progress Wilts & Berks Meanwhile on the Wilts & Berks, they’ve been clearing some new sections of canal and towpath towards the west end of the canal Wilts & Berks Canal
Pictures by WBCT
As part of the preparation for a long distance walk in 2013 the Melksham, Chippenham and Calne branch of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust was asked if it could clear 800m of tow path north of the A4 as permission had been granted by the landowner. The canal line was covered in very dense scrub including brambles some 30mm thick. Fortunately pedestrian access to the site was possible. We planned to clear a path 1.2m wide along the whole 800m, and work was started in January 2013. We suspect we were the first humans to access this line of the canal in over 100 years. After much work with multiple start points we were successful in clearing a safe route for walkers along the line. We had just spent a couple of hard months clearing a path and didn’t really want it to stop there. The landowner was approached again and a lease was obtained. We set to organising the full clearance of this section, and we developed a three year clearance plan with Ellendale Environmental. This involved clearing sections of 50m and leaving 50m of the line,
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