During my daily bike ride on Sunday (which I’ve still yet to write up…) I rode along the cycleway that forms part of National Cycle Route 5 from Lichfield to Walsall where it goes on the old railway line between Engine Lane and the canal at The Slough (Or as I know it the Old Cement Works) Bridge in Brownhills.
It was dark, and it had been a very windy day – as it still was. While trundling through the gloom, my headlight picked out a fallen tree in the darkness.
The tree wasn’t massive, but it could do someone not expecting it a bit of damage. So I posted a warning on Facebook with the note that it was down, but passable with care.
Bugger me if the local Sustrans team didn’t hear about his and have the whole situation sorted the very next day!
How’s that for service?
They sent me the following via email:
Hello Brownhills Bob,
Thanks for the Facebook post about the fallen tree between Slough Bridge and Engine Lane last night. It’s a great Facebook page that’s invaluable to the community and it’s how we got to know about the fallen tree, so keep up the good work.
As that track is part of the Pelsall Rangers NCN 5 section (and also the Beacon Way), I figured we’d better sort it out today. I thought about reporting to WMBC but that’s never worked before, so decided to do it ourselves!
Anyway, it’s all sorted now, Paul from Back the Track and Bob from Sustrans went and cleared it from the track this morning.
Cheers for now…
My huge thanks to Paul and Bob and all inviolved for sorting this out so promptly and effectively – this is real service and care for the community we live in and I can’t thank everyone involved in this enough.
This is all against the background of the Back the Track efforts to create a walking and cycling trail, intersecting with Route NCN 5 from where it currently leaves the old rail line in Pelsall to Brownhills, and eventually beyond to Lichfield.
The crew are making huge progress with that, and I salute their efforts. You can see a gallery of their progress from last autumn here, and they’re now pushing towards the A5.
If you want to find out about the Back the Track campaign and group, you can visit their website here and Facebook group here. They also have a twitter account here.
Again, my thanks and admiration to the good folk who sorted this and are working so hard to make a better environment for us all to enjoy.
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Great that they did it but what a pity that the staff at Walsall Council have been cut and cut until urgent jobs such as this, cannot be dealt with quickly.