With our usual transport "LRY" away for its summer hols, the logistics of a weekend dig became complex: Dan agreed to take Lesley and Ian and the food, while David Miller had the unenviable task of going to Aileen’s garage to select the relevant tools for the weekend... Dan & Co arrived at the hall, to find Phil already arrived on his motorbike, but unable to leave his kit to go to the pub to collect the key and put everything in a safe place...

All sorted out, we assembled in the Foresters for a ‘This weekend’s tasks’ talk from John Ward and Bill Nicholson, Dig Deep co-ordinator for the site.

The task of making the usual early morning run to Tickners Heath depot fell to Phil - collecting cement, sand, stone and the Wey & Arun Land Rover before breakfast.

Once on site, we found Paula - on her first London WRG dig - and inspected Malham Lock, where stone-cutting and fitting were on offer along with kangoing and stone removal. We strimmed and slashed the lock clear, while attempting to start the gennie for the Kango... eventually both of the switches on it were in a favourable position and it started.

Meanwhile Ian and Phil went to Rowner, the next lock south, intending to drain the chamber so that they could use a hired compressor and heavy breaker to make "an inspection hole for Roy Sutton to look into"...

By lunchtime we felt that not much progress had been made, until Ian and Phil returned from Rowner Lock and admitted that although they had siphoned the lock empty, they had been unable to start the (hired) compressor. Oh well.

So we concentrated on Malham, deciding to use the Kango to cut the hole at Rowner on Sunday instead of the breaker, which was not a lot of use without a compressor.

We had the use of NWPG’s shiny new Stihl disk cutter and used it to cut two stones for the holes in the lock chamber, while the section of wall to be removed - with stones now numbered - was kangoed out.

Back at the hall, before dinner we discovered a flaw in our logistics. Dan had to leave that night to go to work on Sunday, and most of those volunteers who had been intending to come by car on Sunday had decided - due to injury and the weather - not to come. Aaargh! Marooned in Kirdford with no transport!

After an excellent (fancy cooking) chicken dinner by Ian "The Little Chef" we met in the Foresters and checked backup plans - for John Ward to run people to Billingshurst Station - and prayed for Tim to turn up. An abstemious evening meant we were back and in bed by 11:30pm.

Sunday: Tim arrived for breakfast - thereby solving our transport plans - and we went on site, and it rained. And it rained. The mortar went from too dry to too wet in minutes, but the stones did go into the hole. The new Rowners team of Phil and David kangoed out an inspection hole insufficiently deep - due to meeting some reinforcing mesh - and in the wrong place - the original suggestion being a location that was taken up by the stop-planks.

John Ward and IWA honorary (it means he doesn't get paid!) engineer Roy Sutton turned up and inspected the inspection hole, and David and Phil returned to Malham where we had been rained-off and gone to look at Bignor Bridge, to remind ourselves of more productive past weekends spent on the Wey & Arun. (It looked excellent!)

By mutual agreement we packed in and returned wet for lunch at the hall.

OK. Stones cut and shoved in the hole. Backfill removed and stones kangoed free. Inspection hole dug and inspected. Navvies thoroughly wetted. Time for home, chaps.