Ock Valley Walk, Tesco End, March 22nd 2014

By Andrew -
We returned to the Ock path after several weeks away to start clearing the mess of litter left by the floods the had covered most of the fields by the Ock following the heavy rain during January and February.

 Twelve Green Gymmers were in attendance on what was a warm and pleasant morning. Sally was in charge for the first time with James away doing atomic work in organising "ATOM" for Abingdon (the town's first science festival). She was feeling apprehensive about her new role but she need not have worried.

 The main tasks for the Green Gymmers was litter picking, cutting up some branches and some light judicious cutting back of hawthorn that would soon grow over the pathways and a pile of logs that had tumbling onto the pathway that needed a bit of attention.

 It was even claimed that some red and white barriers had fallen into the Ock and need removal. Kevin and Robert when off to try and find these barriers but after walking the length of the Ock between Drayton Road Bridge and the foot bridge near the end of the path nothing was found.

 Meanwhile the rest of the Green Gymmers had split into small groups to carry out the rest of the tasks.

 Carolyn, Tanya and Dieuwke were cutting back the hawthorn that was threatening to grow across the paths which could create problems for cyclists as they ride along the path.

 Laura, Victor, Lesley and Enid were collecting litter that seemed to be everywhere.  Margaret, Sally with Kevin were clearing the path of branches that had been washed over it by the floods.

 Given the state of the Ock River only a couple of weeks before, it now looked beautiful and peaceful.

 By the time we finished the was a large number of filled rubbish and recycling bags left by the road into Tesco for collecting by the Council on Monday morning.
-Robert

Sally instructs the group

the River Ock - at a lower level than recent weeks

Dieuwke cutting back hawthorn

Carolyn and Tanya also tackling the hawthorn

Victor and Laura

Kevin, Margaret and Sally clearing the path of branches

Some of the many rogue tree branches

The River Ock looking beautiful and peaceful



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