Two teams out today.
Team 1:
Gerald and the two Richards completed the final set of steps and added extra infill where compaction had occurred.
This has been a great job to do - very satisfying. Thanks to Calderdale Highways for funding, Peggy for allowing us to use her garden as a workshop, Jan for the cakes and Ken for heroically preparing a large supply of pegs and risers!
Team 2:
Meanwhile on the slightly bleaker slopes of Turn Hill (above Hardcastle Crags, near Walshaw) Fred and Frank H had their stile-building skills thoroughly tested.
Here's the situation before work began:
Hopes of re-using one pair of the legs came to nothing. First impressions deceived:- the legs were rotten either at the top or at ground level. However useful sections of the old treadboards were sound.
The following show the re-build:
As you can see from the foreground in the above, it was rather damp in that South Pennine tradition of: 'It's only a bit of drizzle' . . . to be later followed by . . . 'Mmm! Why am I so wet!'
However it was not particularly cold or windy and carrying double loads uphill through a bog; leg-hole digging and heavy duty ramming of infill kept us warm ... and very hungry!
This work was funded by 'The Heptonstall Fell Race' and facilitated by Mr Shackleton of Mansfield Farm whose 'all-terrain' buggy managed to get bulky timber items to the worksite. Many thanks.
Team 1:
Gerald and the two Richards completed the final set of steps and added extra infill where compaction had occurred.
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| The last awkward section completed |
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| Added infill to the bottom steps |
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| Old marker post ready to be replaced by new finger posts (being made by Calderdale Countryside Service volunteers) |
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| Spare timber and all the tools taken back to the depot. |
Team 2:
Meanwhile on the slightly bleaker slopes of Turn Hill (above Hardcastle Crags, near Walshaw) Fred and Frank H had their stile-building skills thoroughly tested.
Here's the situation before work began:
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| Stile before: A very high single step which also has a rotten leg. |
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| Stile before: Fence post and grab post fixed together but neither is in the ground! |
Hopes of re-using one pair of the legs came to nothing. First impressions deceived:- the legs were rotten either at the top or at ground level. However useful sections of the old treadboards were sound.
The following show the re-build:
 |
| Work in progress: Two fence posts in place with stockfence re-stapled, barbed-wire debarbed over width of stile, and new second step in place with grab pole - all being admired by a very wet Fred! |
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| After: The finished two-step stile with double width first step and two grab poles. |
As you can see from the foreground in the above, it was rather damp in that South Pennine tradition of: 'It's only a bit of drizzle' . . . to be later followed by . . . 'Mmm! Why am I so wet!'
However it was not particularly cold or windy and carrying double loads uphill through a bog; leg-hole digging and heavy duty ramming of infill kept us warm ... and very hungry!
This work was funded by 'The Heptonstall Fell Race' and facilitated by Mr Shackleton of Mansfield Farm whose 'all-terrain' buggy managed to get bulky timber items to the worksite. Many thanks.