Back to the dig

The Laugharne fieldwork always ends on a Thursday. Normally, we are back in the north so late that going underground afterwards is out of the question. But this year, with nothing scheduled on the last day except getting ready to leave, and only 22 students to do so, things had changed. By 10AM all the  students (and the staff) were ready to go. So we left! I dropped the students I was driving off at home or wherever else they wanted to be dropped off, and went home myself, to drop off my bags. It was only 3PM!

I put my lamp in the charger, unpacked what needed immediate unpacking, watered my plants which had survived a heatwave without sustenance, packed my caving kit and had something to eat and drink. Then David appeared out of nowhere; he had asked if he could leave his car on my drive for the duration of the field trip, as he knows I live in a dull part of town with low levels of theft and vandalism, so he had to get back to my place to retrieve it. He had parked his rental vehicle at university and been dropped off at my place. That allowed me to then drive my vehicle to university, followed by David, after which he drove me back up. It had only just been 4PM!

I left at the usual hour to go to the dig; I knew Miles would already be there, and I had told him I had no idea if I could make it or not. He'd just have to wait and see! I had expected him to have been in for a while but I bumped into him before I had even reached the dig.

Our first task was clear out the rubble we had left the previous time. Very satisfying work! As usual I was at the coalface and Miles was lower down, but now the passage was so wide he came up to inspect the situation. This had revealed a possible way on; upwards there were some rocks that would be difficult to remove without endangering yourself, but an opening straight ahead had revealed itself. Well, it's up we want to go, but bypassing the difficult rocks would probably pay off!

We had time for a round of blasting, so we placed a charge in a rock that moved but was too big to chuck down, and one rock that needed to be reduced a bit in order to let me past. That was a success! I saw what next we'd have to blow up so we could come prepared. We did get rid of the fragments of the moving rock but by then it was time to get out.

It was really nice to do some brainless throwing around of rocks after being largely cerebral for almost two weeks! And making good progress is always satisfying. I hope a way up will reveal itself during a next session!