Ryburn - Replacing fingerposts around the area.

Today, ideal work for a bank holiday - finishing-off several jobs which needed fingerposts.

Last Friday, Jak, Richard and Angus spent the day refurbishing a couple of old fingerposts and installing a couple of new ones. Richard's artwork on the lettering means these new posts can be seen for miles! Again this has been funded through donations to CROWS. Many thanks to all who have contributed.

Today five of us - Jak, Lynda, Jerry, Richard and Angus - were out in one vehicle and visiting four sites. We loaded up and headed to a couple of paths (below Krumlin) where Jak and Jerry tackled a post replacement off Bottomley Lane, whilst Lynda, Richard and Angus, headed to Hey Lane above Black Brook to install a new post.

 

Locations of fingerposts circled in blue.

Have fingerposts. Will travel! . . . but not upwards!

Both locations required some cutting-back, with the steps at Hey Lane being particularly slippery with leaf mulch. Despite the rain of the last couple of days, the ground was still very dry and this, coupled with stony conditions, made the digging particularly tough. . . , but we got there. 

We always try to make best use of existing materials, especially if the post is in good order and it is only the flag itself which needs replacing. 

A refurbished post was fitted at Bottomley Lane and a completely new one at Hey Lane.

The path entrance off Hey Lane when we arrived.

 

New post at Hey Lane on the left, and a refurbished one at Bottomley Lane on the right.

After a coffee, we headed up to the Bridleway running along Kennel Lane, above Noah Dale Clough, where the original post had rotted at ground level and subsequently 'disappeared'! 

We were grateful to the owners of School Farm for allowing us to park on their drive which reduced the distance we had to carry tools and materials. 

Jak and Lynda headed along the bridleway to cut-back some of the worst of the overgrowth, whilst Jerry, Richard and Angus tackled the post replacement. This time the digging was a bit easier as the post had originally been secured with stones, although a couple of "dead men" nails made its final extraction a bit tricky.

Location of fingerpost circled in blue at the end of Kennel Lane.

Not much left of the original post !!

The new one can be seen for miles !

The last job was to replace a plastic waymark flag on a post on Bowood Lane. This is not our favourite type of flag but that's what was in place originally . . . and we have a stock of them. Whilst there, we also rebuilt part of the access where the path goes through a drystone wall, making it wider and safer.

Location (circled in blue) of the waymark flag off Bowood Lane.

Last job of the day completed.

TODMORDEN - Eastwood

Friday's "Team 2" (Catherine, Gareth and Kasher) spent the morning cutting back just off Halifax Road on adjoining footpaths (Tod 009 and Tod 033) which go up the hillside on either side of a stream from the bottom of Eastwood Lane.

Tod 009 (the right-hand-side path) had been 'flagged" on the OS app as being "blocked".  Sadly, the OS app doesn't seem to have any facility to post the good news that it isn't blocked any more!  

The bottom was certainly unwelcoming before we started work.  Further up, a set of stone steps are encountered which are now clear of vegetation although will still be slippery in wet weather.  The top end of Tod 033 (the left hand path) is also now much more passable although the brambles and Himalayan balsam will undoubtedly return next year!

Today's work was funded by Todmorden Town Council.  Thanks as always to them and to all other donors who support our work with donations or by just allowing us to park near to a task!

Before

After!

The venerable stone steps

An old gas lamp at the top of the steps

Kasher clearing the top of Tod 033

TODMORDEN : Stiles and cutting back

 There were two teams out today from Todmorden . . . .  and who said it was not going to rain??

Team 1: (Andrew, Neil and Sean) went out with a list of potential jobs but concentrated on the particularly energy and time consuming priority task of repairs to a stile on Tod 082 above Scaitcliffe Wood. This work was funded by Todmorden Harriers. Many thanks.

Team 2: (Catherine, Gareth and Kasher) helped with the carry of the tools and timber for Team 1 and then went on to cut back on Tod 009 and Tod 033. (Tod 009 had been 'flagged" on the OS app as being "blocked"). 

Today's work was funded by Todmorden Town Council. Many thanks for your continued support. See the separate blog for this work party.

