Inver Bridge, January 2005

The bridge at Inver was damaged during a storm in January 2004. Half the decking was washed away and found at the far end of the loch. Lindsay Mackay and Sophie Shaw laid replacement decking for the missing half, using timber which they happened to have for other work at Inver. Plans to retrieve the lost section included towing it by canoe, but it broke up during subsequent floods. The other half of the original decking being removed before it fell off too, leaving us with a narrow bridge and no handrail.

The weather in the first week of January was atrocious. Club members staying in the hut for New Year were kept off the hill by gales and heavy rain, and the path repeatedly flooded over. These conditions were repeated later in the week when Alistair Arnott, Roy Plenderleith and Alan MacDonald went up to carry out preparatory work. On Thursday, gale force winds made it too dangerous to work on the bridge. The level of the loch rose with heavy overnight rain and left the bridge completely submerged on Friday morning.

Despite this, the rest of the bridge team arrived on Friday night.

9am sharp on Saturday morning. Starting work.

The decking goes on.

Nearing halfway.

Precise work to level out for the dip in the underlying girders.

John celebrates his birthday with a bit of manic sawing.

A busman's holiday. This man (a non-member and techie teacher) came to help. Well done James. You can come and work at Inver anytime.

The handrail goes on.

Oops! The last few metres head down the river.

The final screws.

Despite careful preparation, with working in a remote location, some things had to be improvised.

Nobody had remembered to bring an official opening ribbon.

We now have a proper bridge. It's a big thanks to all those who gave up their free time and contributed to the effort.

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