A blisteringly hot, sunny day, on the edge of Hardcastle Crags just below the hamlet of Walshaw, on which to solve the problem of a wall crossing where a RoW heads up towards Turn Hill.
This formed part of the route for the Heptonstall Fell Race held earlier this year. Unfortunately the awkward stone-step stile and drystone wall had come off second best when faced with a multitude of runners (think wildebeest on the rampage!).
Here's the problem:
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| Dry-stone wall with precarious capstones and 'through' steps that are too narrow for all but the most agile, pixie-footed of walkers. |
Solution? Build a 'mini' ladder stile so stress is taken off the wall and access is facilitated. For once the execution was as simple as the plan and we were delighted by a day of smooth progress, as these pictures show:
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| Track side: Wall top stabilised and ladder-stile under construction. |
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| Field side: Similar but different height. |
After lunch we added grab poles, then walked further up the RoW to inspect next week's task: a ruined stile over a stock fence. This will probably need a complete re-build. However, for today, we were very pleased with the end product which Ray bravely volunteered to test!
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| Finished product from track side. |
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| Finished product from field side. |
Today's work was funded by a donation from the Heptonstall Fell Race.