The van flew through its MOT as expected but there was no indication as to the source of the alarming if intermittent grinding and creaking noises so I took a mechanic out for a drive and barely managed to reproduce it. However they suggested changing both lower wishbone arms and hey presto silence was restored : £500 well spent. After resting up for a few more days in Sheffield I headed down to Priddy for the weekend before moving on to Cheddar where Julian, the owner of Petruth Paddocks Campsite, had very generously offered free camping to cycle path volunteers. Unfortunately at Priddy I woke to a flat engine battery caused by my coolant after run pump failing to switch off. Fortunately my Noco Boost worked as expected and I was soon off to Cheddar.
Pete was already set up so I headed round to the site on both banks of the Cheddar Yeo where the aim was to install a 20m bridge supported on three concrete pillars to complete a further section of the Somerset Circle we had worked on back at Shepton Mallet.
Mark, our main contractor was digging out the footings and before long we had the first shuttering in and a couple of tons of concrete were being carefully poured in by the remarkable steel wrist attached to his ' rubber duck' excavator, so named after its tyres, not the fact it likes water.
I called at Cheddar Tyres who were happy to sell me a Varta 105ah battery with a five year worldwide warranty and offered to drop it round to the site that evening. The Bosch had lasted 8 years which is good enough for me.
The owner forgot to drop the battery round so appeared rather apologetically the following morning after a call and was kind enough to lift the new one in position as I had been careful not to use my right shoulder where possible and the bigger battery was quite a beast. Apart from momentarily losing the battery bolt, found by Pete's magical magnetic index finger, all was soon restored and as we were on EHU I left the new battery getting a top up charge.
Ove the next few days we assembled further shuttering to surround the rebar using daisies to keep everything true and Mark and his team continued to move up many tons of mix, all of which needed settling with the vibrating poker. The weather was mixed and made keeping the gazebo intact something of a challenge. Gallons of tea were made thanks to a local householder offering us access to his water tap and locals dropped by with cakes and expressions of appreciation and support. By midweek we had the two south bank supports completed and then began removing one set of shuttering to be moved to the north bank for reuse across the fortunately shallow Cheddar Yeo.
Whilst we were attacking the shuttering Mark was improving the track to facilitate access for the bridge sections due on the Monday. Two aspects of two pillars had to be detached carefully as all the volunteer names had been cleverly cast in reverse using plywood letters, a mammoth task undertaken at the Shepton Work Party with a fret saw. On releasing the plywood the names appeared as if by magic, oiling the plywood before pouring the concrete was essential to ensure their smooth release.
The project kindly offered four of us a meal out in Cheddar so we dined well and gratefully in the Bath Arms, Tim and Jane are a lovely couple who when not exploring Europe by bike or motorcycle volunteer for the YHA as locum wardens as well as the cycle path work.
With a weekend off to play with I headed down to see a friend at Crediton who was recovering from a broken arm incurred whilst taking his motorcycle for a service prior to a much anticipated trip to Patagonia. A deer wrote the bike off and John was lucky not to incur a more serious injury but was of course disappointed to lose the trip. We had a good catch up over beer and pizzas in the excellent Three Little Pigs in Crediton and I left the following morning to enjoy the journey up the Exe Valley to Lynton where I stayed for what may be the last time at Greg and Alex's house in the Valley of Rocks. We enjoyed good steaks and a catch up in Lynton, they hope to move towards Somerset to be nearer family but the housing market is a bit sluggish at the moment so timings are a bit uncertain.
Back at Cheddar on the Monday I prepared a few tools and donned freshly laundered work clothes for the week ahead. A good number of volunteers had turned up so we allocated tasks around removing the remaining shuttering, fetching large plastic culvert pipes and so on.
The huge amount of steel and timber for the bridge had arrived several hundred yards down the track so Mark and his buddy carefully loaded a huge trailer and began to manoeuvre the forty foot steels on to site within inches to spare. Final checks on levels and length were made before Mark took his machine to the limits to lift the first section up above the pillars and then out over the river, mindful that the banks were not particularly substantial. To relief all round the first one was soon in and a good fit with the second following soon after, all this down to the extraordinary civil engineering skills and experience of John Grimshaw and Caroline Levett. After some careful adjustments the expansion pads could be fitted but then we realised the second pair were missing so a call to CTC, the manufacturer in Huddersfield saw them put with an overnight courier and we used timber off cuts in the interim.
