A - Team: Rob & Jon
B - Team: Joe & Sam
Nowhere to be seen team: Luke, Jim & Bog
Super early start today for rob and I as we got to Cussey car park for 5:00 p.m ready to head through to RAT on what we were hoping would be the big breakthrough trip! - It wasn't. Don't get your hopes up.
We quickly kitted up and Rob managed to twist my arm into a pre beer. Sam and Joe would head down later but were meeting later at 6:30 p.m for their old man trip. I've got to admit this was the most fun I'd had going through Vulgarious, The passage has enlarged massively with traffic and just in a wetsuit you could slide through gloriously, bar getting coated in mud. It was fairly pleasant for the first time. It didn't take as long to get to where we wanted to be and after Rob had started the syphon on Boil-up Sump 2 we headed down to the RAT Hole and the choke above where hopefully we would connect. When Rob and I first broke through Vulgarious back in April we managed to push the boulder choke to a crawl in the roof and on a previous trip we managed to get a good vocal connection here with Black Draught in Inglorious. Only little digging had been done here previously so tonight's trip was a proper go at it.
I took to the dig first and made good progress shifting out the floor and almost blocking myself in in the process. Rob was stationed just behind me at a precarious ledge above a large greasy drop. I managed to dig to what looked like a solid wall in front but was actually a large slab which appears to have fell from the roof. The draught to me seem to be coming from the right so I managed to uncover a decent sized rock in the floor and it was at this point Sam and Joe decided to show their faces, well I say faces… we could hear them very well but we definitely couldn't see them!
Sam was positioned at the first dig in Black Draught whilst Joe was at the sloppy end. Sam and I were having a conversation like he was sat across a table from me it was that clear. At this point I was done. My little kitten arms had failed me and it was time for me to retreat.
Enter Rob.
During my dig Rob had squirmed his way off to the left to what looks like the end of the large fallen roof slab. He said it was interesting as it could potentially skirt around the slab. Once he was in the dig he noticed that instead of going right left looked a better option. Albeit he dug right and managed to remove the boulder in the floor and bring it back almost blocking himself in and killing me in the process; it wouldn't be the first time he's tried throwing a rock at my head. Rob continued to dig whilst I went to check out the Rat hole. The passage here is beautiful. One of the best small passages I've ever seen with a prominent shell bed in the roof. I was amazed and would definitely like to come back and try and photo this and maybe try the round trip through the tight squeeze I failed to get through… after a short dig at the end here in zero draught I retreated now warm again to Rob who had about given up to. Unfortunate but fortunate we were now ready to exit via Vulgarious again. Downhill this time though It was quite a pleasure and the rest of the cave seemed easy enough to negotiate through. It was the first time in a while but I didn't feel too knackered after this trip, although it does help not having to carry a bag.
We even managed to make the pub too as it was the meet so a lovely pint in the Moon inn afterwards accompanied by some out of date pork scratchings. Nom nom.
We decided it wasn't worth digging the connection from the RAT and and we just concentrate on digging it from black draught.