UNUSUAL BRIGG PUBLIC FOOTPATH PROVES POPULAR DURING LOCKDOWN 3

Lockdown 3 is seeing many Brigg people getting out and about on foot to enjoy the daily exercise period permitted by the government under the Coronavirus regulations and also to exercise their dogs, in a few cases.
Proving popular, and rather surprisingly so in winter, is Clothes Hedge Footpath. Pictured above, it's a narrow walkway which runs from the end of St Helen's Road to Churchill Avenue, where it connects with the meandering route running between fields to the A18 at Tongs Farm, Wrawby. In terms of location and appearance, Clothes Hedge Footpath is a rather unusual designated right of way.
The only vistas on view are tall wooden fences bordering the back gardens of properties on St James Road and O'Hanlon Avenue and their rooftops. Not having an all-weather surface, the path can also get a bit spongy underfoot following periods of rain.
However, its borders were kept trimmed by council contractors until the end of the last plant growing season.
This public footpath gets its name from a time (long ago) when housewives used to hang their washing out to dry on hedges in this area - then in open countryside and before housing development was undertaken.
Some years ago an attempt was made to close this footpath as a right of way - the argument being that St James Road and O'Hanlon Avenue were available as alternatives on either side.
However, a government inspector ruled that this public footpath should be retained - a decision vindicated by the use being made of the path during lockdown.

PICTURED: Clothes Hedge footpath at the weekend. Two walkers in suitable footwear had just used it to access St Helens Road from the Wrawby end of the track.