Easter Monday . . . and it's raining! Rich, Charlie, Peter (new volunteer), Jerry and Angus went to Back Lane above the Alma Inn. We had hoped that, having enjoyed a very dry March, it would be an ideal opportunity to sort out the upper section of the path where the stones underfoot were somewhat unstable and where the side-drain needed scraping clear before the Balsam took over. How wrong we were! The path was sodden, seemingly from water draining into it from the adjacent fields. Hey-ho! Feet might get wet . . . but the job needed to be done.
The areas being worked on are shown on the map below. Scraping of the wet area at the lower end is shown as numbers 1 & 2; the stonework re-embedding was from point 4 upwards and the drainage work was along the full length of the path.
Today's work was funded by public donations to CROWS, for which we are very grateful. Many thanks.
Map showing the location of Back Lane
New volunteer, Peter, getting stuck in to clearing out the ditch.
Rich, Charlie and Peter started clearing the ditch which had been opened up on our initial visit in 2023. The ditch was still functioning but silt build-up was providing the perfect growing medium for the invasive Himalayan Balsam.
Before and after images: The area where Balsam had
taken root and would have choked the drain.
Jerry and Angus worked on the upper part of the path to stabilise the the loose rocks on the wetter sections. This was a 'bit of a challenge' as the ground was extremely boggy and a lot of mud had to be removed to reveal a suitable surface onto which stones could be bedded. Clearing the mud revealed several areas where water was seeping down from the bank or up from a spring or out of drains or was a result of the rising water-table!
Before and after images of the upper part of the path (they don't
do justice as to how exceptionally wet and muddy this section was).
Grips built into the path in an effort to divert water
from the bank towards the side-drain.
The final task was to scrape the lower section of the path where there was significant puddling of mud. If you were coming from the Alma Inn, it would not be the best of starts to your walk and if you were coming from the other direction you'd be bringing the mud into the Inn!
Lower section of the path where the accumulation of mud had to be scraped off.
Back Lane will require a couple of maintenance visits over the next few months to ensure the Balsam and Brambles are kept at bay. It was encouraging to see that, despite the boggy conditions, this path is well-used. That's not surprising because having the Alma Inn at the start, end, or mid-point of a walk makes for a great day out . . . whatever the weather!
