The forecast for today was quite good, and 11 volunteers set out to speed CRC2 along.
Alas, on arrival it was drizzling and not at all suitable for brick laying. We covered up the corbelling area and stocks of solid blues, and concentrated on getting a run of concrete in.

Here is the opening shot for the day, with the very end of platform 2 in the right foreground! We attacked the final stretch today, whooppee!. In fact we worked on 4 different stretches (170m - 200m) and progress was made on each. But you can see ominous signs in the background, there is rain in the air. And it was only 5 degrees, only just warm enough to lay bricks, and the NE wind left our fingers feeling icy.

More doom laden clouds in this picture, where our expert mortar and concrete maker John O is giving lessons to Paul on the finer points of getting it just right. It seems that water is critical, even a tiny bit can turn into too much, so you add a few sips at a time with this mug. Really ! Paul is not convinced though. He found out soon enough, as one load was criticised as being too wet, and the following one, too dry. Luckily it's just a short trot down to the coal face now.

It soon started to rain, so instead of brick laying, the team concentrated on concrete and blocks. Here we are putting in a foundation layer on to the penultimate section at 190m. And we are not allowed to scratch the bricks with the wheelguard of the barrow, mind. Tricky, hence three guys on the job.

We then moved back a section, concreted 2 weeks ago, to start laying the blocks along it. This is the opening shot. Peter Q came down specially to do this, and he works quickly and well. It didn't take at all long to tip these blocks in onto a bed of mortar.

The same stretch seen from a different angle shows that John S has also started from the right, and he and Peter are about to meet in the middle.
Tony on the left has already started finishing off the newly laid blockwork with sloppy mortar, with which the vertical joints are filled.
This job was also completed today.

Then back to the 190m section, concreted earlier, and here we see Peter on his knees starting a short further row of blocks. All to do with height differences.
Bob, also on his hands and knees on the left, is putting down the first above ground row of blues on the final, 200m section. Last week it was an 'underground' row here, remember?
On the right Keith is bringing up a load of blues from the stacks above. They are walked by hand from one of the remaining 6 stacks on top of the slope, about 50yds away. He and your blogger moved two pallets of blues down today, possibly the last such movement. Just 4 pallets now remain.

A few moments after the above picture was taken, John S has joined in and he and Peter are now laying a third section of blocks, here on the final 200m section. The blocks won't go all the way to the end in the foreground, as this is the section with the slope. Meanwhile, Bob on the left has finished the first header row, and is on his second row here, one of facing bricks.

The 200m mark, and winner's flag in the foreground tell you how near we are to the end...

More activity in the far distance on the 170m section.

After an hour or so the rain did eventually peter out, and it was dry enough for JC to commence a row of corbelling, the second on the 170m section. This is slow but steady work, and he completed the 10m, ready for the third and final row next week. 170m all but finished! Should be ticked off next week.

The same section seen from the rear shows Tony at work on backing up. This takes twice as many bricks as corbelling. Sheets laid out, and further rolls of it show that we are ready for any further rain, but we were lucky and after a delayed start managed to work through to the end of the day.

During the day we received a visit from Bob Stark from the Cheltenham Area Group. He came with a modest cheque for your blogger, who has arranged for new running in board posts in GWR style, as well as authentic cast iron finials to go on top. We expect to re-erect the new name board in a fortnight or so.

Here we have an animated discussion, as Pete D makes an outrageous proposal to JC for an early tea break. Tony just can't believe the audacity of it - it's barely half past 10 ! No matter, Paul (above) is streets ahead and has already secured himself a sneaky cup. Cheers, lads. You're all doing very well....

In a scene reminiscent of a famous biblical event, Paul is made to bear a heavy cross, and, we hope, pay for his sins. Early tea break indeed !

The new CRC2 slabs are arriving in a week, and laying should commence within the month. We just need to get the platform wall finished off, looks like mid April at the current rate of progress.

Yes, it was a fun day. But not everyone is convinced. Someone else had the last mini Swiss Roll :-(
We wonder who?