Cycling Section of popular trail to shut for repairs
ASECTION of a popular cycle trail through North Somerset is to close for seven weeks to allow essential repairs to be carried out.
A 1.2 mile stretch of the Strawberry Line path will close between Station Road in Sandford and Woodborough Road in Winscombe from October 19.
Part of Winscombe Millennium Green will also be closed during the works.
No public rights of way that cross the Strawberry Line will be affected by the work.
The work costing £118,000 will see a new retaining wall built along the stretch to stabilise the collapsed embankment on the trail, used by thousands of cyclists and walkers each year, near Ilex Lane.
North Somerset Council executive member for transport Councillor James Tonkin said: “A new retaining wall is needed to stabilise the collapsed embankment on the Strawberry Line near Ilex Lane.
“This will help protect this route which is important to the many thousands of people who visit it annually.
“It will also help protect the houses whose gardens back on to the line from Broadleaze Way.”
The retaining wall will support a 36 metre long and two metre high section of slope and will be constructed using a king post technique.
This is where steel beams are set vertically in concrete and precast concrete panels are slotted in between the beams and the area behind is back filled with aggregate and soil.
Diversion signs will be in place during the closure.
Local volunteer rangers from Sustrans will be signposting the diversion route for cyclists and pedestrians.
The Strawberry Line takes its name from the cargo this former railway line carried from the strawberry fields of Cheddar.
The line was well used for nearly a century until its closure in 1965 and since then a wealth of wildlife habitats have been allowed to flourish.
Volunteers from the Cheddar Valley Railway Walk Society began converting the line into a walking and cycling route in 1983.
This ride is mainly traffic-free with no steep gradients and takes in a variety of landscapes from the flat marshes and cider apple orchards around Yatton, steep wooded valleys and a tunnel through the Mendips, to historic Axbridge and the spectacular Cheddar Gorge.