The Old Ruminator
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Nigel sat under this rock all morning. When I went in to look at it it fell out.
The look that made it fall out.
The look that made it fall out.
Return To Quarter Way Up Hole
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The Old Ruminator
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An earlier view of the hanging rock.
The Old Ruminator
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Meanwhile back at " Poker's Paradise "
One big slab down . Two more to go.
One big slab down . Two more to go.
The Old Ruminator
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Ooo er. They crashed down and bent my pole.
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Missed me you nasty beast.
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Peter Glanvill tub hauling.
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End of day. Brian at the dig. Going on down.
Now glad to be safe at home. Roll on next week.
Now glad to be safe at home. Roll on next week.
The Old Ruminator
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I nearly forgot the collage.
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Our way of keeping the drill clean. Large size poly bag. All functions accessable through the bag. Battery changed threough the top which is clipped shut by a karabiner. The drill does not over heat.
The Old Ruminator
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The Old Ruminator
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To Infinity And Beyond.
No Digging at QWUH this week as I have a cold and sore finger. It seems that I am irreplacable.
So time for ruminating on possibilities. Lets look at the pros and possibles.
We have miles of limestone east and west of us and about a half mile in front. We have advanced a theory that todays St Dunstan's Well Catchment is %50 smaller than it was say 400,000 yers ago . The missing section having been captured by the downcutting of the Ashwick Grove valley and the breaching of the quartzitic layer constraining the outflow at the escarpment. So we now have two outflows when originally there was only one. OK we can make that work as an hypothesis I guess. We can now look at the plateau above the risings. Clearly now much denuded from the time that Shatter Cave was formed. Indeed is quite possible that the upper sections of Shatter and Withyhill Caves have long since been destroyed by erosion. Surface features have been buried by periglacial head . The Midway Slocker surface stream has now cut its own mini valley in the head bringing the slocker much closer to the rising than it originally was. Shatter was eventually captured by Withyhill the latter running slightly lower . This is clearly seen between Jonathan's Chamber and Withyhill main passage. Jonathan's Chamber is essentially part of Shatter Cave.
Quarter Way Up Cave is either a phreatic anomoly or its part of the proto drainage to St Dunstans Well. So far everything seems to work but I am rather an optimist. Is it a concidence that QWUH and Fairy Cave exist at the same altitude ? For that to be meaningful we have to ask ourselves what role Fairy Cave played in the catchment evolution. Could it represent drainage from our now missing part of the catchment having been bisected by the hanging valley carved later in the escarpment ? We see little of the classic Mendip phreatic loop formation at Fairy Cave Quarry. All known caves are fairly linier developed along N-S faults and strike. The long thalweg ( base level ) dropping very gently until it reaches the rising. Transition from phreatic to vadose is evident in many parts particularly at Pisa in Shatter. Shatter and Withyhill have many instances of phreatic half tubes in the roof. Maybe its differant here as the sink to rising gradient has never been as large at that on other parts of Mendip.( less hydrostatic head ). So QWUH is still looking interesting I guess. Lets add a couple more encouraging facts.
QWUH and most of Shatter are both in the Clifton Down series. That classification has given us some of the best cave formations on Mendip ( in my view ). Even if QWUH ever reaches the Burrington Oolite we can still be sure of fine formations. And then there was Robert. QWUH must have been an important feature in the landscape 40,000 years ago. Maybe we have a partly unroofed system recently uncovered during the last ice age synonymous with the eroded sections of Shatter and Withyhill. The last remnants with Fairy Cave of a system that likely was active in the warmer Hoxnian 400,000 years ago. Our digs are in fault rifts choked by infill. In more recent eras water again flowed in the fault rifts leaving the rift wall and adjacent rocks clean of the mud infill. Annoyingy the draughts are many and varied. So we have the correct evidence in terms of geological structure which we hope will change for the better when strike development is regained. Anyway whilst I am still poking there it will be " Poker's Progress ". OK that does take way the fact that basically its horrible.. We shall see.
So I write this now full of aged optimism and sixty years of digging experience. I was right about Reservoir Hole wasn't I ? I called it" The Promised Land " before the breakthrough. Do you get another bite of the cherry in life ? Maybe its just the ramblings of an old fool. I tell you what if I am even a teeny bit right and QWUH goes anywhere I shall be back to say " I told you so ".
No Digging at QWUH this week as I have a cold and sore finger. It seems that I am irreplacable.
So time for ruminating on possibilities. Lets look at the pros and possibles.
We have miles of limestone east and west of us and about a half mile in front. We have advanced a theory that todays St Dunstan's Well Catchment is %50 smaller than it was say 400,000 yers ago . The missing section having been captured by the downcutting of the Ashwick Grove valley and the breaching of the quartzitic layer constraining the outflow at the escarpment. So we now have two outflows when originally there was only one. OK we can make that work as an hypothesis I guess. We can now look at the plateau above the risings. Clearly now much denuded from the time that Shatter Cave was formed. Indeed is quite possible that the upper sections of Shatter and Withyhill Caves have long since been destroyed by erosion. Surface features have been buried by periglacial head . The Midway Slocker surface stream has now cut its own mini valley in the head bringing the slocker much closer to the rising than it originally was. Shatter was eventually captured by Withyhill the latter running slightly lower . This is clearly seen between Jonathan's Chamber and Withyhill main passage. Jonathan's Chamber is essentially part of Shatter Cave.
