To carry that little mental image home and see if its still there in the camera. Basically I want to be different. Not technically accomplished with expensive kit and loads of time. I want the recollection to be instant and unrepeatable. Do I succeed an any of this ? Well I certainly cant say though I feel pleased with what I have accomplished. Maybe not in quality but certainly in quantity. Certainly in getting that tiny slice of time as a visual record. Oh I do dig as well. Just as much as the others and in terms of trip numbers usually more. I wonder if I can call myself a cave photographer. Maybe I am just a digger with a camera. I exist in a medium somewhere in between. Remember the head of thread word " fun ". It has to be that or it has no meaning at all.
 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
I never know whether to rush on with my photo splodges or slow them down a bit. I think Dickens had the right idea about all of that. Publish part works then keep 'em waiting. Photoshop works well for a bit then needs refreshing to keep going so it does get tedious after a while.

The long Summer of 2017 has been a bit too warm for some .



Winter comes to Mendip and down the cave everything changes.



Those frost free January days can be so lovely.  View towards the low col that became the lake overflow in periglacial times.



In time we make The Egg Timer timeless. It gets double banked and braced with scaffolding but then there is always the worry on what lies beneath.

In time we find that out.





 

braveduck

Active member
Can you start a new posting ,takes a long time to get to the bottom of this one . But keep the pictures coming
fantastic . :clap:
 

Laurie

Active member
We only have a one Meg connection at the MNRS and I'm not much better off at home.

.............but they're worth the wait.  (y)
 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
braveduck said:
Can you start a new posting ,takes a long time to get to the bottom of this one . But keep the pictures coming
fantastic . :clap:

Certainly not D. B. It wont be a photo splodge then will it  ? Like the Egg Timer in a while the forum page will crank over and start a new at page 2.
 
Does it start a new page after a certain number of posts? If so we can all post compliments on here to force it quicker. Perhaps a moderator can give us a guide as to how many we need to post?
 
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