The heat is on for Monty workforce
THE fortnightly programme of restoration is continuing on the Montgomery Canal near Crickheath.
On a blisteringly hot Friday, volunteers from the design consultants Arcadis boosted the workforce numbers, which laid the foundations for a surprisingly prolific weekend session.
Another 40m of lined channel was added to that already completed. In the region of 4000 blocks were used.
As part of the restoration activity, a length of channel is lined with a ‘sandwich’ of four layers of waterproofing materials. It is then ‘paved’ with building blocks to weight them down.
These layers are put down as huge overlapping blankets which are 6m wide and stretch 14m from the towpath, down and across the channel, to the top of the offside bank.
There are still another 160m to do, but given recent progress, the end of August could still see the completion of the lining process, then all efforts will be directed toward surfacing the 330m of accompanying towpath. Machine-based work continued with channel shaping next to Crickheath Basin.
It is expected to see this section filled and water- tested before Christmas, with the official opening taking place next year. Advanced planning is taking place for the next project beyond Crickheath Bridge which will begin in 2023.
Further on down the canal toward Llanymynech, the Restore Group is gearing up for the reconstruction of Schoolhouse Bridge, which it hopes will begin in the near future.
Beyond this in Powys, government funding is in place for restoration from Llanymynech to Maerdy, which it is hoped will begin later this year.