Before starting on what we did today, a quick look back to the late December work party (which I missed) at Elms Farm, with thanks to Doug for the great photo:
Here are Brian and Malcy, getting in some practice for the new Olympic sport of "Bent Bike and Muddy Old Scooter Racing". Their equipment had been secretly stored at the bottom of Grove Top Lock.
Built for speed, all four of them.
So, back to January: we arrive on this spectacularly bright, sunny, blue-skied morning, blinking in the sun as we haven't seen it for a couple of weeks. Our task today is to improve the towpath. Well, it's not a legal towpath yet, it's a "permissive path" which means that the landowner is kindly allowing the public to walk along it, while retaining the rights to the land. It's not officially open yet, as it's not passable all the way to the Childrey footbridge. Well, it is, but only if you don't mind clambering over obstacles, and if you're not too fussy about being stung by nettles......
But what's this? Shock horror, some swine has dumped a load of dirt in our new gateway! Before we get too indignant, Roy tells us that we've been given a lorry-load of sandy stuff to face up the towpath. And if we're good, there will be another lorry-load later. Ah. OK then, so we get to work with wheelbarrows and shovels to move it along and spread it out.
Here's Doug's best side, hard at work spreading out the soil. As you can see, there's quite a lot of water in the Cut - well, it has been raining for two weeks practically non-stop - as well as huge piles of branches and general rubbish that will have to be burnt off, if the wind drops. We try not to burn, especially damp stuff, on days where the wind would blow the smoke into the neighbouring houses.
Nothing significant about this pic, just a nice shot of the sun through the trees. And yes, I know it's not autumn!
Two hours and one tea-break later, we've reduced the heap considerably, and Bob is hard at work bashing away at a protruding stone, in order to make it easier for the lorry to back in next time.
Malcy and Jim are filling up yet another wheelbarrow, while Roy, in red overalls, brings up the next empty one.
Our newly-laid top stuff was a bit squishy, so we had to lay a board-walk to stop the ancient wheelbarrows sinking into it.
"Come on Vic!" Here's Vic bringing down some more old fence boards, and being very careful where he steps.
And here comes our first volunteer to try the boards out with a fully loaded barrow:
"Go for it, Malcy!"
With much concentration, Malcy makes a successful run along the planks, hollering "Mind your back, Roy!" as he does so.
Now they've got the hang of it, everyone wants to have a go! Here's Bob, nattily dressed in orange as always, thundering along the centre of the run and only wobbling slightly.
You can see by the blurring of the barrow just how fast he's travelling....
A nice view looking west. On the right you can just see the first of the two or three (must count them, one day) red brick cottages built at a right angle to the canal.
We've finally finished moving all the earth, so we decide it's high time for a lunch break.
Right, that's lunch over and done with, so we start clearing up the branches and general mess in the cut.
Phil, Bob and Dmitri and sent down with instructions to get a rope around one of the fallen trees, and to avoid stirring up the somewhat noxious mud, if at all possible.
Working like a smoothly-oiled machine as always, the dead tree rises out of the water.
Cries of "Poo-ee, whiff, who dun that, then?" as the fermenting mud releases foul odours. I tell you, no-one likes a stagnant canal, not even the wildlife.
The wind has dropped, so we start collecting the driest bits of wood in order to get a bonfire going (I did mention that it's rained for a fortnight, solid, didn't I?) and here is Malcy's pile.
Hmm, maybe not the most sensible place to start a bonfire. It might set fire to the revetment!
"Is that any better, then?" asks Malcy.
Frankly, no!
I can't imagine what Roy would say if he caught us starting bonfires in our ancient wheelbarrows!
Eventually we manage to find enough dry wood to start a fire, and enough dryish land to put it on, although that's a bit of a struggle as well.
Here's Mike, posing proudly by our posh WilBerks sign. This means that Chinnor John has arrived, as he brings the sign along. This week it even has it's own legs!
This hairy beast also has it's own legs: it's Jensen, Chinnor John's mad puppy.
Not quite a puppy any longer, in fact he's about mid-forties in dog years, but he still behaves like a mad puppy.
Here he is, pretending to be a "good boy" before bouncing up and leaping all over everyone again.
We keep dropping hints about hitching him to wheelbarrows, using him to drag logs, etc, but John says that if we tried, Jensen would disappear in all directions. Hmm, he's probably right.
Roy gets the fire going!
As you can see, only a narrow strip of dry land is available, but luckily there's a sheet of corrugated iron available to protect our revetment. (we're not daft, you know!)
So we all get to work with bowsaws and pitchforks, heaving all the wooden stuff along to the bonfire, and laying it neatly onto the fire.
Roy, all forlorn, stands on the far side of the Cut, looking at the fallen trees and planning how best to get them moved.
Everyone else (except me) is too involved with the bonfire to offer any opinions.
Right! (or, "Roight!" as Roy would say himself) Roy gets the chainsaw going, and starts freeing the fallen trunks from their roots.
This is a little trickier than it looks, as the water is very nearly over the top of his wellies!
A small crowd gathers on the towpath to admire Roy's artistry with the chainsaw.
Or possibly, a small crowd gathers to see whether the water will indeed go over the top of Roy's wellies.
They seem to be holding up so far (the wellies, not the crowd) but only time will tell.
Mike has been seconded to paddle to the far side of the cut and offer assistance where required, ie catching and tieing ropes, chopping roots, freeing fallen trunks etc.
It's a tough job, but someone has to do it!
But there's no time to sit and stare, Roy is chopping away at another fallen tree, ropes are in place, and poo-ee whiff, more stagnant mud smells are released.
You might just be able to see the green slime, congealing around Roy's legs.
Back at the bonfire, it's burning really well, lots of heat (which is quite welcome, as although it's sunny, the air is pretty cold) and we're really reducing the pile of rubbish.
I'm laughing at Malcy, whose face is bright pink from the heat of the fire - not really too visible in this photo, you'll have to take my word for it.
Behind him, Mike is getting off his seat, as it's about to go under the chainsaw.
Finally, by mid afternoon, the cut is practically cleared, Mike has eventually allowed Roy to chop up his seat, Jensen has run out of energy and is Being Good, and the bonfire is dying down due to lack of material.
From this angle, you can see how the surface of the towpath has been built up and consolidated to make a much better, nearly level, walking surface.
The promised second load of earth didn't arrive (for which we are devoutly grateful) so we'll have to do that another day.
And here is the finished top end, trampled down solidly underfoot. Not at all bad for a day's work! We had an excellent turn-out, with over a dozen of us working, and we got a lot of work done, so we're all happy.