Tag: shale

May 5th – One of the reasons I haven’t been this way much in the last few months is that the canal aqueduct over the railway between Leamore and Harden has been closed so the structure can be refurbished, and has only just reopened.

I do hope that this loose, non-compacted shale isn’t the final preparation for the towpath surface – it’s uncomfortable to walk on, dangerous to ride on and just a plain shoddy job.

Take care if you’re riding this section – the loose nature of the surface steels wheels.

January 7th – A little further on, I noticed that there’s a huge stock of trail building materials being stored up in the Hednesford Hills. There’s a large area of hardstanding there, whose purpose I’m unsure of – I think it could once have been a building. The Chase Heritage Trail crosses this square, and for a few months now, piles of ballast, road planings and bales of brushwood have been appearing. These are the classic materials used to build cycle trails – I wonder what the plan is?