Thursday 30 April 2015

Correct weather forecast

The forecast was for rain at midday and fine in the afternoon.  When we woke it was fine and decision to move before the rain was made.  Last night’s mooring below Cartagena Lock was OK but the car passing on the adjacent metal road made some noise.  More importantly, the sound of stones flicking against the side of the cabin provided a powerful motivating reason to move.

During last night’s walk I noticed what appeared to be an abandoned bridge.

Looking at the site in Google Earth gives no indication of why the bridge is here.

The gradient of the bridge is not acute and the construction is substantial suggesting it was built to carry a heavy load.  The carriageway isn’t very wide suggesting it might be an abandoned railway bridge?

The 24 hour moorings outside The Crown were vacant but we didn’t stop electing to press on making the most of the fine weather.

The plan was to stop just beyond bridge 147A.  From here it’s a 3km walk to the Brookfield Centre where there is a large Tesco.  We had no sooner moored and the heavens opened.  The walk to Tesco for lunch was going to be delayed.

We have both a ‘dot’ and DTV signals.  In the end I walked to Tesco in light rain arriving back at Waiouru just as the sun put in an appearance. 

After a late lunch another coat of paint was applied to that splinter hole on the rear door liner.  The depression is now full.  It will be interesting to see what the door looks like after the final topcoat.

3 comments :

Paul (from Waterway Routes) said...

It looks like the structure was for a road at http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=51.7442&lon=-0.0126&layers=10

Tom and Jan said...

Hi Paul
I agree the bridge in qestion connects to the main bridge across the rail line. However the exiting road bridge has a tight corner at that end as if that appoach has been added later. Also, the bridge in question is very narrow. You might squeeze car down it. Finally, the road on the link you sent doesn't go anywhere?

Davidss said...

More clues.
Go to https://www.old-maps.co.uk/index.html#/
Enter TL3707 in the Search box.
Click and drag the map to make the area of interest centrally placed.
Examine the menu on the Left of the page.
Start at the top, the oldest maps, and selecting ONLY maps to the scale 1:2,500, progressively work down the list.
At 1898 the feature did not show, but at 1920 the feature (of a track along the line of the bridge) did show.
A short route ending in either a cutting or an embankment, depending on how you read the map, particularly as you select later maps.
By 1970 the route meets up with a newly shown track through the Park, that still exists on current OS mapping, even though the track with bridge has disappeared.

Hope this helps.