Three teams out today
Team one of
Mick, Frank S, Bernard and Lynda worked on creating better access to the Bridestones. This involved creating a hard-standing and improving the access at the roadside. The work was generously funded by Vantage infrastructure who operate Reaps Moss wind farm above Todmorden.
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| New steps up the bank put in |
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| A dry path created |
The car pull-in was very uneven and gets very muddy, so after leveling the space, 10 tons of road planing was delivered
thanks to Calderdale Highways.
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| Ready to start |
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| Leveling the road planings |
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| More pictures of CROWS leaning on shovels! |
After the Bridestones job, some steps were put in above Todmorden.
Team 2 of
Ian, Gerald and Nigel worked on a short boardwalk at Knowlwood Road, Todmorden (see post last week)
A "ravine", on the footpath linking Knowlwood Road and Lumbutts Road, which could only be crossed by a death-defying leap!
Now bridged with a smart new boardwalk
View looking up the path. After returning to the road, thanks were expressed by a local resident.
The impressive flight of steps worked on the previous week. Gerald did some more clearing today
Meanwhile, at Eastwood behind Stoodley Glen, team three of
Ken, Frank H and Rich improved a steam crossing by embedding some stepping-stones.
The stones were delivered promptly by
Whitaker's of Hebden Bridge and unloaded as near as possible to the work site.
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| Stepping stones being unloaded. They are not small! |
'Near' the work site meant within 100 m! However, Ken's ingenious sled and strap arrangement enabled the stones to be towed down the rough slope to the stream-bed. Basically Frank and Ken hauled while Rich acted, when needed, as brakeman.
At the stream, flat platforms were created for the stones.
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| Framework fitted over stream-level bedrock. |
The framework was filled with a quick-setting mortar/aggregate mix and then the stepping stone was lifted on straps and lowered into place. Thankfully the lifting team of Frank and Ken managed to position the stones without the 'bonus' of a double hernia :- but it was a close run thing! (With stone dimensions of 0.6 m x 0.4 m x 0.3 m and a density of about 2400 kg/m3, each stone would have a mass in excess of 170 kg!)
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| Frank H either checking levels or looking for a contact lens! |
Once in place, any gaps were pointed, protective rockwork was piled against the upstream side of the stones and river gravel was used as back-fill. The whole task was made less problematic because the stream level is exceptionally low.
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| Overview of the stepping stones. Take-off and landing platforms have been added |
No sooner had we finished when our first customer arrived!
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One human and two dogs safely across! There is more water flowing
than the picture suggests, but levels are at an all-time low! |
Once the mortar work has 'gone-off' on the two left-hand stones, we can divert the stream slightly and carry-out some consolidation work on the edges of the right-hand stone. Additionally we would like to see the effects of a torrential downpour on our handiwork. The stepping stones are safe, stable, very heavy and mortared in place, but the power of water in narrow South Pennine ravines is not to be underestimated!
That's all for this week except to sign-off with a quote from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900).
'There will always be rocks in the path ahead of us.
They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones;
it all depends on how you use them.'
