August News
FURZEBEAM REPORT by Tony Nicholls - 26th August 2026
We regrouped at Furzebeam for second week of scrub bashing building on the good progress made last week. One of the recurrent problems is trees which have fallen across the canal. Many of these have come down in past storms. From time to time, contractors have been employed to cut up those sections obstructing the towpath in order to maintain public access but the sections in the canal were obviously outside their remit and our volunteers are doing their best to clear them – a challenging task. We are, however, making good progress and today we managed to clear another 15 meters or so of the canal bed. We stopped at the point where we encountered another large fallen tree as energy levels were getting low. We will tackle this problem next week when we have recharged our batteries! The end product of our efforts was three large piles of brash which we will burn when the conditions are right.
We regrouped at Furzebeam for second week of scrub bashing building on the good progress made last week. One of the recurrent problems is trees which have fallen across the canal. Many of these have come down in past storms. From time to time, contractors have been employed to cut up those sections obstructing the towpath in order to maintain public access but the sections in the canal were obviously outside their remit and our volunteers are doing their best to clear them – a challenging task. We are, however, making good progress and today we managed to clear another 15 meters or so of the canal bed. We stopped at the point where we encountered another large fallen tree as energy levels were getting low. We will tackle this problem next week when we have recharged our batteries! The end product of our efforts was three large piles of brash which we will burn when the conditions are right.
The team gets to work
Tree sections
The end product
The next obstacle
One interesting object unearthed during clearance was an intact glass bottle clearly marked ‘POISON’. We are pleased to report that no corpse was found nearby!
Poison bottle
Working parties are currently being held at 9.30am every Wednesday. Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.07557 478371) for more information.
SEA LOCK RESTORATION REPORT by Michael Elliott - 25th August 2026
Sea Lock or mud, mud, glorious mud!
With the weather due to break over the next few days, the Sea Lock team took advantage of the dry summer to get down into the lock . The aim was to expose the top-gate cill. Despite the lack of rain, the tide still washes over the area twice a day. While the mounds of mud were reasonably dry, the rest was very sticky. Shifting it was very hard work. The dug out mud was tipped into the channel where the side sluices drain into the lock, with the hope the high tides will fill the pound above the lock and wash the mud out of the lock into the river. How quickly the tide brings the mud back remains to be seen!
Sea Lock or mud, mud, glorious mud!
With the weather due to break over the next few days, the Sea Lock team took advantage of the dry summer to get down into the lock . The aim was to expose the top-gate cill. Despite the lack of rain, the tide still washes over the area twice a day. While the mounds of mud were reasonably dry, the rest was very sticky. Shifting it was very hard work. The dug out mud was tipped into the channel where the side sluices drain into the lock, with the hope the high tides will fill the pound above the lock and wash the mud out of the lock into the river. How quickly the tide brings the mud back remains to be seen!
RIDD RESTORATION REPORT by Tony Nicholls - 12th August 2026
After several productive sessions at Furzebeam, we were back at Ridd this week to carry out some routine maintenance. It was a baking hot day so we had to work sensibly and (in World Cup parlance) take regular ‘hydration breaks’. Despite the conditions, we managed to tackle a number of discrete areas.
After several productive sessions at Furzebeam, we were back at Ridd this week to carry out some routine maintenance. It was a baking hot day so we had to work sensibly and (in World Cup parlance) take regular ‘hydration breaks’. Despite the conditions, we managed to tackle a number of discrete areas.
Strimming base of incline
With the aid of our trusty motorised strimmer and two hand held strimmers, we mowed the area around the stable building and the lower incline and cut back some of the vegetation around the adjacent culvert. This is potentially a dangerous area with steep banks where a stream flows underground into the River Torridge. We erected a fence here some while ago but this is rapidly disappearing under vegetation which needs cutting back.
Cleared area around culvert
Strimmed area around stables
We also cut back vegetation along the old (west) boundary wall of the canal and, for the first time, managed to get behind the perimeter fence of the lower incline to remove a number of overgrowing hazel and sycamore saplings. This should act as a useful ‘break’ and enable us to control any re-growth more easily.
Boundary fence after clearing
Lower incline after clearing
Working parties are currently being held at 9.30am every Wednesday. Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.07557 478371) for more information.
SEA LOCK GUIDED WALK
On 12th July, Hilary Wills led a Rolle Canal Society guided walk from Annery Kiln to Sea Lock. Among her party was talented local photographer Tom Maund. Tom took lots of photos, including some with his drone. He has kindly allowed us to share them here.
On 12th July, Hilary Wills led a Rolle Canal Society guided walk from Annery Kiln to Sea Lock. Among her party was talented local photographer Tom Maund. Tom took lots of photos, including some with his drone. He has kindly allowed us to share them here.
FURZEBEAM REPORT by Tony Nicholls - 5th August 2026
We returned to Furzebeam this week to carry out further scrub bashing along the canal bed. This week’s report is therefore pretty much a repetition of last week’s. Generally, work is advancing steadily and we managed to clear a further 10 metres or so by the end of the session. Progress was hampered, as usual, by a couple of fallen trees. We hope to cut up and remove the smaller of the two in the near future. Altogether, we estimate that we have now cleared approximately 250 metres of the canal from the stop boards. Unfortunately, a similar distance remains to be cleared before we reach the junction of the canal with the Tarka Trail! In the future, we would like to bring our motorised strimmer to site as this would really help us to suppress any weed regrowth and maintain the canal in good shape. Anyone taking part in the guided walk on 16th August will see a significant improvement in the appearance of this section of the canal.
Working parties are currently being held at 9.30am every Wednesday. Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.07557 478371) for more information.
We returned to Furzebeam this week to carry out further scrub bashing along the canal bed. This week’s report is therefore pretty much a repetition of last week’s. Generally, work is advancing steadily and we managed to clear a further 10 metres or so by the end of the session. Progress was hampered, as usual, by a couple of fallen trees. We hope to cut up and remove the smaller of the two in the near future. Altogether, we estimate that we have now cleared approximately 250 metres of the canal from the stop boards. Unfortunately, a similar distance remains to be cleared before we reach the junction of the canal with the Tarka Trail! In the future, we would like to bring our motorised strimmer to site as this would really help us to suppress any weed regrowth and maintain the canal in good shape. Anyone taking part in the guided walk on 16th August will see a significant improvement in the appearance of this section of the canal.
Working parties are currently being held at 9.30am every Wednesday. Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.07557 478371) for more information.
Surveying the jungle
Strimming the canal bed
Clearing around fallen trees
Cleared section of canal