Towpath work underway

Hundreds of tons of hardcore are arriving for the towpath improvements to the north of Audlem. Contractors are currently improving access from the Overwater Marina to Bridge 80, as in the photo. This will mean the track is also much improved for walkers to the Marina once the work is completed.

As you'd expect with a rural project, one of the impromptu meetings on Bridge 80 between contractor and Janet Maughan – centre on horseback in the photo – of the Overwater Marina before work commenced, was somewhat unconventional.

As regular readers will recall, the Audlem Parish Plan team has worked with British Waterways and gained grants of around £50,000 to hardcore a stretch of towpath running south of Bridge 80 – it becomes almost impassable after heavy or prolonged rain – and to produce leaflets and computer programs to promote local tourism.

Over 600m of the towpath will see work over the coming weeks which will enable walkers to reach Bridge 80 and its paths to the Overwater Marina and eastwards to Hankelow Mill throughout the year. A shorter muddy section near Lock 15 will also be improved.

Crucially, the towpath will allow boaters moored at Overwater to access the village's shops, pubs, cafés and other facilities more easily at all times of the year and avoid a more than three mile drive each way.

Towpath closureWhile the work is carried out, the towpath will be closed south of Bridge 80. Notices will also be placed at Coole Lane, where it crosses the canal, to warn walkers that the towpath will be blocked around Bridge 80. It is planned that the work will completed before the end of the month.

Funding has been provided by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and Defra through the Northern Marches Leader scheme with matched funding from Cheshire East, Audlem Parish Council, British Waterways and Overwater Marina.

Program and leafletsA portion of the money is being used to provide touch screen computers with specially created programs promoting Audlem's many attractions and detailing the history of the canal and its creator, Thomas Telford. The screens will be located in the Audlem Mill shop and at Overwater Marina.

The work on the programs will use local talent on screen, behind the cameras and in computer programming. Promotional leaflets have also been printed, created by the Parish Plan team and designed by Delmar Press in Nantwich. They are now available at the Post Office, Williams newsagents, Audlem Mill and Overwater Marina are being distributed to Tourist Information Centres in the area.

More on these developments over the coming weeks.

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