Team 1:

The stile is on Leg 4 of the Todmorden Harriers' organised UKA Fell and Hill Relay Championships which are due to be held in October 2026. CROWS had been asked to fettle up this stile which had one very rotten leg and, consequently, a loose treadboard.

On closer inspection, it was decided to replace both of the legs and add a new treadboard. The original legs were sections of old telegraph pole and were VERY deeply embedded . . . . the team of three spent a considerable time removing the legs and just about as much time hunting for stone to repack the new legs. We considered making this a two-step stile but eventually decided to "just" replace the existing legs, treadboard and cross-rails. As well as this, we:

• cut back the over-hanging tree, 
• added in a take-off stone on the woodland side of the stile,
• secured the sheep netting (at the side of the stile) which seemed to have been lifted to allow dogs through (but also, unfortunately, allowing lambs to escape),
• covered the barbed wire at the side of the stile,
• added staples to the treadboard. 

The blue "pin" marks the location of today's stile repairs.

The rickety stile before . . . on a sunny day.

The rotten stile leg.

Andrew wondering why . . . !

The telegraph pole "leg" removed - leaving a large 
cavity to fill.

The "who can look the wetter" competition.
Neil Mc and Andrew with a stile more open than usual!

The competed stile: looking uphill.

A slightly wider view of the stile, showing the barbed wire 
protection, the take-off stone, the repositioned sheep netting
and the stapled treadboard.

LUDDENDEN: Operation bridleway!

 Bridleway, St Mary's Church, Luddenden Village

Stella, Ian S and Paul were out today cutting back an overgrown bridleway that runs parallel and above St Mary's Church cemetery. This overgrown stretch of pathway had prompted an urgent referral to CROWS as bikers and walkers had started to use a lower footpath that went through the graveyard!

Red line indicating pathway.

The work was funded by Luddenden Civic Society - thank you.

Entrance to the Bridleway.

The path had become overgrown with shrubs, young saplings and bramble:

Overgrown

Stella and Paul began cutting back the 'near end' by the War Memorial while Ian tackled a drainage problem at the 'far end'.

Stella - sterling work with shears!

Meanwhile, Ian contended with a blocked drain and lots of mulch:

muddy mulch

There's a drain in there somewhere!

After extensive cutting back and widening of the path, we met in the middle!:

All hands to the task

Ian dug out a silted-up drainage channel coming from the banking so that water could flow down to the cleaned out drain. Hopefully, this will stop water encroaching on the path although during high levels of rainfall there may still be some overspill. We'll keep an eye on this and return if necessary.

Drain channel cleared.

We had a very nice lunch sat on one of the church benches!

Artisan bread sandwiches...

Ian saw a kingfisher dart downriver but it was too quick for a photo!

Path widened and cleared.

We waymarked each end of the path to help keep path users on the correct route.

A good day's work!

TODMORDEN - Grey Stone Lane. Cutting Back

 A team of four was needed today to tackle the rampant vegetation on Grey Stone Lane (Tod 011).  David, Jan, Kasher and RJ cut back along this route from Mount Pleasant to Greystone Farm. We would be interested to know if anyone has walked this path in the last few months . . . if so you deserve a medal! We intend to cut-back this route MUCH earlier next year.! However, if anyone want a challenge of ridding a section of countryside of Himalayan Balsam this may be one for you.

One extremely useful thing about cutting back at this time of the season is that it gives much easier access to the blackberries which are growing in abundance along the top stretch of this path.

When you walk this route, take care as some of the ditches and turn-bys are hard to spot. We will return here in the autumn to have a blitz on the ditches but we are unable to do this until the vegetation dies back a little.

Today's work was funded by Todmorden Town Council. Many thanks for your continuing support to keep the footpaths and bridleways of this area open and useable.

The blue "pin" marks the footpath which we worked on today: Grey Stone Lane.

The bottom of the footpath . . . before.

Near the bottom of the footpath . . . after.

The cleared middle section of the path.

RJ getting to grips (literally) with the Himalayan 
Balsam.

Jan on tree cutting duties.

Balsam, bracken, ferns and brambles . . . bliss?

A pathway cleared through the vegetation. Not 
perfect but much easier to negotiate.