13th October

Storm Amy arrived, and it was a strong one.

First big one of the year, and earlier than usual, we lost all power around 5pm.

So, we got all the Camping gear out, head torches tent lights and stoves and I left Jacqui, Erin and Calum to it.

My night was going to be spent roaming rounds tunnels with a head torch on.

Loosing polythene to it getting ripped by the wind is bad but getting a tunnel frame all bent because I haven’t cut polythene in time is a disaster, and a very expensive one at that.

So, the main thing I am really looking out for, are any signs of tunnel hoops starting to bend.

Polythene is pretty strong and if it doesn’t tear, with the pressure of the wind it can easily bent a 50mm round pole, which is what the tunnel hoops are made of, and if one bends it is like a domino affect and the rest follow.

So armed with a big knife, I am constantly checking the tunnel hoops for any signs of bending, and if there is I just cut the polythene.

Luckily, we came through it unscathed, although tunnel two did rip, but it ripped along the tape, this tunnel got ripped in last year’s storm, when I lost the sheet of off three tunnels.

But to save time and money, we repaired tunnel two with tunnel tape, as it was salvageable.

The others had no polythene left.

So, the plan was after harvesting the spinach and ruby chard, I was going to take the polythene of and do some repairs to the tunnel hoops and ridge bar, plus renew both door ends.

Last year I done the same with tunnel five, these tunnels are over thirty years old, so now and again they need a bit of attention, they are not designed like new tunnels are now.

New ones now are much stronger and can take a bit more of a battering by the wind.

As I found out when I did have to buy one a couple of years ago, because we hadn’t made it in time to cut the polythene, the new tunnel has far more bracing bars, and they are a bit flatter on the roof, you can also jack the tunnel up when you have polythene on, which then makes the polythene drum tight, a huge benefit.

But a very expensive benefit, we will only ever replace an old tunnel with another new one if I cannot repair it.

So for the meantime, I pulled an old bit of polythene over the ripped part of the tunnel and roped it down to machines, this means the spinach and ruby chard still has a cover, and we can continue harvesting, then we will take the polythene of do the repairs, and get it back to looking new and ready to go.