Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust recently hosted the WRG North West regional group for a weekend of volunteering on the Uttoxeter Canal.  A productive weekend was had on 1st and 2nd February, carrying out various types of vegetation clearance.  

On the Saturday we worked initially between Milepost 23 and Bridge 70, clearing a couple of fallen trees, weeding the path and cutting back saplings and regrowth on the trees between the path and the canal.  Another team tackled the weeds on the path over Bridge 70, and the ivy that had grown back up one side of the bridge since the bridge was first restored.  In the afternoon a small team headed to Carringtons Lock to strim the vegetation around the bench (that was constructed and installed by CRT volunteers just over a year ago) and the path along the rear of the lock (which is actually the public footpath).  We all had an enjoyable and sociable evening at the accommodation.

On the Sunday most of the team worked at a new site, a couple of miles up the valley at Lord’s Bridge.  Our task was to open up the view along a section of canal north of the footpath over Lord’s Bridge, so that people will be able to see the remains of the canal.  While there is much more to do, hopefully more people will be now aware that there is a canal there, especially if we are able to arrange an interpretation board there in the future.

Meanwhile another small team returned to the footpath between Milepost 23 and Bridge 70 to clear some more weeds from the towpath, which we realised is now over 10 years old, having been built by WRG during a canal camp in 2014.  Before then the public footpath along the former canal towpath was very rough and uneven.  It’s holding up reasonably well but some repairs were identified to be carried out at the next opportunity. 

It was a beautiful day on the Sunday to be out in the fresh air and countryside of the Churnet Valley – all in all it was a very enjoyable and productive weekend and our many thanks to all the volunteers who helped.