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The Mine Shafts Project. Hydrology.

The data for most of this year. Rainfall at Taunton top and shaft water level bottom. There is a close relationship between the two though other factors like plant and tree growth come into play. The lowest theoretical shaft water level would be close to 9m thus opening up the lower drainage adit but this has not happened in the three years of monitoring. The second big shaft takes a lot of water in very wet spells. Not directly from the surface but a metre or so below the cap. The adit outflow runs the same most of the time so its all a balance of input over output. The adit clearly throttled by blockage somewhere. Of course as the water table lowers the hydrostatic pressure reduces thus decreasing the outflow. Maybe one day ---

 
Work continues with a trip on Sunday and another tomorrow. However its attritional and only creeping forward slowly. I will come back to this thread when something of note happens if ever. Meanwhile we have returned to our old digs at Fairy Cave Quarry at Quarter Way Up Hole.
 
" Bilbo" and " Frodo " on their own again at Bag End last night.

Nick and Mike in the Lonely Mine

Down in the earth where the daylight fades,
Nick and Mike worked with picks and spades.
No crowd behind them, no cheering crew,
Just two old friends with a job to do.

The mine was deep, the air was thin,
But they had grit carved deep within.
No maps, no guides, no fancy gear,
Just stubborn hearts that knew no fear.

Nick swung hard with steady might,
While Mike lit lamps to chase the night.
Dust clung thick to skin and bone,
But neither man would dig alone.

Their friends had laughed, then walked away—
“Too hard,” they said, “no gold today.”
But Nick just nodded, Mike just grinned,
And deeper still, they both descended.

They struck no gold, no gems, no fame,
Yet neither man would place the blame.
For what they found was something more—
A bond that richer men ignore.

The world above may never know
The tales that from that tunnel grow.
But in the dark, their legends shine:
Nick and Mike, the hearts of the mine.
 
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