Building The Bridge

It is a measure of how exciting daily life in Kendal is, that the lowering into place of a new footbridge pulled the sort of crowds not seen since the heady days of the Olympic Torch relay in 2012.
There has been a footbridge across the river from New Road to Gooseholme, for over a hundred years and though the last one wasn’t swept away like some of its predecessors, it was declared unsafe after Storm Desmond struck in 2015, and was subsequently demolished.
Seven long years later and we finally get a replacement. A large metal structure perched between two concrete supports, each with impressive looking approach ramps. It’s now designed to be high enough not to be swept away by any future floods.
We missed the initial lift and lower of the bridge as it was down to just the last couple of feet when we got there. And it was all going very slowly at this point, only a few inches at a time - an impressive display of crane operator skills.
Impressive crane as well. We even had notice of the route it would take from the motorway as it was liable to disrupt traffic along the way. No such info (yet) as to how they’ll get it out of Kendal again!
But what makes this a particularly “Kendal” occasion, is personified by the man in hi-viz on the extreme left of the picture. He is nothing to do with the installation of the bridge. In fact, he’s fenced off into his own little area. Where he was doing a watercolour painting of the bridge being lowered into place. I overheard him say to someone that he just asked the engineers if he could sketch what was going on and they not only agreed but set him up with a safe place to work and appropriate PPE! Not sure I could see that happening in a big city.