Ryburn - Visit from the "We In Front" walking group.

On a slightly different day from the norm, starting at 8am, Jerry, Rich and Angus tackled the next section of backfilling along the footpath from East Longley towards Sowerby Bridge. Again, we are indebted to Ian Mathews for supplying yet another bag of woodchip for this work which has been funded by a number of donations to CROWS. A big 'thank you' to Ian and to those who have donated. It will require one more day of levelling and strimming to complete the last section of this path.

Before and after image of the next section of the backfilling work.

We then met Jak, Linda, Lynda and Graham at the Outhouse Café, below Norland Moor, along with 13 members of the "We In Front" walking group from Huddersfield. This diverse group of walkers was formed during Covid. Their story makes interesting reading which you can follow via their website, https://www.weinfront.co.uk/ .

"We In Front" and CROWS out on an adventure.

The route of today's walk shown in blue.

From previous walking visits to the area, they were interested in meeting the people behind CROWS and understanding how it operates. 

Rather than standing in a carpark and chatting about CROWS, we took them on a walk which took in several recent projects. This gave both parties a chance to chat and get to know each other, while seeing some CROWS work.

Heading up onto Norland Moor.

Photo opportunity atop Ladstone Rock

The plan was to follow the Calderdale Way to the footpath below Highlee Flat, then head off into Rough Hey Wood where there was plenty opportunity to view examples of CROWS work. 

Richard gave an excellent overview on the background to CROWS and some of the challenges that we face. We made our way along the path to various stiles, revetment work and boardwalks and showed them some "before" images of the site and explained how/why the work had been done and the problems faced.

Richard explaining the finer points of CROWS.

As we made our way along the path, we were treated to some rousing singing from Errol, the founder of the "We In Front" group. A larger-than-life character whose love of walking started from getting out of the house for 60 minutes exercise during the lockdown. Despite several personal challenges, he's never looked back and is a true inspiration to all of us.

Errol in full voice negotiating a stile below Toad Hall. The man's a legend!

Arriving back at the Outhouse Café, where they tucked in to excellent coffee and cakes, we reviewed the walk and said our goodbyes. They hope to visit some other locations and may well team up with the groups at Todmorden and Mytholmroyd to undertake a similar trek.

Doing something a bit different with a diverse and interesting group of people who enjoy the outdoors, was a breath of fresh air. Their appreciation of CROWS was most welcome. We wish them 'all the best' in their future adventures and hope to see them again soon. 

 

TODMORDEN - Various

 There were three pairs out from Todmorden today:

Team 1: David and Neil Mc: completing the steps near the stile into Golden Stones (off Windy Harbour Lane) and in-filling steps going into Bridestones Moor.

Team 2: Andrew and Catherine: fettling up another open access stile into Golden Stones.

Team 3: Kasher and Ken: initially helping Team 2 with the carrying of tools and timber to the worksite and then adding in marker posts and waymarkers, and visiting landowners to agree future work.

Many thanks to the residents of Bridestones Farm for allowing the team to park in their yard thus minimising the distance we had to carry tools and timber to the worksite.

Today's work has been funded by Todmorden Town Council (Team 3) and, for Teams 1 and 2, by Todmorden Wind Farm via CFFC (Community Foundation for Calderdale).

Team 1:

The blue "pin" is the location of the open access stile on Windy Harbour Lane.

The stile and access - before.

David sorting out the final box step to improve
access to the stile.

Neil topping up the box steps, lined with a geo-textile, with MOT.

The stile and access - after.

Team 2:

The location of today's open access stile into Golden Stones.

The stile - before. Both uprights need replacing. One of the step legs
is rotten and both treadboards need replacing.
Question: Why was that upright so tall??

Andrew and Ken with the stile dismantled and in the process
of being rebuilt.

The new uprights now in position. Ken and Andrew: June in the
South Pennines!

The stile - after.

Team 3:

Ken checking one of today's new marker posts
below Bridestones.

Ken . . .  and the completely blank waymarks!

Sorting out a post to replace a "flag".

RYBURN - Riverside path and Greave Road

Jerry and Jak set out to reinstate a waymark post that had been put into the river. The post had been  recovered earlier this week and given some time to dry out.

The post had been in quite a shallow hole previously because of the large amount of stone below the surface. This time we were going to make sure that the hole was deep enough and we took some other measures to prevent vandalism.

The actual hole took a long time to dig because of the quantity of large and stubborn rock that had to be moved. The hole ended up being almost four times the size of the post!

Jerry in the hole

"Deadmen" were added to the post. Normally these are something that we curse at when trying to get old posts out of the ground. They were added to posts to anchor them very tightly in the ground. In this instance a speedy technique was adopted.

"Deadmen" at bottom of post

The hole was then filled in using donated 'postcrete' or 'postfix'. 

Post-crete in

Back filling

Post in place to guide walkers along the path

Hopefully the post will stay in place for a longer time.

The team moved onto Greave Road. A stile had been installed near this location in early May. This return visit was to reinstate a damaged signpost. This post was repaired by Angus earlier in the week.

For this hole, the ground was thankfully much kinder and the job was quickly completed.

Signpost back in place

Lovely views in this spot

This work was funded by donations in kind and donations to CROWS. Many thanks all.

PENNINE WAY AT WINTERS

 Team of four - Stella, Jan, Jerry and Rich to do four main jobs with showers and sun all day.

• Repair some rotted off steps
• Clear the stone steps
• Cut back encroaching vegetation along the whole stretch
• Re-seat a rotted off finger post 

This work was funded by a partnership of Calderdale Highways and Natural England. 

 

Repair some rotted off steps

Five of the risers had rotted off and some of the infill had shrunk

New risers and aggregate infill

 Clear the stone steps

Overgrown with lots of mulch on the steps 

Cut back encroaching vegetation along the whole stretch

A vast improvement (it is the same path)

Re-seat a rotted off finger post  

The day was going well with just the finger post to do. First job was to remove the old stump. Took about 45 minutes to get out!

...and it rained

 Finally 

 

Pennine Bridleway: Cutting Back

 CROWS have again been contacted to cut back specific sections of the Pennine Bridleway.

Today, David and Kasher cut back the Pennine Bridleway on Blackshaw 094 at Sand Bed. This section is one of the easier ones we are contracted to work on, so it was an ideal task for a 'poor weather forecast' day.

Now that this cut back has been done, it will give an opportunity for local litter pickers to clear away debris from this path. We also cut down lots of the Himalayan Balsam. In the next week or so the remaining plants could easily be cleared before they have had time to set seed.

The Pennine Bridleway at Sand Bed (Blackshaw BW 094)

Before cutting back.

After cutting back (1).

After cutting back (2).

Funding for today's task has come from Lancashire County Council. Many thanks to the Pennine Bridleway team for their support of CROWS and our interest in keeping paths open for all users.