A few weeks back, Geoff was in conversation with Mr Shepherd (one speaks English & the other speaks Portuguese!) and mentioned that we’re planning to have a second Borehole drilled as a backup. Mr Shepherd whips out his mobile phone & commences a short conversation with some unknown person, then informs Geoff that somebody will arrive tomorrow morning to assist! Well true to his word Mr Shepherd arrived the next morning & a short time later a gentleman arrived & to Geoff’s amazement knows the man as; Mr Sousa, who happens to be the ‘Vigneron’ from the vineyard just along the track from our home. Mr Sousa was carrying a dowsing rod (Y-shaped branch) which gave Geoff the much-needed clue to understanding why Mr Sousa was here!
Whilst Mr Sousa worked his magic, Geoff & Mr Shepherd followed at a distance. Mr Shepherd steered Geoff over to our well & gave Geoff a series of suggestions to rejuvenate the well & utilise the water.
After walking around the entirety of our property, Mr Sousa concluded that he had identified the best location which would provide a significant amount of water, worth the drilling expense.
Well renovation.
The well is 2.3m in diameter & 7m deep and holds approximately 6,000 Ltr’s.
The first step was to purchase a water pump, to pump out all of the water & clean the walls & bottom, of the well. The next hurdle was for me to climb down a ladder to the bottom of the well & dig the silt from the bottom. Geoff had the heavy job of lifting the buckets from the bottom via a rope tied to the bucket handle. Now the bottom was completely clean & the concrete walls had been scrubbed clean, there was only one thing left for Geoff to do & that was to construct a lid or cap for the well.
After a bit of head-scratching by Geoff, he came up with a plan & design for the round shaped Well lid & set about constructing it, of course, with a bit of help from Charlie & Elsa.
Retiring to Evora 