Some Fun Images From Vurley Over Three Years.

[Laurie]

Well and truly splodged !

Agreed. 

Thankyou. 

[The Old Ruminator]

Ahh just what I wanted. Page Three. Gone Caving ------

[The Old Ruminator]

A good day experimenting with the TG2 and Yongnuo flashgun. Failed in clearing the Jill's Slither sump with drain rods.

Ladder fixed in the pot.

Fixed ladder below The Egg Timer. by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Under the choke is a small chamber with a tight slot leading off to the left. The stream follows this.

P3040072 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Taking a look.

Unentered streamway ( as yet ) Vurley. by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Widening the slot beyond which is a big deep hole. Boom, boom.

Vurley. " The Master Cave " by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

[The Old Ruminator]

Nearly there.

Vurley. decent stal at last . by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Start of the slot.

P3040020 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

The little stream enters.

P3040031 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

The initial slot widened.

Kate. Vurley. by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

The slot leads to an awkward take off on a pitch.

Vurley by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

P4170320 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

The pitch is 11m and quite roomy.

Vurley by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr



Vurley by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Below a bigger chamber at the head of a bedding passage.

P4170121 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Vurley by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

P5010069 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

P5010347 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Vadose trench at the end of the bedding plane.

P5010091 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Fault below the 11m pitch.

P4170025 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

[ChrisJC]

Where do you get your concrete pipes from?

Chris.

[The Old Ruminator]

Where do you get your concrete pipes from?

Chris.

Serendipity.

In the next field somebody had attempted to construct some sort of soakaway or cess pit with the pipes buried upright two at a time. The present landowner was glad to get rid of them. So we had a nice hut, pipes to hand, an occasional stream sink, a closed karst basin in lovely surroundings and a helpful landowner. ( now changed to another nice landowner ). Acquiring the initial finance meant getting all interested parties together to form a consortium. Keeping that on track is the hard part.

[The Old Ruminator]

Vadose trench at the bottom of the bedding passage.

P5010144 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Leading to 20m pitch.

Vurley by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Vurley by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Vurley by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Not much recorded beyond here. Only 5 of the group have been down the 20m pitch then the other two shorter pitches that follow. Final point is a view down into a small chamber where the stream sinks under the wall. Nobody has been there yet. CO2 still %3 at the 11m pitch. You dont want to climb 3 more pitches with that.

Poor photo looking up 20m pitch.

P5170066 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Friable cobble layer at around 120m at the base of the Clifton Down limestone.

P5170055 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Small scallops at about 110 m. Possibly indicating fast vadose flow. Large, possibly phreatic, scallops are seen closer to 150m.

P5170070 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

[The Old Ruminator]

The overthrust at Vurley.

P5010001 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Boulders from the loess.

IMG_0437 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Where the pipes will start.

IMG_0434 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Back to the beginning.

IMG_0586 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

IMG_0422 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

[Speleofish]

As always, this is fascinating! When (and where) are you going to publish the details about Vurley? In the meantime, please keep posting the pictures - they're wonderful!

[mrodoc]

We need to a) finish the survey and b) push the bottom. Waiting for the CO2 levels to drop sufficiently. The OR will then be able to put a ladder down the big pitch and take photos of the bottom.

[The Old Ruminator]

As always, this is fascinating! When (and where) are you going to publish the details about Vurley? In the meantime, please keep posting the pictures - they're wonderful!

Thank you for the nice reply.

Vurley details are appearing in some club magazines. Mr O' Doc has been running a commentary in Belfry Bulletins  ( BEC ). I have done a little in Chelsea SS mags.

I have recently joined the Wessex Cave Club ( they might well regret that ) and hope to start a full history of the dig with my amateur geological ramblings the first of which may be out this month.

Our consortium numbers about 15 so consequently we have different views . I am taking a chance with these images as the wrath of The Karst Police may yet descend on me. Up until now we have been reticent regarding publicity mainly because we have a new landowner so we are treading carefully. We do not allow visitors as yet. I have restricted the thread to images only with little comment. I feel the time is right for that as images and videos have been shown at Hidden Earth and at the J'Rat awards. I did the same with Reservoir Hole which recorded over 100,000 views and as far as I know none of the backlash that some of the group feared. I hope for the same this time.

Another issue within the group hinted at by Mr'O Doc was whether the 20m pitch should be SRT only. Not my forte at age 71. Therefore it has not been climbed on ladders yet.
There is a ledge half way down so the pitch may well split as two ten metre ladder drops.( there is an SRT deviation here ). Easily obtained with a small platform ( there are two such in Reservoir ) but the SRT purists are dead against that idea today. Two of us have bought the ladders for the 20m pitch but no additional bolts for the ladders and lifeline have yet been added. I therefore do not know when or if this will happen.

Clearly the main concern is the CO2. Possibly we have been happily burrowing away with that in the past but with four pitches that is clearly not advisable now. Regular monitoring is still going on and as before we have no real idea when things might change for the better.

[MarkS]

Our consortium numbers about 15 so consequently we have different views . I am taking a chance with these images as the wrath of The Karst Police may yet descend on me. Up until now we have been reticent regarding publicity mainly because we have a new landowner so we are treading carefully. We do not allow visitors as yet. I have restricted the thread to images only with little comment. I feel the time is right for that as images and videos have been shown at Hidden Earth and at the J'Rat awards. I did the same with Reservoir Hole which recorded over 100,000 views and as far as I know none of the backlash that some of the group feared. I hope for the same this time.

I'm delighted you've made this topic. It's been really interesting viewing/reading. 

[The Old Ruminator]

Vurley by SRT.


P5010004 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Autumn 2018.

Now that the entrance pipe has become an occasional active conduit we thought it best to reinforce all of the area directly below the pipes. Basically I volunteered to do this as I can go at my own pace on my own and enjoy the countryside as well.

P8020002 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

First thing was to recover the half bit of pipe left over in reforming the old Balch entrance. This was cut to make one permanent piece and one a temporary concrete mould.

P8170001 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

The temporary moulding was used at the bottom of the entrance ladder then the space behind filled with concrete.

PA090043 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

After that a stone wall was built up part way using cement. That then continued as a dry stone wall as it looked more natural.

The permanent piece was used to fill under the pipe where there had been some washout.

P8170020 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

This looks better today as it has been cemented over at the top to join up with the pipes.

A wall was then built where the gravel matrix has washed out in the rift below the ladders.

P7310046 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr



P8020015 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

[The Old Ruminator]

The Fool on the Hill.

P8170019 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

I also braced up two areas of roof that might be affected by washout some time in the future.

P7310007 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

Acro cut short and pinned to the wall on either side. Belt and braces really.

P8170010 by Nicholas Chipchase, on Flickr

I still have more dry stone walling to do when I am in the mood for it.