Still busy!

 As the memorable summer slowly transitioned in to Autumn I joined Jan and two friends from Brecon on a short visit to Moel Prysgau bothy with the drive from Lower Chapel over the Eppynt to Beulah and then through Abergwesyn and over the Devil's Staircase being as enchanting as ever. Tree felling has altered the landscapes and opened up the views and there is still a fair amount of windblow from Storm Darra last year.

We parked up near Nantystalwyn and took the higher route above the Towy before descending alongside a patch of clear felling that had rather obscured the old footpath. Laden with rucksacks and some coal we were glad to arrive at the bothy with the final river crossing made easy by the low water levels. Paula and Daisy were intrigued by their first bothy visit and I was relieved that it was in good order following the recent Bank Holiday. We spread out our gear and set off up the track aiming for the source of the Towy but more windblow and a setting sun prevented us from reaching it.

As we returned to the bothy three lads were lugging in loads of kit and said they were going back for their bikes. These turned out to be unregistered off road bikes, something of a no no in the NRW forests but they were decent enough guys and happily took up the space in the vacant half of the building. After tea and a chat I shuffled off to sleep under the trees down by the confluence leaving the girls some privacy for bedtime. I wanted to test a new bivvy bag which I had been assured would be waterproof and breathable (it wasn't) and slept soundly on 12 inches of dry sphagnum moss.

After waking I walked up to the bridge where the lads had parked and noted another van with a guy crashed out in the front. Back at the bothy all was well and after breakfast the bikers had to push one machine that failed to start back up to the top track whilst we walked out to the bridge and then followed the river back to the van. Again low water levels led to largely dry crossings and we collected almost enough 4x4 parts to build our own vehicle.

In Brecon I got a refund for the bag and then headed out to Sennybridge to collect pills and mail from friends before we all headed down to the excellent Shoemakers for a meal.

I the headed over to Priddy up on the Mendips for a couple of days resting during a spell of unsettled weather enjoying the huge range of channels from the 1000' high Mendip transmitter. Down at the Hunters Inn I enjoyed a cauliflower cheese washed down with two Butcombe in a place almost unchanged in my 45 years of visiting before heading over to another old favourite : Watchet.

Here my mate from Lynton joined me for a night and we caught up with a year's news at the excellent Spice Merchant before the sounds of a small folk group encouraged us to return to the Pebbles Tavern for a few more beers. After a look round the art collective Greg headed home as they are in the early stages of moving house and I enjoyed a second quiet night in the van. The West Somerset Railway had suspended steam services following a line side fire over the Bank Holiday weekend but the replacement classic diesels were a throwback to my early trainspotting interests in the mid 70's.

I returned to Priddy for a final night before moving on to Rock Farm at Shelton Mallet where Gavin was again hosting a work camp for the Greenways and Cycle Routes charity that is currently working to complete the Somerset Circle and connecting routes including the historic Strawberry Line. It was lovely to meet up with so many of the talented and hardworking people from last year and enjoy the excellent catering from Chris and Clare under the welcome cover of a large marquee.

Over the next week dozens of volunteers put in hundreds of hours on various tasks with work focusing on fencing and enhancing a new section cut in to the embankment of the former line, constructing an all weather shelter, installing four concrete cattle crossings, building numerous gabions and for Pete and I tackling the construction of two types of seating made from ekki, a West African hardwood that had been a wharf in Holland until it's arrival here. The Simplicity bench was certainly that in design and concept but the assembly and installation proved anything but as the solid ekki was heavy to handle, almost impossible to drill and needed more substantial brackets than initially expected.

However with the help of two volunteers from Bristol we had one installed by midweek which would have been more level had anyone spotted the extra packer in time. The gabion, dam building and fencing teams had done sterling work despite a day of torrential showers and the sociable evenings around the firepit warmed cold extremities and eased tired limbs. As always I was grateful for the shower and heater in the van which also transported a wheelbarrow, 6 bags of concrete, two 20l jerry cans of water and various tools in to Shepton where Pete and I finished off some minor snags on the bridge installed a year ago. We called in at the cemetery to see how much the walkway and pergola had settled in to the landscape over the last twelve months before returning to walk up the cycle path and inspect progress. A small diversion saw us recovering a Tesco's trolley from the deep valley beneath the viaduct (later repurposed as a frame for filling sandbags).

