Ryburn - Blue Ball Lane bridleway.

A return to this bridleway off Rochdale road leading out of Ripponden, we first worked here around 18 months ago, clearing out the watercourse to alleviate flooding on the path, cutting back low hanging branches and several sections badly overgrown with brambles. This initial work was done at the request of some local horse riders,0 as it gave them safe access off the A58 at a particularly fast bend. 

Today, when Jak, Linda, Jerry and Angus arrived, it was apparent that the bridleway has had very little use by 2-legged, 4-legged or even 2-wheeled users, as it was well overgrown by the usual suspects. Today's work has been funded through donations to CROWS, a big thankyou to all who've donated.

The bridleway is shown in green.

The start, evidence of use, but only 50m's up to a path heading off to the right.

Jak and Linda head into the unknown!

Fortunately, the vegetation was relatively easy to clear, being mostly Balsam, nettles, grass and some stubborn sections of brambles. We soon cut our way through and opened up the full length of the bridleway, along the way we uncovered an overgrown bench, which was in remarkably good condition despite its age.

As if by magic, a bench appeared from the undergrowth!

Much better, the bridleway now fully cleared and accessible once again.

Start of the bridleway next to a nicely decorated phone box.

With this job completed in a couple of hours, we headed to Rough Hey wood to sort out a fallen branch and some issues on a stile, noticed when we took the "We In Front" group through the wood last month. The fallen branch was a rotten limb from a holly tree which had split and fallen across the path, passable with care but precarious and needing to be removed. 

The fallen branch to be removed.

All clear, obstacle removed.

The second job was to reroute some barbed wire which the farmer had wrapped around one of the upright stile posts. Whilst the wire had been knocked into the post, there were a couple barbs sticking 

out which could catch the hand or clothing of an unwary walker, not the best. Our plan was to remove the wire and fit a second post on the other side of the wall onto which the wire would be attached. It looked as if this wire was to deter livestock from entering the adjacent field, but there was very little evidence of stock having been in the field this season.

There had also been a piece of wood fitted as a cross rail above the last rail fitted to the stile which made it difficult to cross safely, this will be replaced next week. When we replaced this stile and repaired the fallen wall next to it, we ensured that it was stockproof, safe, and considerably more robust than the construction it replaced.

CROWS make a point of ensuring that where stiles are repaired, or replaced, in fields where stock is likely to be held, any constructions are fit for purpose, safe and secure for both walkers and livestock,  in many cases, better than the original they replaced.

Barbed wire hammered into the left upright, with an old piece of wood attached at a higher level making it difficult to cross the stile safely.

New post fitted, barbed wire secure and support spar attached.

TODMORDEN - Cutting Back - Marker Posts & Tree Guards

 Friday 3rd July

There were two teams out from Todmorden today.

Team 1: Catherine  and Ken: upgraded tree guards and reinstated a notice at Guide Quarry the start of the Geology trail

Team 2: Andrew and Duncan: cut back on the footpath between the end of Ramsden Wood Road and the fish pond, at Ramsden Wood near Walsden and then replaced/reinstated/firmed up yellow-topped posts marking the footpath over access land between Tower Causeway and West End farm, west of Todmorden, south-east of Portsmouth

Today's work has been funded donations to Crows. Many thanks.

Guide Quarry - Team 1

Ken adds extra pieces of wood to raise the
height of the guards so the trees have room to
grow without being eaten by the passing wildlife.

Catherine at work on the tree guards and reinstating the Do Not Tip sign.
Unfortunately this beautiful spot is often blighted by dumped rubbish.

Team 2 worked here...

...and here.

You can just about spot Duncan
as the cutting back begins

Now the path here is clear

Onto the next bit

The after shot. Andrew admires their work.

Then it's off to Portsmouth to sort out marker posts.

COLDEN - Pennine Way

On a refreshingly cooler and mostly cloudy day, Angus, Ginny, Ian S. and Jan met at Goose Hey Farm in Colden to walk down to a heavily overgrown stretch of steps on the Pennine Way above Hebble Hole.

