An Other Foot Bridge Comes Down

At one end of Rock Walk 3 teams now drill into the cliff face, before there was only one team working there. Two thirds of the way along a walk way last used 12 months ago when Rock Walk was open to the public is removed.

All that remains lies scattered half way down the cliff face. Twenty minutes later when I went back even this wreckage had been removed. The Vertical Technology teams are not hanging about as they clear the unwanted debris and scrub before placing netting over the cliff face.

I have a feeling the next few days they will slow a little as the photo below shows there is a considerable amount of vegetation to be cleared and the rock face looks much more irregular and more difficult to work on.

Moving Fast.

At one end two workers drill in to a net covered cliff to fix the face with 2.5 metre long bolts.
And about two thirds of the way along 7 workers cut back the low lying vegetation prior to laying netting. The vegetation needs to be cut back otherwise when it grows in the spring it will not grow through the mesh and will lift the netting. Not a good idea. Above this section there is a foot bridge from the old walkways, it will have to go.

The remaining third of the cliff will. I suspect be harder than this bit, much more lose rock, this is where Devon Tree Services had the most problems with falling rocks when they were removing the trees.

Small Rocks

In one part of the cliff there are workmen drilling deep holes in the rocks to hold them in place with steel bars. Here the rocks are too small to get this kind of attention, there would be so many plates holding the cliff up it would end up looking like a giant Dalek. So these two are attacking the small rocks with pickaxes and sending little clumps of rock tumbling down the cliff. Don't worry there is no one standing at the bottom and there is a safety barrier to stop any rocks that might try and get onto the road. This is the section where, until recently a footbridge stood. If you look carefully you can still see the foundations.

Roots and Rocks

Here is what roots can do to rocks, little roots make their way in through tiny cracks, get bigger, crack gets bigger rock falls down. Takes time but roots have nothing else to do but get bigger and don't really care what happens when the rock lands on some one's head.

This section of the cliff was covered with vegetation until a couple of weeks ago.

Boring

These two intrepid workers, considering how cold and windy it was today, are drilling holes 2.5 metres into the rock face. Steel rods will then be inserted into the holes and metal plates will be fitted to hold the rock in place. It looks hard work down at street level and I am sure it is hard work 50 feet above street level. I'm not sure how many off these plates are to be fitted, but probably more than two or three will be required. Just to the left a couple of rods can be seen sticking out from the rock face, the pipe going down to the compressor for the drill is hanging from one of them

Rock Walk Bridge Gone

Photo below shows the bridge making it's first public appearance in 35 years. This was taken in February 2008 and the 2nd photo shows the rubbish below it.

And more up to date photos taken Dec 2008.

This section of the paths on Rock Walk first came into view in February when Devon Tree Services removed the trees and bushes from in front of it. The ground below the bridge and the bridge it's self was littered with rubbish, beer cans, plastic bags, food cartons and hypodermic syringes due to the area being used by a small group of less desirable tourists. The photo above was taken on Tuesday and when I walked by today, Friday it had gone.

Torbay's Rock Walk Exhibition

Torbay Council recently tried to whip up a little interest and excitement in Rock Walk by holding an Exhibition. For a couple of days it was on show in the Princess Theatre which is in the firing line if any 20 tonne rocks roll down the cliff. Then it was moved to the Library in Lymington Rd. This is it.

Not very exciting is it? The top bit has a few photos of Rock Walk as it was and the bottom bit shows an impression of what it will look like when it is finished. The work is expected to cost over a million quid so economies have to be taken where ever possible. The board on the right with the coloured bits of paper are for viewers, if the can contain their excitement, to express their comments, make suggestions and ask questions. I even went so far as to stick a little coloured sticker myself.

There is no sign of an existing foot path (see above) in the new plans and I asked why not. In the new plans there only seems to be one path up then the same path down. Surely we need two paths otherwise there could just possibly a bit of a bottleneck in busy times. And it's more interesting having more than one pathway. Mind who the planers may just see my question, realise they have missed out a vital part of the redevelopment and write me a nice letter thanking me. It could also add a few thousand pounds to the cost.