Two excellent examples of the innovative approach to path building involved the repurposing of nearly 200 250kg concrete railway sleepers to form a striking bridge using RSJs and a retaining wall along a new section of track : genius.

On the Thursday most of us walked the proposed onward extension over a normally locked viaduct and on to the Showering's factory where cider production has replaced the once famous Babycham. The family may eventually allow the cycle path to cross over the magnificent 26 arch viaduct that curves high above the beautiful Kilver Court Gardens where they kindly gave forty of us tea and cake during a visit.

That evening the inspirational John Grimshaw who started Sustrans over forty years ago gave us a talk covering much of the work carried out locally and across in the Wye Valley and reminisced on the successes of the last ten years of work camps. The original team of John, his brother Chris and wife Clare are all in their 80's now but do have a younger cohort (largely 60+!) to pass things on to and Gavin and his family have kindly extended an invitation for their home to host another camp next year.

Friday saw a flurry of activity to get the new track finished off with the fencing contracto, laying stock fence at speed with an ingenious tracked machine, Mark, the roads and surfacing contractor covering the retaining gabions and making good whilst we collected up the tools and equipment to return to base. A large team repointed a retaining wall with the mortar being hand mixed as the petrol mixer refused to start and two friends of Pete's from Frome joined us to install the second Simplicity bench plus construct two others of more conventional design. I managed to get a splinter from the ekki which became infected over the next couple of days but fortunately I still have the Doxycycline left over from Mauritania to fall back on.

Friday night was the last night and saw fewer numbers, probably a good job as the water supply failed temporarily and we'd had the odd power outage as the demands on the supply were high at times and I was away first thing on Saturday to fill up at Tesco's before heading to a washing machine at Cheddar. En route to Highbridge Station to collect Mandy I called in at a couple of motorhome dealerships but nothing caught my eye.

A few boisterous youngsters were heading up to Bristol and I wondered if any would eventually ride the completed cycle path, perhaps with families, and even begin to appreciate how much hard work and good will goes in to such projects

A quick run across the levels saw us back at Priddy to join up with Bill, Nick, Dale and Pete for another catch up session in the Hunters followed on Sunday by a walk over to the mast and down towards Wells. Lunch just before the heavens opened was timely but we all got soaked heading back and the others were soon away to warm up and dry off. Earlier we had heard the sad news that our friend Jan over at Lower Chapel had lost her beloved Major a 33 year old horse and companion of 25 years that we have all known so well.

We fired up the Eber and hot water and had a relaxing evening in before on Monday walking over the fields to Priddy for lunch at the Queen Vic, which now has new owners, and then calling at the camp site shop for a few bits and pieces. Monday's BBC2 quiz night was as intellectually challenging as ever....

We said goodbye to Dorothy who looked much brighter than a year ago, despite losing a daughter earlier this year, and headed in to Shepton so Mandy could admire the works of the previous two years. We stayed in the quarry and walked up to this year's projects where a few local volunteers were still hard at it and met a guy who is currently living in an eco retreat adjacent to the main quarry that we knew nothing about.

In Shepton the following morning I grabbed a much needed haircut from a young Kurdish/Turkish lad whose home town was Diyarbakir, one of the highlights of our visit earlier this year and who knew the superb Lake Van.

A visit to the now closed Shelton Mallet prison was fascinating and thought provoking with plenty of history as well as descriptions of modern prison life until its closure in 2013. Walking the huge wings was like being on the set of 'Porridge'... Norman Stanley Fletcher.....

Finally we moved down to a pub outside Lymington where the excellent Turfcutters Arms were happy for us to overnight. We enjoyed some of the best food in recent years there and had a quiet night before heading to Lymington for our planned visit to the Isle of Wight .... Full details next time!

Meanwhile extra pics are here