Thankfully, local residents, Kerry and Tac, assisted us by generously allowing us to transfer our tools and materials to their Mitsubishi pick-up (now affectionately known as the Crowmobile) and driving down the steep field to our work site.  Even more generously, they allowed us to keep the Crowmobile with us all day and use it later to take everything back to our vehicles (driving it ourselves and even hitching a ride on the tailgate back up the field!)

At this time of year, the Pennine Way steps are heavily overgrown and need some serious cutting back.  In addition, several steps were damaged or missing and needed to be replaced.  

 

We started by clearing our way through the jungle with the strimmer, the hedgecutter, the shears, the azad and the spade.

We slowly but steadily made progress.

We had supplies of home made Victoria Sponge and Lemon Meringues delivered from Shaw Bottom Farm and a visit from Marley the dog on cake supervision duties.

Altogether, we cut back, cleared or repaired 55 steps during the day - a very good day's work.

We need to return to finish the remaining steps at the top of the flight and to fill the steps with aggregate where necessary.

Thank you to the landowners for permission to use their field and to park on their property, the local residents for the Crowmobile, the providers of the cakes and to Natural England for funding this work. 

BLACKSHAW HEAD: Marker posts and a dog-gate

 Between Lower Strines Farm and Old Shaw Lane (track).

On a warm day cooled deceptively by a breeze, Neil Diment and Frank H worked on waymarking a bridleway (Blackshaw 022) and a footpath (Blackshaw 015) before installing a dog-gate where the right-of-way (Blackshaw 015) from Lower Strines Farm meets Brown Hill Lane.

1. Worksites: Blue dot a bridleway. Yellow dots footpath and Red dot dog-gate.

The detail.

The first task (blue dot) was to re-embed the bridleway markerpost where the track (Old Shaw Lane) leaves the road (Old Shaw Lane). Mmm! Confused yet? See the map for clarification.

Here's the end result:

2. Bridleway: Old markerpost unearthed and re-embedded.

The second task was to waymark the right-of-way that goes from Lower Strines Farm towards the 'elbow' at New Shaw Lane (see map). The defined route follows the wall going south (ish) from the farm before making a sharp direction change to the south-west to meet New Shaw Lane. We hope the waymarking will keep walkers on the legal route and discourage them from wandering over grazing land. A waymark post (first yellow dot) was installed at the 'direction change' point and waymark discs (second yellow dot) added to the next gate to define the route.

3. Markerpost: Discs being nailed in place.

The final but more complicated task was to add a 'lift-type' dog-gate (red dot) to the stile where the right-of-way meets Brown Hill Lane/New Shaw Lane.

4. Dog-gate lift installed. Minor support
timber for cut rails being fixed in place. 

5. End result: Lift-type dog-gate added to the stile
constructed two weeks ago . . . but does it work?

6. End result. . . . the stile is good but Neil declined to try 
and get through the dog-gate gap. Wise move!

We were pleased with the end results. Footpath and bridleway directions have been clarified and the dog-gate avoids dogwalkers having to use the awkward to open (and occasionally padlocked) field gate.

Today's work was funded by Blackshaw Head Parish Council. Many thanks for your support.

Ryburn - Balsam bashing !!

With the weather considerably cooler than last week, Jak, Jerry and Angus went to finish the work started last Friday on the footpath off Ripponden Old Bank. This was mostly cutting back outcrops of Himalayan Balsam and nettles, along with trimming back brambles and stray branches. Having completed this work, we moved to clear the 'old favourite' that is Back Lane, above the Alma Inn at Cottonstones. Both these jobs have been funded through donations to CROWS. Many thanks to those who kindly donated.

Locations of today's cutting back are highlighted in orange.

First job at Ripponden now completed.

 

Back Lane: despite looking impassable, the footpath has been used.

Back Lane suffers badly from Himalayan Balsam infestation. While we clear the path annually, the plants growing in the adjacent fields and on the embankment continue to spread seeds that replenish the the growth. It's a bit of a thankless task, but regular footfall does help to keep it clear. 

The cutting back was done using electric strimmers and shears. Hopefully, we managed to deal with the majority of the plants before they seeded. With the path clear, thirsty walkers can make their way for a refreshing drink at the Alma Inn  . . . .   hearty meals are available for the hungry! 

Path now clear - Alma Inn, here we come!