Quarry welcomes couple travelling the UK watershed line

Peter and Eileen Crichton have dedicated much of the last 25 years to exploring the world in their Discovery 3.5V8i.

They’ve circumnavigated the globe twice along the northern and southern hemisphere, and in 2012 travelled across the lines of latitude from the most northerly to most southerly points accessible by a 4x4.

But during the Covid pandemic, they turned their attention to the new alignment of the UK’s Watershed Divide which, it seems, runs right through the FCC Environment’s Edwin Richards quarry site in Rowley Regis.

The couple are carrying out research to submit to the National Geographic Society - to create an updated alignment of the UK's Watershed Divide - the elevated boundary separating areas drained by different river systems.

They have followed the route on the ground in Scotland already, during 2022, and details on that section have already been published.

Peter said: “Eileen and I have thoroughly enjoyed our global travels to date but the work we are currently doing in the UK is fascinating and it has already taken us to some amazing spots on home territory.

“But the Rowley Regis quarry site is most definitely one of the really interesting and attractive points over which the Watershed passes!

Peter and Eileen Crichton at the Edwin Richards Quarry in Rowley Regis with FCC Environment’s Mark Smith and Hayden Cowley (Image: FCC Environment)

"It’s such a magnificent place, and we are so lucky that it’s on the alignment of the new Watershed Divide.”

Mark Smith, FCC site business manager, said: “It was wonderful to meet Peter and Eileen and to talk to them about their passion, much more than a hobby, for the mapping of the Watershed line.

“It was a pleasure for me and Hayden Cowley, mobile plant operator, to meet and chat with them, to listen to their adventures; a really genuine couple who share the same passion.”