Recent 'Towpath Improvements'

[DHutch]

Two emails form CRT yesterday, and a photo on FB of a load of compacted fine gravel outside Hustleston water point. Cut down copy of the emails below:

 

 

 

£260,000 Montgomery Canal towpath project completed

 

The Montgomery Canal restoration comes under the spotlight at a celebration to mark the completion of a £260,000 towpath improvement project, near Llanymynech, in Powys.

 

A new all-weather, hard surface means walkers, cyclists, anglers and canoeists will now be able to use the mile-long section between Four Crosses and Carreghofa, just south of the town of Llanymynech, whatever the weather. Several new canoe access points have also been created.

 

Over £1million has already been invested in transforming a 14 mile section of the towpath between Newtown and Welshpool. This is the seventh section of towpath to be upgraded and is being carried out by Glandŵr Cymru - the Canal & River Trust in Wales, in partnership with Powys County Council, with funding from the Welsh Governments Local Transport Fund for 2013/14.

 

 

ENDS

 

 

 

TOWPATH IMPROVEMENTS AIMED AT BOOSTING TOURISM GIVEN TUDOR SEAL OF APPROVAL

 

Visitors to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal towpath near Rufford Old Hall in Lancashire could have been forgiven for thinking they had stepped back in time when they were greeted by Lord and Lady Hesketh in full Tudor costume.

 

The costumed characters were celebrating the completion of a £197,000 project to improve the towpath and encourage tourism by providing an attractive walking and cycling route between Rufford Railway Station and the Old Hall.

 

Work has been carried out by national charity the Canal & River Trust and it is hoped will boost the number of visitors who use the rail network and then the canal towpath to visit the Old Hall, as well as improving links to Rufford Marina.

 

The towpath work included resurfacing, improving the drainage to get rid of puddles in wet weather and rebuilding a short length of the canal bank to prevent water escaping.

 

This stretch of towpath was previously in very poor condition and these improvements were much needed but Lord Hesketh will no longer need to throw down his cloak to save his Lady from the muddy puddles!

 

Work has also taken place to encourage water voles with 220 metres of coir rolls pre-planted with aquatic plants being laid alongside the canal edge to act as cover and habitat for the protected species.

 

ENDS

 

 

 

 

Not normally one to bemoan spening/improvements but it strikes me as a staggering cost? Is this the going rate for 'improved' towpaths? What is the life expectancy?

 

 

Daniel

 

 

Daniel

[Arthur Marshall]

I suspct the rebuilding of the canal bank took a fair bit of it.

[dor]

I don't think the costs are that excessive. You have to remember they need to put in place huge amounts of stuff to satisfy the Elf'n'Safety people. Much of the money comes from Sustrans or local authorities and keen volunteers are often used for most of the work, as in the Hurleston improvements noted above.

 

One of the most expensive bits of towpath improvement going on at the moment is in Woodseaves Cutting. Anyone familiar with it will know that it has been virtually impassable for years in places and to make a clean and safe towpath requires a considerable amount of geological stabilisation and drains that won't clog up in weeks due to sliding material.

[matty40s]

I was amazed to see a Trunk road style towpath being laid on the Garrison Flight in Birmingham. This will be so that the cyclists can go faster past the floating rubbish, torched lock beams and graffitti artists.

[Catrin]

Alan and I were at the SE Waterways Forum at Braunston last week, where James Clifton of CRT did some explanations of the towpath improvements.

 

I'm not going to comment on the costs, except that these are usually funded (at least in part, if not completely) by other agencies. James said that sometimes the section of towpath that is 'improved' is not the top of his list, but that the funds are only available in a given area, so he does the work given that the funding may not always be available - for example, when funded by a local County Council for a specified area.

 

As others have said there may be repairs to the whole bank required too.

 

The surface that has been put down in a number of places consists of recycled car tyres, mixed with some kind of aggregate. We saw this at Stoke Bruerne last week, and gives a nice, level and slightly springy surface. It is a considerable improvement on the old, cracked and unlevel surface at SB, and can easily be used by wheelchairs, pushchairs and mobility scooters. It is, we were told, the same that has been used at Arlington Cemetery, USA, where it is still wearing well after 15 years.

[bizzard]

A large proportion of the cost is probably down to time wasted whilst the workers are messing about on Facebook.

