New members walk – Alfrick and Suckley
On a cold, murky, muddy and not obviously inviting 20th March, eleven members of the Geowalkers, a.k.a. the New Members sub-group, set forth from Knapp Mill (plenty of parking) with the aim of following the Alfrick and Suckley Hills circular trail, an offshoot of the Geopark Way. They were accompanied by Jim Handley, who exercised commendable restraint in allowing the novice geologists to attempt to interpret the landscape as best they could, aided only by their own collective knowledge and the very helpful Earth and Heritage Trust leaflet. We noted a variety of sedimentary rocks including sandstones, red and otherwise, gritstones and conglomerates, and the crossing of the boundary between Silurian and Triassic aged rocks. The Crews Hill Nature Reserve yielded a variety of fossils underfoot, and the West wall of Alfrick church highlighted the remarkable variety of rock types to be found locally. No doubt the leaflet’s repeated references to the spectacular, and geologically interesting , long-distance views are soundly based, but sadly the nature of the day meant that we had to take them entirely on trust.
Our walk ended with a walk through Knapp and Papermill Nature Reserve alongside Leigh Brook, and Jim’s detailed local knowledge added enormously to the interest of this section of the walk. The reverse drainage in the gorge caused by ice blocking the original course of the Mathon river was already known even to us novices, but to see it in situ brought the notion to life. We were also shown examples of the spectacular effects of the 2007 floods, when cylinders of liquid gas and entire trees were deposited in some unlikely places, and this was an eloquent reminder of the enormous power of rivers to shape the landscape. For a first attempt - for most of us anyway - at applying our newly acquired, and so far rather fragile knowledge, to a local landscape, the outing was an undoubted success.