Friday 1 March 2019

Carsington Water - update on track condition

In response to an email received from a user of NCR 547, close to Carsington Water we used one of our recent work days to go up and have a look at the condition of the track from where it starts on the B5035 down to where it links into the drive into the Carsington Water Visitor Centre.

Andrew and Maldwyn confirmed that the initial part of the track (behind the Pudding Pie cafe) was very overgrown and unlikely to be used by cyclists in its current state.















They reported that the scale of the problem was such that it would take our small group several work days, even with a good turn out to resolve the problem. I tried to ascertain who has ownership of the land and in that process formed a useful liaison link with Severn Trent's Carsington Water Ranger Group. Without too much persuading they volunteered to apply their own full time and volunteer ranger groups to help sort out the problem for us. John and Chris have been excellent and we are truly indebted to them for the work they have done.

The picture below shows the state of the track a bit further down the hill before they started to clear it.


And this is it now! Having been up to look at the transformation this morning I am delighted to see plenty of fresh  bike tyre marks along the track, which is now visible. Andrew suggested there be a sign at the B5035 indicating it is 3/4 mile from there to the visitor centre. I have ordered that and as soon as I have it I will go and affix it so as to complete our maintenance of that section at least.












Sadly, more maintenance work is required further down the track. Water is running down the centre to form a gully, as shown by the pictures below. I don't think it is critical to repair this immediately as it is certainly still rideable for all but the most timid of riders. However, I think we need to add it to our list of work for monthly work days. Is it beyond our experience and capability? I think we will need to build in some drainage baffles to divert water off the track at regular intervals, as well as putting down a lot more stone. I will try and get Seven Trent Rangers to help us complete that work.

 For now though, this important section of NCR 547 is back to a reasonable standard and fully functional