I had an enormous surprise last week when I discovered my old secondary school's website. I posted some stuff about school dinners, how I dreaded sport and described the various administrations of punishments, which raised a laugh. What I didn't know was that the website used Facebook and that I needed to sign up on the dreaded site to get full advantage of the school website and so I did and began having a little wander around it, checking to see if any of my friends and relations use it and wow!!! To my surprise they nearly all did ''Big time''. But the biggest eye opener was the fact that most were on and off it continually almost 24/7, and talk a load of drivel. The list of your friends on the right tells you when they were last on I believe and the rate was roughly 2mins ago, 30mins ago, 7mins ago, 1hr ago, 18mins ago ect, ect, ect. Absolutely amazing when most of them are supposed to be at work. I'm only glad that I'm not their employer. No wonder we're struggling to break out of the recession with all this carry on and wasted time.

Must go folks, to get back on Facebook, I'm hooked, like ------ am I.

[Pluto]

It is, we were told, the same that has been used at Arlington Cemetery, USA, where it is still wearing well after 15 years.

Well, the local inhabitants won't be complaining then.

[Catrin]

Well, the local inhabitants won't be complaining then.

Yes, but, flagship location, lots of bigwigs visiting...

[matty40s]

Yes, but, flagship location, lots of bigwigs visiting...

it has to be dead smooth...

[cotswoldsman]

I think most of the Rufford improvements were done by volunteers headed by Peter Bullfinch of this Parish

[Delta9]

I wonder what the environmental implications of using rubber as a paving material so close to the canal are. I would imagine this leads to rubber particles entering the canal, which doesn't seem like a good idea.

[bizzard]

Last time they resurfaced the towpath in B. Stortford they used I think Granite chips onto tarmac, sprinkling them all over the place, and didn't roll them in properly ,if at all, more than half ended up in the river.

[matty40s]

I wonder what the environmental implications of using rubber as a paving material so close to the canal are. I would imagine this leads to rubber particles entering the canal, which doesn't seem like a good idea.

 

The enviromental implications are so infinitesimally minute compared with the amount of rubber that enters the canals and rivers from road run-off that they really are not worth worrying about .

Tyre rubber has been used for over 100 years, and has been entering the ecosystem ever since. Tyres contain a carbon soot based black - to colour the rubber, some very small amounts of zinc and sulphur compounds used in the manufacturing process, and the stable styrene butadiene - the rubber compound.

More of the rubber ends up polluting in the air , in minute particles, than ends up in the rivers and canals.

[Delta9]

 

The enviromental implications are so infinitesimally minute compared with the amount of rubber that enters the canals and rivers from road run-off that they really are not worth worrying about .

Tyre rubber has been used for over 100 years, and has been entering the ecosystem ever since. Tyres contain a carbon soot based black - to colour the rubber, some very small amounts of zinc and sulphur compounds used in the manufacturing process, and the stable styrene butadiene - the rubber compound.

More of the rubber ends up polluting in the air , in minute particles, than ends up in the rivers and canals.

Fair enough.

[KarlosMacronius]

I wonder where the £63,000 discrepancy in costs has come from...

[PaulG]

I wonder where the £63,000 discrepancy in costs has come from...

Anyone seen Blatter recently?

[ditchcrawler]

On spending money doese anyone know what it costs to pile a canal bank. In Macclesfield CRT have just spent £130,000 puting 84 Mt of floating moorings in where there use to be bank side moorings, would it have been cheaper and better to have piled the bank?

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/new-canal-moorings-in-macclesfield

[billh]

On spending money doese anyone know what it costs to pile a canal bank. In Macclesfield CRT have just spent £130,000 puting 84 Mt of floating moorings in where there use to be bank side moorings, would it have been cheaper and better to have piled the bank?

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/new-canal-moorings-in-macclesfield

15 years or so ago steel piling was costing British Waterways £100 per linear metre material and labour, though that didn't include any dredging or backfilling. About three times that now at a guess, with all the profit margins to Main Contractor, sub contractor and sub sub contractor, plant hire and etc etc. I remember at that time it cost £950 to put a notice board at Bosley- wooden with 2 posts concreted in the ground. Unaffordable now!

[Peter-Bullfinch]

The Rufford improvements were done by contractors and it's quite a short stretch. It's interesting that the previous manager of Rufford Old Hall is now the C&Rt manager for the same area..ie, the North West.

As volunteers we helped with some bank stabilisation on this stretch prior to the contractors. All the funds for materials, work boat use etc came from a separate water vole project grant.

I understand that C&Rt got the money for the path improvement from a bid for funds aimed at path improvement.

My opinion is that this large amount of money should have been spent on the parlous state of the tow path elsewhere on the branch. There are a number of places where the canal leaks badly over the path.

