MIDGLEY

 Calderdale Way above Midgley Village

Ian S, Guy, Andrew and Paul were out today on the moors overlooking Midgley. Its was a drizzly start with a few showers turning to sunshine by mid-day. The task today was to repair a stretch of the Calderdale Way that runs high above the field boundary  along a steep banking. This banking has seen lots of erosion over time with CROWS past interventions propping up the path with lengths of revetment. One such length had been damaged by cows using the path while another section of banking had collapsed requiring some maintenance.

Blue arrow marks the spot!

As you can see from the above map the work site was a long way off from the track by Midgley Hall Farm.

Fortunately the farmer and landowner of adjacent fields transported timbers and tools in his Landrover from the farm track to the work site. This saved us a lot of carrying though we did walk from the farm up Cold Dyke Lane and along the Calderdale Way to meet the famer and Ian S who bagged a lift!

Thankyou to Midgley Community Forum for funding this work and to Sam Barker for helping us with transport.

Carrying the kit from the drop off point

The damaged revetment:

Trodden on by the cows!

Banking displacement:

Eroded section of the path

We split into two teams, Ian S and Andrew tackling the eroded section and Guy and Paul repairing the damaged section.

Andrew cutting a trench

Andrew and Ian S fitted two lengths of revetment to a depth of 40 cm fixing them in the ground using long stobs.

Looking better!

Meanwhile Guy and Paul set about dismantling the damage timbers to reuse in the repair of their section and then fitted a new length of revetment with the reused lengths on top along the gap.

New timbers in place!

Guy had brought along some apples from his garden:

An Apple a day...

There were lots of filling in to do on both sections to ensure the new sections of pathway were firm and stable for walkers to use.

Lots of infilling!

We widened the path to obtain infill material.

The gang posing...

Job completed in the sunshine:

Completed!

Where was that Land Rover to transport the tools back to Ian's car?

Help!

 

TODMORDEN: Below Stones Lane: Gate tlc

 Middle of Nowhere! Again!

Right-of-way Todmorden 102 traverses the hillside and runs approximately parallel to and between Stones Lane and the Bacup Road (see map). It's a longish walk from either end to reach the worksite but fortunately we had the landowner's permission to access the stile by walking directly down from Stones Lane.

Today's task, funded by Todmorden Town Council, was for Stella and Frank to replace a gap-gate on this right-of-way (see map for location).

1. Location: on pasture just above Stones Wood

The Details.

The public footpath passes through a series of walled fields and, at the worksite, runs just above Stones Wood. At the access point there is a typical South Pennine pedestrian gate (constructed with an eye to economy) but now on its last legs . . . . or more accurately on its last hinges!

2. Failing fast: Rotten gatepost, damaged or
missing palings, and fragmenting
rubber hinges made from old tyres.

3. Ingenious hinges!

The plan for Stella and Frank was to install a complete replacement with gatepost, gate (constructed in CROWS' workshop) fitted with T-hinges, a closure spring and a security loop. Thanks to Kasher and David who helped with a tool and timber carry before moving on to their own jobs.

Fortunately, the early sharp rain cleared to give blue skies and calming views near and far.

4. Distant views i: blue skies, scudding light clouds
Stones Wood and temperatures above 20oC.

5. Distant views ii). More sheep than you could shake
a stick (or in our case a posthole spade) at!

A few hours later the replacement gate was complete We were so busy working that we forgot to take 'work in progress' pictures . . . but here's one of the end result (compare with picture 2!).

6. New gate and fitments.

Overall, we were very happy with the outcome. The gate is secure, stable, easy for pedestrians to use and aesthetically pleasing . . . not that the sheep seemed to notice!

More next week on other tasks along this route.

CRAGG VALE - Small Jobs

Andy, Chloe and Sean decided to have a day working on 3 smaller jobs in Cragg Vale. 

The first job of the day was to replace markerposts in Deacon Hill Wood (One of them doubled up as a support when climbing some steep steps). We also cut back some Rhododendrons.

The second job was cutting-back near Robin Hood rock

Job 3 was a replacing stile legs and a treadboard in the Topland Estate 

RYBURN - Crow Hill Bridleway

A crisp early autumn day saw two teams out from Ryburn working on two sections of a bridleway which crosses Crow Hill.

Location of work

Linda and Jak went to the southern section of the bridleway to cut back overhanging and underfoot foliage and to waymark the route.

Before

After

Linda with a new waymark

Linda and Jak rejoined the team of Carla, a new volunteer, Jerry and Rich at the other end of the bridleway where they were working on a stile rebuild.

Stile needing some TLC

At first, only one of the team was visible and there was some idle chat about the other two being in a hole! Indeed, this turned out to be true! The rebuild involved taking out some very large posts which had been deeply pile-driven into the ground making it very hard work to remove them. Fortunately, the steps across the stile were sound and did not have to be removed.

Bye-bye spade!

Carla getting stuck in!

After a considerable time, the post (a long way down) was removed.

Rich with part of the post

Eventually the stile was constructed without too much trouble.

Jerry next to the steps

Stile now taking shape

Carla testing the new stile

A group of CROWS in action

This work was funded by Calderdale Highways. Many thanks to them.

TODMORDEN - Stones and Hartley Royd

A team of three (Andrew, Kasher and Neil Mc) were out today from Todmorden. Our task was to complete two stiles built by the teams over the last couple of weeks. 

We started at the stile on Tod 102 on the footpath which runs parallel to Stones Lane and the Bacup Road. We were tasked with adding in a box step on the western side of the stile and then finishing off the treadboards with some staples. The box step should make it much easier for people to access the stile step, via the stone steps which are already in place. The use of MOT to infill the box step does make the area seem a little harsh but this will rapidly weather.

We then moved on to the stile below Hartley Royd on the footpath Tod 197. Previous teams have built the stile and thus our task was to "just" add in the dog-gate, sort out the upright round posts holding the sheep netting in place and then make sense of the sheep netting on either side of the stile. All would have been well except that a trip back to base was necessitated because we (well . . .  I) forgot the bits for the drill. 

When the word "just" is used for a work party it is a well known fact that the task will take much longer than expected! However, by the end of the session we have a dog-gate in place, treadboards with a random arrangement of staples and, thanks to the perseverance of Neil, sheep netting that works!

Many thanks to the landowner who allowed us to walk to the first work site through his fields and not on the RoW (which would have taken considerably longer).

Thanks too to Todmorden Town Council for funding today's work. We appreciate your continuing support to maintain the footpaths and bridleways in this area.

The blue "pin" marks the location of the new stile below Stones.

The blue "pin" is the location of the stile below Hartley Royd.

Stile at Stones:

The Stones stile before...

Neil and Andrew working on the new box step.

The completed stile with its new box step.

Stile at Hartley Royd:

The original stile being demolished by RJ and Duncan
a couple of work sessions ago.

Andrew and Neil removing generations of sheep netting.

Andrew and Neil working on the next section
of the stile.

Dog-gate in position and now the team are working
on sorting out and attaching the sheep netting.

Dog-gate in position and bracing structure for the
stile now in place.

Andrew and Neil getting to grips with the
sheep netting.

The stile now completed and ready for use . . .  where are the dogs when you
need them to test out the dog-gate?