We split up on Sunday, Karl and Pete went back down Middlecleugh
to look at the backfilled passage which would give access to the west side of
Middlecleugh North Vein. Whilst myself and Karli headed onto the fell to look
for corresponding shafts to the said vein - we found them, but all were
blocked.
With nothing else to do, we ended up going down Bog Shaft to
see if anything had shifted at the choke. There has been lots of movement in
the past year above Smallcleugh where Bog Shaft intersects it and with finding
sheep skulls and plastic sheeting we where wondering if anything had moved from
this end. On the way down I passed a level with branches on either side of me,
and then further down 3m or so above the choke a bell chamber, from which the
choke material had come. Nothing had changed, the choke was still
present.
I least I had got to go down Bog Shaft from the surface. It
looks like the material must have come from the dogleg in the shaft, but if
there were skulls and plastic sheeting it cannot be that far from this top end
choke, unless there is more than one? It would be useful to hear from anyone
who knows about the size of the dogleg and whether Bog Shaft was ever open in
the last 30 years or so. |
