Like any Club exploring underground, a point is eventually reached where it is necessary to dig through a roof fall or boulder choke.
In such cases, you dig a hole and use what ever materials are handy to make it safe, then hope for the best and press on.
On long-term digs, a lot of effort goes into transporting props and supports underground, while desperately trying to find nooks and crannies to stuff the spoil into - anything to reduce the distance you have to drag or shovel it!!
Not all digs are like this. One fine spring day at Pimhill in Shropshire, a certain Club Member took a fancy to a spot on the hillside and started digging into the soft sandy ground....
Two metres later he hit the top of a tunnel entrance, which gave access to several metres of nice hand cut passages in white and red sandstone.
Above: Pymhill Mine Tunnel
This passage linked to a rubbish filled shaft that the rest of us had been attempting to explore (!)
A bonus was the discovery in
the level of
a previously unknown colony of Natterers and Lesser Horseshoe bats, how
they got in there without a shovel no one knows!
Credits
Thanks to:
The Landowners at Pymhill and Ritton Castle for allowing
us access to their property.
Pictures: Pymhill - Peter Eggleston/I.A.Recordings. Ritton Castle - Mike Worsfold.