<<< Here is a brief lesson in dual language signs with ... graphics for those that can read neither Welsh nor English. Where were we? Ah, yes, back at the riverside site of what has been a relatively large environmental, reconstruction project, which I have followed on this blog for eleven weeks now and these are the final stages.
This stretch of the river has been changed over the last few months (as followers of my blog will know) and I personally think that the result has been a welcome re-arrangement despite the cost and the disruption. As one walks along the Ebbw Fach, "cycle trail" one can hear the changes in the music of the river. Yes it may seem raw and new now, but I hope to be able to bring you photographs of this stretch of the river a year on. By then nature will have self re-generated and these scenes will not seem as raw. Two weirs have undergone reconstruction but, is the money spent worth it?
Only the years ahead will be able to vouch for this project. If ... more eels, salmon and trout head up the valleys via either the Ebbw Fach & Ebbw Waur (small and large) then maybe our environmentalists will see this work as a success. Eleven weeks of work, nearly 2.ooo tons of quarried stone and the earnings of those involved at the total cost of £300.ooo. That's a big question.
To be honest I have mixed feelings about such projects. When I talk to local folk who witnessed the death of the river from the outpouring of poisonous substances from the steel and iron industry, this is an improvement and a welcome one. But at what cost?
This is the confluence between the Ebbw Fach & the Ebbw Waur , (little & large) up river of the expensive alterations ... which one will the migrating salmon and eels choose?
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