Spare a thought for the Cotswold Canals Trust’s dredging volunteers, who have been clocking on before 6am to tackle one of the trickier jobs on the canal: dredging beneath Lodgemore Lift Bridge.

Like most of the bridges along the canal, it had gathered its share of non-canal debris over the years — including, inevitably, a mangled Tesco shopping trolley. To keep disruption to a minimum, the team started early over a weekend when traffic was light, completing the towpath-side and offside passes with only a handful of vehicles diverted via Chestnut Lane.

Many passing walkers stopped to watch the bridge raised for the first time in memory, and the volunteers report plenty of rewarding chats along the way — with the youngest fans watching wide-eyed from their buggies. The work under the bridge is now complete, wrapping up around 10:15 each morning, so from now on the bridge will only lift briefly to let a boat pass.

Read the full account from the Cotswold Canals Trust here: Dredging at Lodgemore Lift Bridge.