Wednesday 16 May 2018

ERRINGDEN MOOR

Another session on Erringden Moor. It's the third successive Wednesday of fine weather (which must constitute some sort of a record for this area). Not only was all the timber carried to the sites last week but also some boardwalks had been constructed:- many thanks to those involved. Today we could carry on with construction and start the longer process of bedding the boardwalks in place.

Three teams were out today:

Frank H, Fred, Bernard and Gerald started at 'boardwalk central' (aka SD 992 248 or thereabouts!) where several boardwalks follow in quick succession.

Typical ground conditions that require a boardwalk

Boardwalks approximately in place before stabilising and pinning.
Lunch break for Bernard, Fred and Gerald.


Boardwalks on stone 'piers' with bearers, and pinned in place by four stobs.

Fred and Bernard fixing boardwalk 5 while Ginny, Ian and Gerald construct number 6.

So next week's task is more of the same:- some tidying up of the approach ground onto and off the boardwalks and further installation/construction.

The Blog for the 2nd May 2018 contained a short quotation (in German) with a title 'Die Moorsoldaten' for which a translation was promised. So here's the background . . . . 'Die Moorsoldaten' (The Peat Bog Soldiers) was a song written by J. Esser and W. Langhoff that the inmates of Borgermoor Labour Camp (a forced-labour camp in 1930s Nazi Germany) sang as they walked to toil on a bleak, windswept, boggy moor. The song had a defiant element, but not so blatant as to attract retribution. An approximate translation of the quote, maintaining a sense of rhyme, would be:

'Far and wide as the eye can wander,
Heath and bog are everywhere.
Not a bird sings out to cheer us;
Oaks are standing gaunt and bare.'

Congratulations to anyone whose knowledge of German got them anywhere near this! 

Meanwhile back in reality, Dick, Richard and Stuart put in one of the 18ft boardwalks and constructed a smaller one.

The span over one of the larger streams
Rich, Ian and Ginny put in a finger post (hopefully deep enough to stop the cows from knocking it over) and marker post for Broadhead Clough.



Getting it straight

All in place, looks good
 Then we went on to construct another couple of boardwalks

Nailing the slats in place
Finally, sorted out a bit of drainage on the path.