Friday 14 September 2018

HARDCASTLE CRAGS (Shackleton and Mansfield) and OLD TOWN

Two teams out today.

Frank H and Nigel tackled a variety of jobs on the rights-of-way leading down from Shackleton and Mansfield into Hardcastle Crags.

Job 1. A marker-post was installed to encourage walkers not to wander aimlessly across grazing land but to follow the correct route down to Hardcastle Crags!

Old marker-post: rotted off at the base and of limited use as a direction indicator.


New marker-post: Vertical, rock-solid, points in the correct direction and a useful back-scratcher for sheep!

Job 2. A replacement treadboard was fitted to a stile.

Old stile: the treadboard is missing. That's because it was so rotten we knocked it off!
It was raining heavily by now but the walls and overhanging trees gave some shelter . . . sort of!

New stile: a sound treadboard now in place.
This stile is good for a year or so but might then need some work on the right-hand upright and on one the legs for the step.

Job 3.
'Who let the dogs out?
Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!
Who let the dogs out?
Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!'
(Patrick Stephenson and Leroy Williams 1995)

Yes, you've guessed! A dog-gate! Actually it was a dog-gate and a lower step to be retro-fitted to a stile that wasn't really designed to have these facilities in the first place! However, CROWS are nothing but ingenious so we have:

Stile before: no dog-gate and no lower step.


Stile after: dog-gate on the left and lower platform step in place.

 Retro-fitting to existing structures usually takes longer than expected and this was no exception! The dog-gate is just within standard specifications, although if 'Rover' is laterally challenged he might have to breathe in a lot! The lower step makes the climb over the stile much easier, although we did wonder if the approach slope to the stile (to the right out of picture) would also benefit from a series of wooden steps. We'll see what National Trust (Hardcastle Crags), who funded these jobs, have to say.

Overall a longish day's work and a lot of carrying down from Shackleton, along the Slurring Rock path, up to Mansfield (where we added a couple of marker discs) and then back along the track to Shackleton. We got a bit damp . . . in a South Pennine sort of way!

Meanwhile Paul, Ken, Lynda and Gerald were working up at Old Town . . . details to follow?