Author: chris bargman

Council Due To Start Work Soon

We have been told by the Coucil that they will do some work on this route very soon. The aim is to move the gate at bottom of Nunnery Lane further up the track away from the steep bank. They have also said they will do some drainage work here. This is needed as when we rode it yesterday water was running down the path even though it has been dry and I can see it getting very boggy if something is not done.

We expect that they will also put in a new gate onto the road past the cattle grid at the north end of the route and reinstate the official route which has disappeared. When this is done they will arrange the permissive route paperwork with the Shropshire Wildlife trust to join routes J and K without having to go on the road.

Drainage Work Completed

Some pics of the major drainage work completed at the bottom end of this route which used to be almost impassable. Thanks to the Council and the Parish Path Partnership Officer (Philip Betts) for getting this sorted at last. It looks like they have done a good job putting in a drainage pipe to take the water away right across the wet field leading into a ditch the other side of the field. An open ditch has also been dug up the wooded section of the route which hopefully will help and a drainage pipe put in under a wet bit at the top. All the new gates have been well hung and should be easy to open although they do use the style standard latches.

 

Gate leading onto Catherton Common from the Shropshire Wildlife Trust Field. This was put in some time ago by the SWT to stop vehicles using the route and works very well.

Clearance Party

A group of us (John, Steve, Yvonne, Pete, Olwen, James, Gill, Clare, Arthur and myself) cleared this route. Great to see so many helpers but we always need more. We filled Steve’s large farm trailer with brashings (thanks Steve for bringing this with your tractor and taking it away).

The aim is to allow access by a mini digger so that we can dig some drains to hopefully make this route suitable even in wet weather which at the moment it is not.

Will update with further info when we have worked on the drainage.

The route is still OK to ride while it is still dry.

 

Route Update

Rode it today. Good route. 4 gates but all can be done from horse back. Starting from the Bridge by the River Rea go up field and go past the barn (to the right) to the top left of the field to find the gate. Sometime there is livestock/cattle in the field but never had a problem with them. Cross 2 more pasture fields then turn right into corn field. Some kind person has tied some string to this gate so you can shut it as you go through. Something we could perhaps do with some other routes.

Turn left down side of field then route is marked across the field about 15 yds down from gate. Usually this is kept clear of crop and route is obvious. Depending upon time of year you may come across hundreds of game birds in next field and down track. Luckily our horses were oblivious to them flying up out of the hedge under the horses legs! Enjoy.

Route OK

This route from the road is down track to some houses. It goes across the Shropshire Wildlife Trust field which can be wet/boggy in winter and joins with route F (Jack Mytton Way). Sometime cattle are in this field but never had any problems with them (they can gather around the entrance gate).  One gate which is a bit difficult without dismounting.

Fun Quiz Night Success

All our labour for bridlepath improvements is voluntary but we need funds to purchase materials and also hire of equipment e.g. digger.  It is now looking increasingly unlikely that we will get any real financial support via the council so we decided to run a fun quiz night to try to raise some funds.

After an initial panic that we would not sell enough tickets we ended up with almost more people than we could cope with (90+ and 14 quiz teams).  The evening was a great success and most importantly has managed to raise some vital funds which we can now call upon to undertake priority work.  Jo and Chris organised the evening with support from other volunteers in the group (including Yvonne, Gill, Clare, Pete).

 

Many thanks to everyone who supported this event and helped raise some funds.

We will provide an update on the amount raised shortly.