Tag: bourne

February 16th – It was a gorgeous day, and a reminder of what this country is like when the sun shines properly. With the sun on my back, I rode out at lunchtime to check out the floods of the Tame Valley, around Hopwas, Elford and Croxall. 

I was expecting the Tame to be in flood. This wasn’t the case at all – the Tame had clearly stayed in-channel, and although brisk, the Footherley, Black and Bourne brooks were all below capacity, too; although we’ve had record rainfall, it’s clearly been spaced out enough to avoid the horrific scenes locally that we saw in 2007. 

Of course, other areas have not been so fortunate.

What is evidenced is wind damage. At the hump bridge on Gravelly Lane, Footherley, tree debris blocks one arch, and a whole tree lies similarly before the Elford Bridge. Clearing the detritus from trash screens and under bridges is an essential part of waterway maintenance, and this will have to be removed.

The technicians that do this work have plenty to do in the coming weeks – their work is essential, and I wish them well.

February 12th – Still tacking into the wind into Brownhills, I hopped onto the canal at Clayhanger Bridge. The towpaths, of course, were sodden and hard going. The overflow here was working at full capacity and to a degree I’ve never seen before. This certainly made me think; this water is heading to the Ford Brook, which becomes the River Tame, and meanders through North East Birmingham, then Tamworth to Alrewas, where it meets the River Trent. The water from Chasewater will find its way to the Tame, too, via the Crane and Bourne Brooks. This is serios flow, from just one overflow. 

The Trent must be very full at the moment…