Tuesday 12th February 2008.
As the sun is still shining, I decided to change my plans with regard to harvesting the mud pond I talked about yesterday. The ground outside has been drying well, so I decided I'd have a go at re-digging the moat/ditch around the outside of the tunnels.
During last summer I filled in a portion of the moat, laying drainage pipe in the bottom first. I hoped the leakage water would soak down through the soil and be taken away to my collection pond through the pipe, unfortunately this did not work well and left the surrounding area outside very wet.
As I approached the area which has been giving the most trouble, I realised it was not quite as dry as I though, but I'd started so I'd have a go! Because access at some points is tight, I decided to position the digger in the middle of the old moat and reverse my way around digging as I went. All was well for the first 50ft, but then the soft soil in the filled in ditch started giving me some trouble. The ground got wetter and slowly as I moved along the digger was starting to dig itself in!! One side was digging in more then the other and slowly I ended at the point of no return. As I tried to get out of the ditch onto firmer ground, things just got worst and the digger ended up at a very acute angle!
The next two hours was spent slowly propping myself upright a little at a time with the bucket and placing planks underneath and creeping a little at a time to firm ground!
Luckily I had got passed the tight area and managed to finish the section I had planned on firm ground.
The digger is a real mess, mud and clay in every orifice and I was not much better by the time I had finished!
Not one of the best days, but it made me smile a few times.