Not put off by the ter-rain, 8 GoodGymers (Meyrick, Mary, Aaron, Emily K, Emily M, Jamie, Laura and Richard) braved the elements and rocked up at Claverton pumping station one wet Saturday morning.

Here we were met by two of the station volunteers, who explained our task of moving stones to fill in some steps, which will form part of a footpath joining the canal towpath with the pumping station below.

Down next to the ter-rain tracks, were several sacks of solidified soil/stones, which needed breaking up first. So we set to work, reminiscent of scenes from the Shawshank redemption, using mattocks and spades. We then shovelled stones into wheelbarrows, taking turns to wheel uphill to the steps.

In the process, we uncovered some of the local wildlife, which we carefully moved to safety.

Some of us also headed further down the hill to pick up more stones, to be used as the top layer.

As we finished up, the showers eased off and we were kindly treated to a much needed cup of tea, followed by a fascinating guided tour of the pumping station museum, by one of the knowledgeable volunteers.

Thanks everyone and welcome to Bath, Laura!

Today we paid another visit to Claverton Pumping Station, a Grade 1 listed building which in its heyday used to pump water from the River Avon to keep the Kennet & Avon Canal topped up.

Last time we were here, we'd wheelbarrowed tons of stones on a particularly wet day - but this time the wet day had arrived three days before us. This had been a particularly wet deluge which had flooded the river, completely submerging Warleigh Weir and washing loads of silt - not to mention an unfortunate eel - into the the pumphouse.

By the time we arrived, our host Julian had already rescued the eel. Although it turns out eels are really slippery (who knew?) and he'd had a hard time trying to get in into a bucket to facilitate the rescue.

Once we arrived, he set Meyrick and Jer up, helping to sweep the mud out of the pumphouse. It felt a bit like graft, but to be fair our flood must have been but a damp dribble compared to some of the numerous past epic floods of the last couple of centuries, whose high water marks are recorded on the walls inside the building.

Meanwhile Emilies K and M were working on clearing a path alongside the river just downstream from the pumphouse. By the time we'd finished sweeping silt and came outside, they'd not only cleared earth to make way for the new path, but actually in the process had unearthed, and were uncovering more and more of, a pre-existing path made from a mosaic of various different stones and bricks from various past eras of the station's history.

A path which is no doubt* of prime historical significance, and possibly** even Roman in origin. Or maybe was just an old path to the gent's loo (a.k.a. screened-off plank next to a tree). But was jolly interesting to discover, nonetheless.

Jer and Meyrick also donned life jackets to do a bit of work cleaning up the edge of the river containing wall.

To finish up we went inside into the station's living space for a nice cup of tea and a chocolate digestive.

* totally doubted

** absolutely not Roman!