The wrong day

Wednesday 4 December 

The drain gang don't work on Wednesday, but we did this week; it was a swap for Thursday just to confuse everyone. It was a big shift for Alastair as he had to be out on site at Bridge 37, Gotherington to meet the consulting engineer at first light. That's around 07:15 at this time of year, and it was a frosty start to make it more enjoyable. The meeting was called to get an initial assessment of the slip on the up side embankment. The cavalry in the form of the rest of the gang arrived at 09:30 after dodging Wednesday traffic in Winchcombe Yard. Next visit was from an ecologist, called in to look for signs of protected species on the embankment slope. 

While all this was going on, Andrew and Dieh got to grips with clearing under the bridge and taking out the final bit of vegetation on the slope near the bridge. 

Andrew starting clearing under Bridge 37
(Photo: Alastair) 

Bridge 37, Dieh cutting out the ash saplings
(Photo: Alastair) 

Last corner of the up side embankment to clear 

Underneath Bridge 37 cleared 

Andrew cutting his way up the slope 

Bridge 37 up side embankment cleared  

next job was cutting back along the side of the service road, there's probably going to be a lot of traffic along here in coming weeks.  

Up side formation looking towards Manor Lane access point 

Up side service road edge cleared 

By this time. it wasn't worth moving south to Bishops Cleeve to start more culvert clearance so the wing walls of Bridge 37 got a trim. 

Bridge 37 down side low mileage wing wall 

Bridge 37 up side wing walls 

The edge of the slip acquired a coat of paint, this will make it easier to spot any further encroachment without the need for measuring.  

Slip edge marking 

Last job was to clear the ditch along from the down side cess outlet to Culvert 36B. 

Andrew heading for home after clearing the ditch to Culvert 36B down side 

Lunch was disturbed by what is becoming a rare sight these days, 2 C130J Hercules from RAF Brize Norton on low transit passed just the north. 

C130J in transit over the Transit 😎

Back at Winchcombe the River Isbourne works are progressing rapidly, with the contractors eager to get back on track before it rains again. The gabions are in on the up side east bank of the river, earth was being used to backfill the excavation and rebuild the embankment. 

Feeding earth across water 

Backfilling in progress 

It looks like we are back at Bridge 37 on Saturday to do more clearing on the down side.