Those who like walking in the countryside around Wem Town and Rural parishes may have noticed some improvements to the paths and infrastructure recently. This is due in main to the Wem P3 group where P3 standing for Parish Paths Partnership. We are a small group of volunteers who are supported by Shropshire Council to help maintain the local footpaths. The council supplies the stiles, field gates, posts, railings and other hardware along with a small annual budget to cover sundries such as replacement tools, nails, fuel for strimmers etc. In addition they also organize training days for power tool usage and we are also covered by their insurance whilst working provided of course that we have followed the correct procedures.
Many years ago there was a series of Wem Walks published in the form of a small booklet which is now out of print. A lot of these circular walks started in Wem Town and then went into Wem Rural where the majority of the footpaths are situated. However time, nature and a few inconsiderate land owners have taken a toll on the footpaths so that most if not all now require some degree of maintenance. This is where the Wem P3 and Shropshire Councils Rights of Way department come in.
Over the past couple of years we have been slowly but steadily trying to clear and repair the walks with a view to signing them correctly and then publishing them. As mentioned before the original walks were published in a booklet but things have moved on somewhat now. Therefore a decision has been made on financial grounds to initially try to publish them in future on the Wem Town and Wem Rural Council websites. There they can either be loaded onto a smartphone or printed off directly. This may change in the future if / when funding becomes available and walk leaflets can be produced.
A good example of one of our walks is that of WW6 (Wem Walk 6). This starts in the Co-Op car park and goes to Alderley Lane via Church Lane. 3 years ago it was impossible to get onto Alderley Lane via the footpath as it was completely blocked by brambles. These have now been cleared and 2 gates fitted. Further on the track through Soulton Woods was completely impassable but this has now been cleared and is now well used. Further on a small rotten bridge over a brook has been completely replaced. The route now takes us into Wixhill and then back into Lee Brockhurst where it goes up the 100 Steps. Now this was a challenge in the mud. We have tried to stabilise the rocks to a greater degree along with repairing the handrail and improving the style at the bottom.
Bottom of the 100 Steps before the work (above) and after (below)
Although the steps are now much safer care should be taken especially in the winter as they do get very slippery which is a situation that we as a group cannot do anything about. However, this walk of about 7 miles is now a going concern and if it continues to be used will be be kept naturally clear. Basically it is a case of use it or lose it.
We do have a Facebook page where we publish what we have done and for anyone to leave a message if they come across a problem that they feel that we can deal with. Additionally maps and descriptions of the walks are published here where it says ‘Featured’. The GPX files can be be loaded directly onto your GPS device or downloaded to be printed off. This can be found by searching for Wem Parish Paths Partnership and at the time of writing this article there were 293 followers and 3 published walks. Our Facebook is a public group and we welcome anyone who has even the remotest interest in our local footpaths to join. There you can let us know of any problems such as broken stiles, stolen gates, blockages etc. There is one big caveat in that we cannot as a group do much about any wilful blockage of public footpaths by landowners. As there is a legal process that has to be followed this has to be taken up by the local councils and if no success there by Shropshire Council.
Another example of a footpath improvement is shown below.
This shows the kissing gate (and some of the motley crew) on the footpath between Weir Lane at Barkers Green and Aston Road . As the area around the gate was always being flooded due to being at the bottom of a slope and erosion of the path which meant a lot of deep mud. We raised the entire gate by 6 inches and cleared an adjoining drainage ditch. Then with the help of the land owner surfaced it with a deep layer of MOT substrate.
Now the hard sell. We are always looking out for more willing
helpers. We are (even if I say it myself) a friendly bunch of retired males as the picture shows although ladies are more than welcome. We usually meet on a Monday morning but this is flexible as and when required. All you need is outdoor clothing, wellies in the winter and a sense of humour. Again just let us know via our FaceBook page.
Peter Hutchison obo The Wem P3 Group.
