Work on the Pier to Pier Way is proceeding which incorporates a section of the former Weston Clevedon & Portishead Railway route between Weston Super Mare and Clevedon known as the Tutshill Greenway and this is due to open in the summer. The complete length of the Pier to Pier Way may well be open by the end of the year.
The Strawberry Line Dulcote Link opened on 4 March with further extensions to the route between Cheddar and Wells and between Wells and Shepton Mallet as part of the planned Somerset Circle. A working party is planned for Saturday 10 September to Saturday 17 September based at Dulcote Quarry now the home of the Charlie Bigham food factory. I understand accommodation can be provided at the quarry in yurts! Any members interested in taking part please contact Malcolm Broad, South West Area Co-ordinator, contact details in the back of the magazine.
Another project that will soon be underway is the ‘Tramway’, an extension of the existing Whitchurch to Brislington railway path that follows the route of the former GWR Bristol & North Somerset line into Bristol from Frome. A planning committee meeting on 16 March granted permission for the temporary three-year active travel route from Brislington to Sandy Park Road in the vicinity of Bristol Temple Meads Station despite opposition from City Council transport officers who had the route earmarked for a road scheme.
In Cornwall the first section of the troubled Saints Way scheme has opened between Perranporth and Goonhavern, a feature of which is the 89-yard Cox Viaduct. Another section of this scheme which utilises much of the former GWR Chacewater to Newquay line, closed in 1963, will run from St.Agnes to Truro and is due to open in late 2023 but the Goonhavern to Newquay section is currently suspended due to problems securing the land. (Malcolm Broad; John Grimshaw)