Camps preview
The Wilts & Berks: build a new junctionorrebuildanoriginalbridge At Abingdon, Camps 0615 and 0617 will be carrying on from where Ed and Liz left off on the IWA Diamond Jubilee project to build a new canal junction where the Wilts & Berks Canal meets the River Thames near Abingdon. The original route of the canal goes right through the middle of Abingdon, which unfortunately means that it s been fairly seriously built on during the 90 years since it shut. But a mile or two to the south of the town is some nice open countryside where it would be relatively easy to build a new canal and there are even a couple of former gravel quarries that would make nice mooring basins if you linked them together with new bits of canal.
Meanwhile some twenty miles further west along the same canal at Steppingstones Bridge, a very different project will be under way. The bridge is, not to put too fine a point to it, buggered. No, I take that back - it s well buggered. The arch has either collapsed or been demolished, one abutment has subsided, and the other needs major rebuilding - which will be the main job for Canal Camps 0616 on August 5 - 12 (led by Mike Palmer and Becky Parr) and 0618 on August 12 - 19 (led by Adrian Fry). This is the absolute opposite to the Jubilee Junction job: rather than building something new, we re rescuing an 18th Century brick arch bridge from the last stages of decay. The Wilts & Berks has lost many of its original structures, and many miles of its restored route will be on completely new alignments where the old line has been obstructed. All the more reason, then, to try to restore those original structures that do survive, rather than simply trashing them and rebuilding in concrete. In many ways the two W&B projects are complementary. And both are equally important in contributing to the eventual reopening of the canal, and in demonstrating what volunteers can achieve.
Mike Palmer
Martin Ludgate
So that s what we re doing - digging out a new length of canal to connect the first of these flooded quarries to the Thames. There will be a lot of excavation, some steel piling by the actual junction and also some more environmentally friendly bank protection along the line of the canal, plus laying towpaths, putting up fencing and signs, and generally making it look like a real canal in time for the official opening on August 30th - that s right: two months after the major work begins, the first boats are due to arrive. Scary or what?
Camp 0615 on August 5 - 12 is led by Harry Watts assisted by Corinne Watson, then Izzy Gascoigne and Nina Whiteman take over for Camp 0617 on August 12 - 19. The accommodation will boast the same luxury facilities as described earlier by Liz - apart from the lack of a Harri T in the kitchen. Instead, a Helen G will be installed for the first week, then a Mark B (the real chef!) will be plumbed-in for week 2.
Steppingstones Bridge on the Wilts & Berks
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The bywash of Mon & Brec Lock 3 at Allt-yr-yn