STAR - April Clean Up

Another section of Hadrian's Cycleway was cleaned up ahead of the planned launch ride in July - this time in the Newburn / Scotswood Area. The day dawned bright and proved to be a warm sunny day at long last.

The meeting place was arranged to be at the East end of Shelly Road BUT not all read the STARS web correctly - one arriving a day early and another about a mile away, but eventually the group met up OK.

Only a low turn out - with Doug, Lindsay, John, Marion and David turning up. David was without his bike but being super fit was jogging but we manage to keep up with him !!

The objectives of the day were several and included sweeping the track clear - fixing signs in place - vegetation cut back.

The first task was to clear away all the loose stones at the end of Shelley Road where the riverside track joins - this was accomplished in a short time - the larger stones swept clear and the small stones and dust used to build a path across the grass which all riders seem to prefer to avoid a kerb line.

Having completed this task we shifted our attention to the subways at Scotswood Bridge - on route John & Doug applied stick on signs along the riverside trail both to guide cyclists and to highlight to other users that it is a National Cycle Network route 72 . Despite being observed on CCTV no one come out to see what we were doing !!

On route two lady cyclists came along and we were surprised to see it as Chris Lloyd from Brampton and her friend. Chris did the Hadrian's Cycleway ride with us in April 2004 - they were cycling all the way back to Brampton that day following NCN 72. After a short chat we bid them on there way.

Chris Lloyd and friend stop to chat on route to Brampton.
Newly applied stick on sign can be seen on the short post

Although they are not part of NCN 72 it is planned to use them on the launch ride in July to avoid having to cross Scotswood Road at the traffic lights - as a large group of riders is expected this route will speed the passage. The pathway between the subways was extremely overgrown with creeping ivy and over hanging bushes.

Arriving at the area between the subways - at first glance it appeared we had bitten off more than we could chew or cut !!

But undaunted we set to - clearing the creeping ivy from the pathway which had narrowed from 3 mts down to less than 50cms in places. Swiftly the ivy was pulled up and using long handle shears cut back. David & Doug doing the first trim with John, Lindsay & Marion following up behind to cut back even further. By now it was getting quite warm - so out garments were divested and drinks taken before carrying on. In about two hours we cleared 25 mts of path back to full width, with the rest trimmed to give a 2 mts width ( to cut back later !!). All the cuttings plus other rubbish were piled up ready for council to collect later. During our time at this site we did observed cyclists using these subways plus others either unaware or reluctant to use them - dodging the traffic trying to cross the very busy roads above.

Having achieved our planned objectives there was only one other task remaining - to make our way to the Keelmans for some cool refreshing liquid and lunch.

Although only five turned up we achieved a great deal and its a special thanks to everyone that came along today - had more rangers turned up the task could have been completed in one go.

As it is another visit will be required before the July ride to complete the task.

2/5/2006
Dean Grindle reported today that all the good work done at Shelley Road has been undone by somebody fly tipping bricks into the gap and dumping industrial cabling across the track as well - the OneNE have been advised and arranging to remove it.

17/5/2006 - the pile of bricks is still there - see photo - Sustrans are chasing up OneNE to clear it up.

Fly Tipping at Newburn Industrial Estate
note the lorry was there to remove the rabbit fences not clear up the rubbish

Doug Ridgway - MMVI