River Path

Our local council have been busy along the river path joining Swanwick to Warsash. Where the culverts connect the lagoons connecting Bunny Meadows and the river, they have constructed fences along the path to prevent anyone or dogs falling in.

There are 5 or 6 sets of these along the 3 mile stretch of the river path, and lets say that each set cost £5,000 or £6,000 to erect, that's a lot of money to spend to protect people from being stupid, the culverts were clearly marked and already protected by grates so no one could get swept through. At the time when taxation in UK is at an absolute height you have to question this sort or expenditure 

And more so when  maintenance of the actual fabric of the pathway is so  neglected, here a recent shoring up of the path was done so badly that it's almost breached again and being washed away by the high tides. There are many  sections of the path like this in dire need to properer repair and reinforcement.

Interesting then that the council choose to spend what limited funds they claim to have on gates such as this. There is another set up river by the old stone pier. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but maybe installing a couple of gates and preventing people using the path might be cheaper than making the repairs and of course the path will be closed for our own safety.

 It's said that something should never be attributed to malice what can be explained by incompetence, but I think the jury is out on this one. Comments from the authorities are most welcome.

Trucking

Universal marina is situated at the end of winding and narrow Crableck Lane, so boats arriving by road transport can be a challenge.

This fine looking yacht looks to have a hard time with some serious damage to the port side.

All credit to the driver who had to execute a 5 point turn to get around the tight bend at the top of the lane, perhaps once the repairs are completed the boat will be able to leave by sea.

 

Winter gales in prospect

 Emsworth dinghy park boats hunkered down for the winter gales.

 No bad thing taking the mast down every year, good opportunity to check things over and make sure everything is in good shape come spring.

Cold day out on the water - first row of the year

Despite the chilly start to the year there were quite a few folk out on the river enjoying the winter sunshine and calm condition 

A lone laser sailor who was very well wrapped up against the cold practices the COL regs with a tender presumably going up to a yacht or motorboat further up river.

Some paddle boarders enjoying the almost flat calm conditions, difficult to tell but I'd want to have a wet suit on under those clothes given the water and air temperature, hopefully they did.

A couple of boats from Hamble River Rowing club were out, the cox called out to me by name so clearly recognised if not me then my boat. I could only reply with "with happy new year" as I couldn't see that well, so apologies for not recognising you.

 On the slip a couple of hardy fishermen were debating the the strength of time, from their gear they looked to have been there from early morning and well wrapped up against the cold.

Frost & snow

In complete contrast to the mists a couple of days before, the first snow we've seen in a long time fell.

Being so close to the coast and presumably some relatively dry air there was only a light dusting which the sun hadn't started to burn off in the shadows on the eastern side of the river.

By contrast the river and to the west was bathed in bright sunshine and with no wind the water was like glass.

Up river at the boatyard, business was going on as normal despite the conditions.

 

 

Sounds in the mist

 The weather at the start of the year has created some spectacular conditions, like this early morning misty walk. 

Everything was quiet presumably damped down by the think mist which was punctuated only by the sound of ships fog horns drifting over from Southampton water.

It's strange to see the view you know so well completely changed with the enveloping mist

The phone camera wasn't coping very well with the limited visibility and for some reason the images were pretty small

Remarkable engineering

 Between Christmas and New Year engineers carried out a remarkable price of work on the nearby M27 motorway  outside Fareham where a new junction and underpass is needed to serve the Wellbourne development.

Rather than tunneling  under the busy M27 the underpass shell was constructed beside the motorway (below) . 

Then starting on Christmas Eve the team literally sliced out a section of the motorway which was closed for the Christmas holiday, slid the tunnel section into place, filled up the gaps and resurfaced the road surface, finishing at 4.0AM on Saturday and ahead of schedule.

 What a remarkable feat of civil engineering, the team were working around the clock. The process is well documented by M27 JUNCTION 10 Drone  from which the stills above are taken, (hopefully he will allow) and well worth checking out the full set of videos through which the work is documented daily on the channel - much appreciated daily viewing in the BB household.