On Site Duration

[Rob Blackmann]

Question:
What's the average time spent on site when you go digging?

I'm including tea breaks etc and time of year and weather, so from arrival at the entrance to departure at the end of the dig.
Just trying to get a general idea of battery amp hours. I'm not digging just thinking about air extraction and air in/out generally, like you do on a Saturday evening...

Rob.

 

[Maisie Syntax]

".....just thinking about air extraction and air in/out generally"

Does this include hot air, as this can be considered as a significant factor in dig duration.
You may well want to factor in other forms of extraction other than air alone. There is generally a good deal of extraction taken during a digging sessions, and whilst this can include your inclusion of gaseous states, it would be verging on the remiss to not consider the extraction of certain liquid solutions. The secret is having the balance between the two at a ratio with which the protagonists, are 'generally' happy, or at least can be convinced they are so that they come back for more.

 

[PeteHall]

If it's an evening, there are usually two main limiting factors on dig duration:
What time do you meet?
What time does the pub shut?
2.5 - 3 hours is probably typical. Certainly no tea breaks on an evening dig!

Personally, I only dig for one hour at my usual project, but that is because I am carrying my air supply...

 

[cap n chris]

Usually 2-3hrs because of the energy-sap.

 

[Badlad]

On a surface dig, excluding walking time, I'd expect 4-5 hours. That tends to have very little drain on lighting etc. Underground you've got the commute which could be anything. Time at the face say between 2-6 hours depending on several factors. One of those could be drill power limitations, air quality, exhaustion, misery, etc etc.

In my experience digging trips underground do tend to be much longer than sporting trips. The caving part tends to be pretty swift as repeated trips teach you every efficiency.

 

[Rob Blackmann]

Thanks for the replies.

 

[andrewmcleod]

Is there a regional split possibly? I would imagine evening digs are often more practical in the Mendips then many in Yorkshire with longer walk-ins (at least considering surface/shallow digs)

 

[Pitlamp]

Not to mention Lancashire and Cumbria . . . .

There are plenty of dig sites in the "Yorkshire Dales" which don't involve long walk ins and a good midweek evening digging scene continues.

But I think Badlad's post above sums up the situation perfectly.

 

[PeteHall]

Is there a regional split possibly?

The OP said:

like you do on a Saturday evening.

So I assumed evening dig, not full day dig.

But perhaps I should rewatch the "three Yorkshiremen" sketch. Perhaps they are just that tough in Yorkshire that 6 hours at the dig face on an evening, after working 26 hours a day down the pit and walking barefoot over the moors, is luxury!

 

[Pitlamp]

Ony six hours? Luxury!

 

[JAA]

At my dig 5-6 hrs max seems to be about right. Depending on conditions on the surface for the person pulling up the buckets!
I think as important as length of time is giving everyone a chance to get to the sharp end and do some clearing, some drilling and learn stuff especially if there’s people who haven’t dug much before. If folk can’t do the fun bits they don’t come back…

 

[Pitlamp]

Good point JAA. During 2001 (hoof and gob year) I ended up doing a lot of digging in Foot And Mouth Passage (Ingleborough Cave) with a mainly BPC team. This needed several people stationed along the passage with the one at the front actually digging and everyone else pulling trays and sending them on to the next person "downstream". They had a system whereby the person at the front moved to the back and everyone else moved forwards one position after a certain number of trays had been dragged out. No-one ever got bored, everyone got at least one go at the sharp end, the digger at the front was always freshso digging fast and it worked really well.

 

[amw]

In High Wood we manage three or four hours, although in wet weather less, as it's miserable. Pictures this month so nice and dry. We always have tea and sandwiches after digging.

 

[Goydenman]

Black Sheep Diggers usually do about 4 hrs

 

[mikem]

It depends on your reward to misery ratio...

 

[TheBitterEnd]

It depends on your reward to misery ratio...

Wait ... what? digging comes with rewards?

I just do it for the type 3 fun

 

[mikem]

Keep going to the bitter end!