Work on the Ashby
AFTER many months of meetings, deliberation and consultation, Stuart Collins, the C&RT area volunteer coordinator, with a mini digger and four Ashby Canal Association (ACA) volunteers with shovels and wheelbarrows led by Martyn Plant started preparation work on a very boggy length of towpath on Friday, writes Brian Holmes.
The length between Snarestone Tunnel and bridge 60 has been in a terrible state for a long time due to water draining from fields above the cutting alongside the towpath discharging onto the towpath. The towpath surface was skimmed with the machine and a drain dug alongside the cutting to determine exactly where the water was coming from.
Combined forces
On Saturday, 30 volunteers from ACA and Measham Angling Club combined forces to lay 15 tons of stone on the towpath. This involved shovelling the material out of a hopper into wheelbarrows, not an easy task, spreading the material onto the prepared surface and vibrating it into a solid walkable mass. A new drainpipe was laid under the towpath to discharge the collected water into the canal after it percolates through more stone acting as a filter in the trench. The trench for the new drainpipe uncovered an existing drainpipe that was clogged solid with soil deposits. Obviously the towpath has been subjected to the same problem in the distant past.
On Sunday, 20 volunteers filled the trench with 10 tons of stone and topped with soil and turfs at a lower level than the towpath to act as a defence preventing the new surface from becoming waterlogged again. Some of the overhanging tree branches were cut back to try and alleviate some of the leaf deposit and allow more light onto the towpath.
Welcome refreshment
ACA provided welcome refreshment during the weekend. Tea, coffee and cake went down very well and proved a welcome respite from the heavy labour.
A very successful weekend and thanks to everyone involved the finished project is a certain improvement to the fabric of the canal.
Finally, a big thank you to Anthony of Rose Narrowboats for the generous loan of tug and hopper, the job would not have been possible without it.
Would benefit
Unfortunately, all over our canal system there are lengths of towpath that would benefit from the same exercise due to the deterioration of the fabric and lack of planned maintenance during the previous regime. I'm sure everyone who reads this knows of an unusable and dangerous stretch of towpath—another list in the offing?