Japanese tunnel under Braemar Hill AOP [????- ]

In last month's visit to the Braemar Hill AOP, we also took the chance to take a look in the tunnel beneath it.

The tunnel is more complex than the usual 'dig a hole in the hillside'. First they had to make this hole in the AOP's floor:

Then they dug down. Here's the view up from the bottom of the hole:

From there they dug a tunnel sloping downhill. (As one of my sarcastic companions pointed out, that's not very surprising when you're starting from the top of a hill!)

There's a lot of mud been washed into the hole over the years, so the entrance to the tunnel is quite blocked up now. Still, poking a camera inside the hole shows that it opens up quite soon.

We wriggled in through the entrance, and were soon able to stand up. It has the same shape and size as the other tunnels we've seen, with alcoves cut into the sides at intervals - also a common feature. (And also the usual collection of empty beer & coke cans, another common feature!)

In this photo the camera focused closer, catching the haze of high humidity and particles in the air. Probably best not to think too much about what they are...

Later though, the ceiling started getting higher and higher. At last you reach the end, and if you look down on the right there's the curve of the roof of another tunnel, leading off to the left. Unfortunately it's so filled up with washed-in earth that we couldn't get in at all - the open gap is just a couple of inches high. (Also, my bad-camera day continued, so I don't have any video to show)

I think what happened is that the first tunnel leading down from the AOP, and the second tunnel coming in from the right were dug separately. When the two tunnels didn't meet, I think they kept digging the first tunnel lower and lower until they finally met up with the right tunnel. I can't think of any other reason to have such a high ceiling in the first tunnel.