Mending the driveway

Or perhaps making it worse, we are not sure yet.
There is a section that has been sagging down a little since we moved in. It is where the bank is steepest off the side of the drive and the bank has been eroded away under it. We have been slightly worried about it but not seriously until just recently when it has got dramatically worse and some of the bank has fallen away, and there are cracks in the drive itself.

A bit has fallen off

The cracks don't show here, but you can see the drive sagging to the left

We think this is because of the unusual amount of rain there has been recently. Due to the sagging, lots of water that has fallen on and run down several hundred metres of drive goes over the edge there and we think the ground has been getting waterlogged and therefore heavier. It is collapsing under it's own weight. This is our only way in and out. Aaaargh!

We bought some 'caniveau' (guttering in English) to embed in the drive. We have been procrastinating somewhat about doing it as we are concerned that hacking through the surface on the drive will make things worse rather than better (and partially because of the tremendous effort). We finally got round to it today.

Guttering and the string we used to mark where they should go

Part way through digging the channel (my! that was hard work)

Yes it got dark before we finished

We were pretty much finished when it got dark, but we need to finish filling in the earth and tidying up tomorrow.
I think we are going to ache tomorrow, it was very hard work digging the trench.