Wet, but still warm

Thursday 27^th August

The long dry spell finally came to an end with some torrential rain overnight Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning. Fortunately the very heavy rain receded northwards before we left Winchcombe yard; by lunchtime it had stopped completely. As it was still warm, we had some very misty conditions – and not very pleasant working conditions.

Phil, Martin (S) and Jonathan headed to Pecked Lane at Bishops Cleeve. Their task there was to fit a second bung into the pipe connecting culvert 39A to the down cess drain. So now with both ends of this pipe sealed, we should not get a build up of silt in the cess drain.

The bung fitted to the cess chamber end of the pipe from 39A. (Note the raindrops!) [Photo by Jonathan]

Prestcott Road bridge (32) was the destination for Roger, Dave and Martin (J). Thy cleared the vegetation from the track access steps and around the exit of culvert 31B.

The access steps at Prescott Road Bridge. (Note the wet road and low cloud). [Photo by Dave]

The partially cleared exit chamber of culvert 31B. [Photo by Dave]

Peter, Dee and Andrew began the demolition phase of the rebuilt of cross drain 31A. They removed the remains of the old headwall on the up (Malvern) side exit. This exposed the end of the bore, which is encased in concrete. As this is in good condition, the plans for the rebuilt were modified. Instead of extending the bore with another length of SGP pipe which would involve removal of some of the old concrete, we will build a new headwall, the lower portion of which formed with concrete blocks. Martin (S) joined the group – so by lunchtime the excavations around the bore for the new foundations were complete.

The exposed outlet end of the bore of 31A.

Excavations for the ends of the new headwall.

After lunch, Andrew and Jonathan explored potential access routes for the machinery we need to use on the 31A inlet chamber. They then completed the first two internal visual inspections of drainage structure for this year – obviously these being cross drain 31A and culvert 31B.

Wildlife report: Not surprisingly on a very wet and cloudy morning, we saw little animal and bird activity. Once the rain had stopped, we noted a large flock of crows near Prestcott Road, and both a robin and a pheasant came to inspect our excavations at cross drain 31A.