Ock Valley Walk, Tesco end, 26th January 2013

By Andrew -
Following the abandonment of last week's activities due to heavy snow, and the last-minute cancellation of our advertised session for this week at Caldecott Primary School, it was good to finally get back to our outdoor activities on Saturday.

Owing to aforementioned late cancellation, session leader Eleanor hastily made alternative arrangements for us to return to the Tesco end of the Ock Valley walk to continue with our work there.  As usual, this involved tidying-up the areas around the paths, both by cutting and stacking tree branches (some of which had been left lying around following apparent clearance by local council contractors!) and by litter-picking.

 Conditions underfoot were soggy to say the least, a situation caused by the melting snow and also by the ground around the paths having been churned-up by working vehicles during the week.  

 However, the recent floods had washed much litter into the area and so there was plenty to keep us constructively occupied throughout the morning and crucially, to stay warm. 

 With the cold ambient temperature, the tea break was even more eagerly anticipated than usual and with Dieuwke supplying us with doughnuts to go with the usual hot beverages it definitely did not disappoint.  The extra fuel was certainly welcome to enable us to keep working hard until the close of play at 12:30pm.
-Andrew
tea break with added doughnuts

muddy wellies - as modeled by Carolyn

tyre tracks and mud

a pile of cut branches

Victor and Robert talk tactics

evidence of Kate and Margaret's hard work

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