Sunday 8 June 2008

Clearing the Entrance

With the mini-hammer retired, diggerman got back to work...




Dave phoned at this point from the airport to ask about the Boulder. Rather than spoil his holiday, I lied that it was tucked up safe near the lawn and that would be there for him on his return.Richard spotting for today.

A moment after this picture, Richard shouts at diggerman to stop....


He's noticed a cavity opening up somewhere we weren't expecting.....In front of the tunnel entrance, under where the Boulder was keeping sentinel, we encounter a second obstacle!!!!!!! Richard tentatively investigates

It appears that the path of the digger is now blocked by a second new undergrown chamber, this time full of what appears to be water. A grapefruit sized boulder topples into the hole with a worryingly deep "Plop".

We set about debating what we've stumbled on now!

At this point I must admit I was slightly downheartened. Having destroyed the boulder in order to crack on, the thought of having broken into an old septic tank or the drains was sickening.However, after prodding around inside the not-so-smelly-at-all water with a long stick, we found that the chamber was only about 4ft square. Looking at the old photos, and knowing where the house drains were, we decided that what we had inadvertently broken into was most probably a water tank for the tunnel, which would have allowed a tap to be located at the entrance - well, sounded sensible to us. Diggerman said "lets cover it up and press on" and we agreed, noted where to avoid any digging for the rest of the day.


The whole of the area around the entrance is full of broken rocks that had fallen from the quarry overhead. Diggerman drove in to push a few to the back


Now we can start going down.

We finally smell victory !!


See a video as we get near to gaining access here...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vt_XJPC6ekI

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