I’ve spent much of this last week preparing
for a project in Braithwaite, a village near Keswick. There is a flooding
problem on the Common in an area owned by the Trust so I’m going to replace the
old, clay land drain that has collapsed in places with a new one made from
modern materials. We hope that will solve the flooding problem for the
foreseeable future.
My main concern at the start of this is the
position of existing underground services. I’ve been able to find some useful
mapping on the United Utilities website but there are lots of other things in
the area I will need to find. Telephone lines, power cables, fresh water, waste
water and gas pipes all run through where we will need to dig. So I’ve spent
some time carefully surveying the area with a CAT scanner. This scan detects
the location and then I dig test pits to establish exactly what is there.
The next step will be to bring in a
mini-digger and the last thing we want to do is sever essential pipes or
cables.
It is now several months since construction
of the water treatment plant at Force Crag Mine was completed. The mine is no
longer operational but contaminated water continues to drain from the workings.
This new plant will clean up the water before it enters the streams, rivers and
lakes of this area. This is a pioneering project and is a collaborative venture
between the National Trust, the National Coal Board, the Environment Agency and
Newcastle University so it is of some significance. As such it merited an
opening ceremony last Friday carried out by Rory Stewart MP who represents our
neighbouring constituency of Penrith & the Borders and is also a minister
in the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
(DEFRA).
A huge amount of credit must go to John
Malley, the National Trust’s water advisor who steered this project from its
beginning. It must be immensely satisfying for him to see it complete and
working well.
Winter is now here so our upland footpath
rangers have come down from the high fells to work for me and other rangers in
the Borrowdale valley. So I spent some time delivering stone for them to
collect with their wheel-less wheelbarrows to take onward to their working
site.
Daisy here.
Poppet has come to stay. Poppet
is a dog that lives with Roy’s mum and dad and she’s come to stay for a little
while. It’s great. We love playing. I’m faster than she is but she can turn
really quickly.
