Sunday 5 October 2014

Coals to Nowhere

This wasn't intended to be my subject this week but never mind. Having being struck down by the prevailing office cold this week I didn't feel up to much so it seemed a good idea to take a walk down to the Basin to collect some hawthorn berries for brandy and some rosehips for syrup.


It's been a while since I was down there. It's the site of the old Somerset Coal Canal which went out of use over 100 years ago and has since been filled in.  Now it's a green corridor along the Cam. Or it was.







 The Somerset Coal Canal Society have decided the time is right to reopen the canal...


I must admit I had no idea what they were doing so this was a bit of a shock. They have excavated the old dry dock - they believe it to be the biggest in England with room for 3 boats side by side and are currently busy building a replica of the bridge.



The overgrown pathway of the Limestone Link has now been replaced by what looks like the footings for a new road!


Some of the old canal way was lined with stone which is being replaced.


They haven't got to this bit yet but it shows what the landscape looked like before the diggers went in.

Any ideas what this might have been. Obviously it was uncovered in the excavating.

I am really not sure what I think about this. The canal is a part of the local history but whether it should now be re-instated I don't know. I guess it will depend on how the towpath is finished off, If they use tarmac like in Bath and Bradford on Avon it will be a real shame.

And yes I did get my rosehips and hawthorn berries. There are 3 bottles of syrup ready to put away and a kilner jar of hawthorn which I will need to remember to shake daily for the next couple of weeks.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...