April 7th – Ogley Junction Footbridge is mystifying me a little. The bridge itself and deck were restored beautifully, to much local praise. The remainder of the work – the spit and polish, if you like, hats been patchy. 

The pathway off the bridge was originally remade badly, and now has been dug out and corrected, which is good to see. But the bit baffling me is the masonry.

The brickwork on the wing walls has been vary sparingly pointed, here and there. To me, it looks like it all could have done with doing, and bits still seem to be in a parlous state. I’m prepared to accept the work might be ongoing and not finished yet, but if it is a work in progress, there’s no logical pattern to completion whatsoever.

A bit of a conundrum.

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.

April 2nd – Slow handclap for the Canal & River Trust, then, who micropiled around this sluice earlier in the week – there’s little evidence of their handiwork and you can barely tell they were there. Excellent.

Except for the existing trip and accident hazard no effort has been made to fix at all. Someone on foot or a bike is going to go flying off that, you muppets.

I’ve reported it several times, but I may as well have been peeing into the wind.