Quarter Way Up Cave is either a phreatic anomoly or its part of the proto drainage to St Dunstans Well. So far everything seems to work but I am rather an optimist. Is it a concidence that QWUH and Fairy Cave exist at the same altitude ? For that to be meaningful we have to ask ourselves what role Fairy Cave played in the catchment evolution. Could it represent drainage from our now missing part of the catchment having been bisected by the hanging valley carved later in the escarpment ? We see little of the classic Mendip phreatic loop formation at Fairy Cave Quarry. All known caves are fairly linier developed along N-S faults and strike. The long thalweg ( base level ) dropping very gently until it reaches the rising. Transition from phreatic to vadose is evident in many parts particularly at Pisa in Shatter. Shatter and Withyhill have many instances of phreatic half tubes in the roof. Maybe its differant here as the sink to rising gradient has never been as large at that on other parts of Mendip.( less hydrostatic head ). So QWUH is still looking interesting I guess. Lets add a couple more encouraging facts.
QWUH and most of Shatter are both in the Clifton Down series. That classification has given us some of the best cave formations on Mendip ( in my view ). Even if QWUH ever reaches the Burrington Oolite we can still be sure of fine formations. And then there was Robert. QWUH must have been an important feature in the landscape 40,000 years ago. Maybe we have a partly unroofed system recently uncovered during the last ice age synonymous with the eroded sections of Shatter and Withyhill. The last remnants with Fairy Cave of a system that likely was active in the warmer Hoxnian 400,000 years ago. Our digs are in fault rifts choked by infill. In more recent eras water again flowed in the fault rifts leaving the rift wall and adjacent rocks clean of the mud infill. Annoyingy the draughts are many and varied. So we have the correct evidence in terms of geological structure which we hope will change for the better when strike development is regained. Anyway whilst I am still poking there it will be " Poker's Progress ". OK that does take way the fact that basically its horrible.. We shall see.
So I write this now full of aged optimism and sixty years of digging experience. I was right about Reservoir Hole wasn't I ? I called it" The Promised Land " before the breakthrough. Do you get another bite of the cherry in life ? Maybe its just the ramblings of an old fool. I tell you what if I am even a teeny bit right and QWUH goes anywhere I shall be back to say " I told you so ".
The Old Ruminator
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As things are now with " Poker's Progress ".
The Old Ruminator
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" Pokers's Progress " The bigger slabs poked down. The fault wall clean washed.
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Bottom Dig today. Mesh in . Going down.
The Old Ruminator
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Top Dig today ( Poker's Progess ). Lots poked down. Space along the fault wall. Acro for " protection ".
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URL=https://hosting.photobucket.com/3ee...917a33f.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds]
The Old Ruminator
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Yesterdays trip report.
Five hardy souls assembled in the car park.The start of a very hot day ( outside ).
Not so much gear today. Peter Gl and Nigel went on ahead in QWUH to check for kit in HWUH. Too good an opportunity to miss. I went up the cliff face traverse to HWUH and sat quietly in the dark. After a while with much grunting two legs appeared through the squeeze which I grabbed ." Who is that who is that ? " came the anguished cry from P.G. Should not have fightened Nigel I suppose. No boulder net but two short poles and a base jack which Peter took back through the squeeze. Nigel and I went down and back through QWUH. Peter arriving some ten minutes after us at the chamber. Apparently the squeeze return is not so easy. All treverse rigging still OK.
We split into two groups. The two Peters and Brian at the bottom dig and Nigel and I at Poker's Progress. We made good progress at P.P. removing mud and boulders until we were unable to remove two more big slabs. The capping team from below came up and sorted them out. Ahead is more clean washed rocks and one large boulder. A draught exits the spaces beyond. More progress is expected here next time.
At the bottom dig the pulley system was set up and the corner taken off the boulder wall making a lot more space. Mr Goldie enlarged the roof area by allowing a big slab of bedding to fall on him. Both sites are looking good for more work and if anything a little more promising. It was 32 degrees when we came out.
Photos.
Bottom dig with pulley.
Boulder to demolish in bottom dig.
Poker's Progress.
Last. Boulders from P.P. today.
Five hardy souls assembled in the car park.The start of a very hot day ( outside ).
Not so much gear today. Peter Gl and Nigel went on ahead in QWUH to check for kit in HWUH. Too good an opportunity to miss. I went up the cliff face traverse to HWUH and sat quietly in the dark. After a while with much grunting two legs appeared through the squeeze which I grabbed ." Who is that who is that ? " came the anguished cry from P.G. Should not have fightened Nigel I suppose. No boulder net but two short poles and a base jack which Peter took back through the squeeze. Nigel and I went down and back through QWUH. Peter arriving some ten minutes after us at the chamber. Apparently the squeeze return is not so easy. All treverse rigging still OK.
We split into two groups. The two Peters and Brian at the bottom dig and Nigel and I at Poker's Progress. We made good progress at P.P. removing mud and boulders until we were unable to remove two more big slabs. The capping team from below came up and sorted them out. Ahead is more clean washed rocks and one large boulder. A draught exits the spaces beyond. More progress is expected here next time.
At the bottom dig the pulley system was set up and the corner taken off the boulder wall making a lot more space. Mr Goldie enlarged the roof area by allowing a big slab of bedding to fall on him. Both sites are looking good for more work and if anything a little more promising. It was 32 degrees when we came out.
Photos.
Bottom dig with pulley.
Boulder to demolish in bottom dig.
Poker's Progress.
Last. Boulders from P.P. today.
The Old Ruminator
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The Old Ruminator
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The Old Ruminator
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The Old Ruminator
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Resting.
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