The shorter (still 20') beams were bolted to the main ones with plates secured by Huck bolts which exert a substantial torque after which the remaining lattice work, cross pieces and other assorted sections of galvanized steels were installed before the hardwood uprights for the handrails were secured. The redundant shuttering was cut to size and used for duckboards to enable the handrail crew to work away from myself and Martin who were installing the 100 deck planks, each secured by 12 stainless steel screws and weighing upwards of 20 kilos. Unfortunately the absence of sharp bits, let alone long enough ones slowed progress down as each plank had to be piloted, removed, fixing hole drilled, plank replaced and screws driven in.... This put a heavy drain on the various cordless drills and with most of us only having single pack chargers and only two outlets on the genny it occurred to me that a mains drill would have circumvented a number of issues. Eventually Mage's in Cheddar were able to provide bits and after a final push on the Friday all the planks were down, the handrails fitted and Mark was able to use a variety of machines to start finishing off the approach ramps, drainage and final touches. As at Shepton it was a fantastic team effort full of good will, varied skills, many laughs and understandably the odd frustration but we left in good spirits proud of yet another job well done.
Pete headed home to recover whilst I returned to Priddy where Bill turned up for our planned weekend cycling. On the Saturday we met Pete in Shepton, eventually, and took Bill along the new section of trail from Thrupe Lane in to Shepton and then out past a huge bonfire to see the bridge installed last year. After a thorough soaking we dived in to a caff before checking out the cemetery path and then heading separately back to Priddy. Bill and I took a number of green lanes, made treacherous by the downpours to reach Wells, I had been riding very cautiously as my shoulder was improving but I didn't want another tumble just yet.
Dale and Michelle joined us for an excellent night in the Hunters with Dale returning the following morning for a group ride. We rode across to Charterhouse and then along the ridge to Black Down with excellent views across to South Wales and then dropped to Rowberrow and eventually Sandford with me again taking great care and letting Dale and Pete take the lead with their ebikes. The cafe attached to the care home is a great concept and does lovely food fuelling us for the return to Cheddar where the bridge ramps were almost completed. Bill and I rode up Cheddar Gorge as the eboys tackled a steeper alternative with us all arriving back at Priddy by mid afternoon.
After saying our goodbyes we went our separate ways, in my case heading for Brecon as I had a flu jab due on the Monday morning. It was all quiet down at the Prom and the service at the clinic was as friendly and efficient as ever : my annual cholesterol bloods were also taken and I spent the afternoon pursuing my Russian Visa for next year's planned trip. This proved laborious and time consuming with the Consulate in Edinburgh giving out conflicting advice and an online form that failed to save on numerous occasions. Deep in the detail of said form I found that details of previous marriages and divorces including names and dates were required as were details and dates of all countries visited over the last decade. Without old passports to refer to this required intensive scrutiny and cross referencing of the blog and my photos to provide the required information, not helped of course by the lack of ' cross border ' stamps within Europe.
A final stumbling back was the need to provide full details of my three previous passports... I called HMPO and was told they have limited information which they could/would not release unless I submitted an SAR or Subject Access Request which gives them a month to reply to. Thus things are on hold but over 3 wet days in Brecon I achieved a lot and made use of the Ecoflow power pack to supplement the leisure battery as there was no solar at all.
I noticed that the new fish pass had after the first heavy rain already got blocked by timber debris and a lost kayak - the project had taken many months over the summer and looked inadequate from the start, it has so far proved impossible to find out what this ludicrous initiative has cost. I met Crad and Mike for a catch up over breakfast and joined the badminton session on Wednesday night but soon realised it was a bit ambitious to be playing again so met a few players in the rugby club later before a quiet night in the centre of town.
Thursday was a chance to meet Tim and Jane from the cycle path project who were wardening the Brecon Hostel before I headed to the cosy Coliseum cinema to watch the Bruce Springsteen film.
On Friday I moved up to Jan's for the weekend as she had a new greenhouse to erect so cast an eye over the lengthy manual and then ran through a parts check where all seemed well. I spent the rest of the afternoon giving the bike a good clean and sorting through my tool box as a useful set of ratchet ring spanners and a half inch drive socket set had been purchased at Aldi. Pete arrived later and first thing Saturday morning we began assembling the 7 main panels in the shed. These were then bolted together on the base and the roof bars attached to stabilise everything before the glazing began on Sunday. It was a well designed and sturdy piece of kit and the instructions were clear if occasionally complex but by the evening we had a completed greenhouse including sliding doors that left us a couple of hours on Monday morning to fix everything down at 10 locations before I had to head off leaving Pete and Jan to install the wooden staging. It was an enjoyable experience, Jan had fed us well and Ian had kept us watered so I left for Newtown where the ever friendly and efficient Groom's Garage serviced the Eber for a very reasonable £200.
Anyway I am about to meet friends in Dethick where I have spent the afternoon chasing up the passport people having found another email address to use. I find it very satisfying that I can be sat in a soggy field with access to information and the ability to print off forms and copy documents, all off grid, whilst being warm and cosy.
Tomorrow I head to Sheffield from where Mandy and I will head to the west side of Cumbria before we start our annual treat of a fortnight in Langdale.
Beyond that my plans depends on whether or not the visa can be secured so watch this space and CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICS
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