Foundation Tubes

It's been a loooong and frustrating week. The weather has not been playing nice, and progress with the tunnel has been hampered by that, and by the fact that Mr Wix is incapable of functioning before about 11am, meaning half a day has vanished before we even make a start... Anyway. Day Whatever-we're-up-to-now, was setting out day. One of the most crucial parts of constructing a tunnel is getting the four corner foundation tubes in the right place, level and square with each other. It's well worth spending time on this bit, it means everything else fits later!
So, Saturday afternoon; construction guide, tape measure, string, spirit levels and spades ready, we made a start. First Tunnels construction guides are just brilliant, if you're puzzled at any point, QR codes in the booklet take you straight to a YouTube video showing exactly how to do it, plus they have a dedicated website with all of the construction guides, tips and tricks, and links to the YouTube channel. (See http://www.polytunnels.co.uk/ ). So we followed their instructions to the letter:

Once we found the right place for the tube to go, we dropped a square anchor plate over the tube, and marked out the square about an inch bigger than the plate with the spade, and then lifted them out of the way and dug the hole, checking the depth with the tube until it protruded just the right amount from the hole. 

Then seated the tube, put the clamps and anchor plates on, and back-filled the hole while holding the tube level.

It took all afternoon to get those four tubes in, but when measured from any point, they were practically perfect in positioning, and all level in height. Yay! I'm pretty sure that will make it much easier to put in the remaining 6 tubes.