Badgers Oak Tunnel (North end)

This was the highest point of the line at about 200 feet above mean sea level. There are quite a lot of videos and accounts of peoples visits here so I am expecting it to be very wet and a little 'creepy',  there are also supposed to be old abandoned railway sleepers and an even an old rail according to one 'Youtuber'.

                                                The last swamp before the tunnel.

 The Northern Portal looks the same as Horsmonden Tunnel, and this too has a three brick        lining. The vegetation obscures a clear view of the design in the brickwork.

The paint on the original PWH tunnel reference number has been eroded away over the years.

As I entered the tunnel the sounds of bird song diminished to be replaced by the sound of hundreds of drips falling from different parts of the roof. Maybe that is why it feels creepy to some people.

Once more the same red bricks have been used. Like Horsmonden there are 'bleed pipes' set in the walls every five meters or so. They are all dry though. This one seems to have been cemented in rather badly.

               The walls are very wet in some places as water streams down from the roof.

                                           Wet mud covers most of the floor.

A shot of the wet roof. White calcite deposits are more apparent than black soot deposits. (Why did I not manage to get a picture of the roof of Horsmonden tunnel?)

                         Brick particles cover the floor. (This seems quite concerning.)

Calcification has began on some of the brick work. The constant dampness has caused a chemical reaction in the bricks, leeching out salts and impurities.

A  shot of the first refuge. Here the tunnels are different, I am about six feet tall and I was able to stand upright in one with my head brushing the top of the arch, I had to squat in Horsmonden tunnel as it was at least six inches lower.

                                                           More brick chippings.

                        A second refuge, this one is in good condition. Why are there always broken bottles found in places like this? A person would have to be really depressed to sit in a dripping dark tunnel getting sloshed!

The inside of another refuge in a poor state of repair. The bricks have crumbled away exposing the bare rock behind.

                                      Some of the bricks in the wall are missing too.

The tunnel is somewhere between 172 and 178 yards long depending on who's account you are reading. I wisely bought a torch, and a coat with a hood (which I had to raise immediately) but I only wore walking boots as I had left my wellies in the shed and have lost the keys somewhere in the garden! Fortunately  the water never went over my boots. I felt ever so slightly uneasy at one stage but I don't usually mind places like this. If, however, the tunnel had been longer and wetter then it may have unnerved me! Despite being at a higher elevation the tunnel is much wetter than Horsmonden tunnel, but at least the water can drain away down the track bed. Horsmonden Tunnel is so full of rubbish that any water in there can't escape easily (see my 2015 blog).