Hey Ho, here we are again: at last, the bulk of the heavy engineering work is done: it's a bright, fine, day, perfect for inspecting the completed Wharf. And it looks very nice! A bit muddy, but that's what you'd expect for a building site in December, after all. First job: tidy up a bit. Roy turns the van around on the dry bit, we load up the trailer with the concrete mixer ("huff! heave! strain!") and as much of the used timber and general equipment as we can,
 Typically, here are three blokes stood around watching! Jim and Vic are slightly bemused by Bob making extravagant gestures for the benefit of the camera: 
Meanwhile, here's Phil ("Does your head go all the way up inside that hat, Phil?") removing the nails from the coping stone "forms" - which you will of course remember from previous Work Party Reports - as we do re-use everything possible. Well, even nails cost money, and this is a voluntary organisation.... come on, feel pity for us and make a donation! 
Hmm, those blokes are still standing around watching..... hey, nice view of the completed Wharf, though. 
Now came the grand moment: will the van, trailer, concrete mixer and half a ton of assorted equipment make it across the muddy bit? With bated breath, most of us stood and watched while Bob heroically pushed: 
...and they were off! Sliding merrily sideways, luckily away from the Wharf edge and into the bushes.... but of course Roy is a first class driver, and has a lot of experience with articulated trucks and icy roads, so with rather less drama that we get in the car park, the heavily laden van and trailer make it safely onto the dry track. Well, that was exciting!  |
| Right, time for a change of scenery: leaving the Wharf, we move over the other side of the road to do some scrub-bashing and channel-clearing. Here is the view from the road bridge, away from the Wharf: Bob had been hard at work dredging the sludge out of the channel, in order to encourage as much water as possible into a temporary "sump" just uphill of the bridge. There is a reason for this: the pipes under the road are mostly blocked, so we need a good head of water in order to eventually get them cleared. But for now, here we are arranging for the sump to fill. It's not a terribly good picture, (if you wish to donate a good digital camera..... only joking) but you might just be able to see the "waterfall" in the centre of the picure, where Blue has just take out a mouthful of debris that was blocking the channel almost completely.
I'm now in the field with Blue, you can see what an interesting angle of attack Bob has to use: 
And look! The water is now flowing down towards the bridge! (picture me, jumping up and down with excitement)
Brave Bob goes into the breach, once more:
And here's me trying to be clever and get another shot of the water now flowing quite convincingly, and succeeding mostly in getting a photo of my own shadow.....  |
Lunch! At last! From the left, we have James gazing at the aeroplanes up above: Bob relentlessly drinking his tea: Jim also gazing at the planes ("Bandits at 6 o'clock!" "6 o'clock? I can't see 'im them, tell 'im 4 o'clock, my place, drinkies!"), Roy wiping a tear from his eye at one of my terrible jokes (or else being overcome with emotion at us all singing Happy Birthday to him) and Vic wondering if there is anything edible in the hedgerow.
And now! A Canal Club First! Our beloved Chairman, Brian, actually DOING SOME WORK!!!!! Yes folks, an amazing event, here he is, manfully (how else?) attacking some brambles with neither hard hat nor gloves. Well, to be fair, he was mostly posing for the camera....
...but never one to miss an opportunity, Jim leapt in with his trusty machete (he's had it for forty years you know: it's had eight new handles and two new blades in that time, but it's still going strong) to demolish the recalcitrant branch.
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| At this point I ran out of battery power, so there aren't any more pictures, but the day wasn't finished: we spent some time digging out a drainage ditch a little further up the field, to reduce boggyness underfoot for the cattle, and to increase the flow of water into our sump, and after Christmas we hope to do some pumping and siphoning to unblock that bridge. |