tim.rose2
Active member
Following surgery on her hand back in July, today was Sas's first caving trip since. Naturally she asked to go somewhere easy and Grove Cliff Caves were the obvious choice. The plan was to go in Allotment dig and out Skittle Alley having a poke around on route. I think mine and Sas's idea of 'poke around' may have varied a bit but when I suggested putting a crowbar in the bag she didn't seem to object.
Allotment dig (the only phreatic in the cave) quickly intersects a rift. To the left is Link Rift, being the route to Guano Rift and the rest of today's planned trip. To the right the rift chokes at a mud bank after 6 m. Previous Portland diggers had excavated the rift downwards in an attempt to find the continuation of the phreatic tunnel in Coffin Hole, however to my knowledge nobody had looked at digging the continuation of the rift so it seemed a good choice for today's 'poke around'.
The end was choked to the ceiling with mud. However 15 min work today and a gap over the top had been cleared to give a view into open cave. Another 15 min and the gap was Tim sized. It turns out the mud choke was only about 1 m wide. On the far side, the rift is approx. 5 m deep and continues for approx. 8 to 10 m. Like many of Portland's rifts, it unfortunately ends at a point where the rift splits and all options are too small. Given that Sas was patiently waiting for me I only quickly traversed along the top of the rift and didn't properly examine lower down so it's distinctly possible something was missed. The breakthrough point over the mud bank could also do will a little enlarging to make it easier to pass - particularly exiting which requires getting ones legs round whilst balanced head first over a 3 m drop. The rift itself is quite greasy and far from the easiest to move along. For obvious reasons we're going to call this new section 'Allotment Rift'.
We'd previously tried to get a vocal connection to Grove Cliff Caves from the rifts at the end of Coffin Hole but had no luck. It's really not far from and perhaps this small extension might be what we need to work out where to dig to join things up.
So having extended the cave a little off we trotted to complete the planned trip. Glad to report by the time we exited Skittle Alley Sas had remembered how this caving lark works.
Unfortunately I forgot the camera, so no photo's.
Allotment dig (the only phreatic in the cave) quickly intersects a rift. To the left is Link Rift, being the route to Guano Rift and the rest of today's planned trip. To the right the rift chokes at a mud bank after 6 m. Previous Portland diggers had excavated the rift downwards in an attempt to find the continuation of the phreatic tunnel in Coffin Hole, however to my knowledge nobody had looked at digging the continuation of the rift so it seemed a good choice for today's 'poke around'.
The end was choked to the ceiling with mud. However 15 min work today and a gap over the top had been cleared to give a view into open cave. Another 15 min and the gap was Tim sized. It turns out the mud choke was only about 1 m wide. On the far side, the rift is approx. 5 m deep and continues for approx. 8 to 10 m. Like many of Portland's rifts, it unfortunately ends at a point where the rift splits and all options are too small. Given that Sas was patiently waiting for me I only quickly traversed along the top of the rift and didn't properly examine lower down so it's distinctly possible something was missed. The breakthrough point over the mud bank could also do will a little enlarging to make it easier to pass - particularly exiting which requires getting ones legs round whilst balanced head first over a 3 m drop. The rift itself is quite greasy and far from the easiest to move along. For obvious reasons we're going to call this new section 'Allotment Rift'.
We'd previously tried to get a vocal connection to Grove Cliff Caves from the rifts at the end of Coffin Hole but had no luck. It's really not far from and perhaps this small extension might be what we need to work out where to dig to join things up.
So having extended the cave a little off we trotted to complete the planned trip. Glad to report by the time we exited Skittle Alley Sas had remembered how this caving lark works.
Unfortunately I forgot the camera, so no photo's.