It will however greatly assist the local group of ladies who walk it each day and who use it as a dog toilet and also conveniently forget to notice as they gossip away.

[DeanS]

A large proportion of the cost is probably down to time wasted whilst the workers are messing about on Facebook.

I had an enormous surprise last week when I discovered my old secondary school's website. I posted some stuff about school dinners, how I dreaded sport and described the various administrations of punishments, which raised a laugh. What I didn't know was that the website used Facebook and that I needed to sign up on the dreaded site to get full advantage of the school website and so I did and began having a little wander around it, checking to see if any of my friends and relations use it and wow!!! To my surprise they nearly all did ''Big time''. But the biggest eye opener was the fact that most were on and off it continually almost 24/7, and talk a load of drivel. The list of your friends on the right tells you when they were last on I believe and the rate was roughly 2mins ago, 30mins ago, 7mins ago, 1hr ago, 18mins ago ect, ect, ect. Absolutely amazing when most of them are supposed to be at work. I'm only glad that I'm not their employer. No wonder we're struggling to break out of the recession with all this carry on and wasted time.

Must go folks, to get back on Facebook, I'm hooked, like ------ am I.

 

FB....drivel and more drivel...and the more you read, the more FB thinks you like that kind of drivel, and gives you more of it....

[bizzard]

 

FB....drivel and more drivel...and the more you read, the more FB thinks you like that kind of drivel, and gives you more of it....

Indeed, drivel, drivel, drivel. Mark my word FB and computers will gradually grind the whole world to standstill. We are completely and utterly doomed. Fewer and fewer folk want to get their hands dirty anymore, folk are becoming less and less practical. My nephews can't even bang a nail in. Almost all youngsters now want jobs in IT or some kind of computing, they have callous free baby hands. Evolution will cause great anatomical changes to the human race, like the development of the index finger which will become extra powerful, enormous and hideous with prodding at keyboards whilst the other fingers and thumbs just wither and drop off with lack of use. Both eyes will gradually merge into one huge square kind of unblinking, staring rectangular screen, eyelashes will disappear and the motto ''Microsoft or Apple'' will permanently become etched and illuminated at the top righthand corner of this enormous eye screen. Super, telephoto shortsightedness will set in and everything more than 2ft away will become a blurr. Almost all computer freaks already have to wear glasses for their watery, bloodshot eyes to see their screens. Legs will eventually wither away into bits of muscleless gristle with sitting and no excercise. Commodes to sit on, complete with toilet rolls will become commonplace for fear of missing something on FB. Food will arrive at the computer desk in tubes by conveyor. Any movement away from the computer 'before the legs wither away entirely' will be performed in an awkward, unsightly doubled up crawling fashion in a posture like an inverted letter 'L'. Pens, pencils and paper are already almost extinct now. The animal, Ape and Monkey world will have to be trained to carry out all the practical work that humans once did. For example;, Baboons will become pilots and fly the worlds aeroplanes. Chimpanzees, constructional and steeplejacking workers. Orangutangs, Supermarket home delivery drivers. Gorillas, policemen, Night club bouncers and all forms of enforcement. Monkey's with their dainty little hands will all be set to work at manufacturing computers, tablets and the Eye-pod things. The eventual outcome will be unbelievable, a different world, a world which animals will inherit because of mankinds total inability to perform anything practical anymore. That is until the animal world begins to learn computing that is and discovers Facebook.

Edited June 4, 2015 by bizzard

[PaulG]

 

FB....drivel and more drivel...and the more you read, the more FB thinks you like that kind of drivel, and gives you more of it....

The thing is that most of the content you see on Facebook is generated by your friends.

I'm not sure what that says about yours, Dean....

[bizzard]

Here is a little list of the current times 'now' that some of my friends and relations are posting drivel on FB and are supposedly at work. Oliver 18mins ago, Simon, 1hr ago, Julie 32mins ago, Som 4hrs ago, Carol 21mins ago, Lisa 52mins ago, Keith 4mins ago, Katie 3mins ago, Jas 16mins ago. Incredible time wastage init. Non of these folk ''I hope'' read this forum, 'so they say', because they say I post all boring and sensible stuff and no drivel.

Edited June 4, 2015 by bizzard

[John V]

Non of these folk ''I hope'' read this forum, 'so they say', because they say I post all boring and sensible stuff and no drivel.

 

 

Do you mean (gasps in horror) that Bizzards super wheezes are JOKES !

[PaulG]

 

 

Do you mean (gasps in horror) that Bizzards super wheezes are JOKES !