6-4-21 first visit after lockdown restrictions easing

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

2hrs

First look at the dig since before COVID-19 lockdown. Headed into the dig to look at the end and it is currently flooded to approximately where you would sit for the lower haul. There is probably 3ft-ish depth of water at its deepest. It is possible to traverse along the edge a bit and see under the arch into the chamber at the end, but far too wet to dig at present. Since our last visit, there has been a subsidence from under the hedge line and most of the spoil buckets were buried under this. We soon retrieved these, but made the decision to spend the rest of the evening building up the retaining spoil bag wall in case of further subsidence, plus as it was quite chilly and windy that evening, it kept us warm for a while until we decided to crack open a beer each whilst down there! We discussed possible pumping ideas and also mused over whether the dig water level was at water table level or just backed up thanks to the thick clay we usually dig out. We also discussed the ideas of pumping and are looking towards a 2 pump system as most likely and Stu has brought over a big blue barrel that we could use for the middle level. We’d need 2 pumps with less lift that way and thus cheaper to acquire, plus looking at options to make sure the bottom pump is a 110v for safety, where it won’t matter for the top pump down to its location. We’ll look at the options over the next few weeks on all this, but meanwhile we can bring cement to continue building the wall up the side of the steps and also there is a small collapse the other side of the railway needing clearing.