MOORFIELD, OLD TOWN
Ginny and Paul were out today working on a ROW that winds around the back of Moorfield estate in Old Town. The path starts at the juncture of Parrock Lane and Walker Lane and runs up the side of Moorfield and then branches right up to Rock Edge:
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| ROW marked in red. |
Work funded by Wadsworth Parish Council - thankyou!
The days task were twofold: to tackle a drainage problem below where the path meets Rock Edge and to cut back overgrowth of bramble and bracken and overhanging branches.
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| Water pouring onto the path. |
We had surveyed this problem a couple of weeks ago and in response to a Facebook post Michael a local resident met with us on arrival; he had a depth of knowledge about local watercourses that was helpful in planning our course of action. Having said this the obstacles of a steep banking to the right of the picture and the position of a mature birch tree, prevented redirecting the flow of water from this stretch of the pathway. The water ran on a firm rocky path until the turn bye and was walkable on foot, so we decided to leave this for the time being.
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| Channel dug out |
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| Ginny at work on the new channel |
Curiously the water flowed into the ground lower down. We dug a large 'sump' hole at this point to investigate and did find a smaller hole where the water escaped into albeit slowly. Michal thought this maybe going into one of the main field drains. This will need further investigation at a later date, to see if it is possible to link the drainage channel to the field drain.
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| Cut back on the straight section. |
After lunch we cut back encroaching bramble and fern detritus from the long stretch of pathway going downhill to the main road. This including cutting back overhanging tree branches. This part of the path narrows in places and there is scope for some path widening in the future to enable safer passage.
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| More spacious, |
Another days work needed here on this footpath!
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| Bottom end. |
