A bright but chilly day, ideal for hard work, started with Paul demonstrating his driving prowess by skillfully avoiding the deep ruts and potholes that characterised the route along Pinnacle Lane towards Swillington Farm and the subsequent rutted delights of London Road (although Paul didn't drive down that bit!).
Task 1.
Paul and Fred walked down to two points on the London Road where poor drainage was a serious issue. They spent the morning clearing a stone-lined turnbye and digging six 'grips'/turnbyes to help water to flow off the track. No pictures were taken of this heroic effort partly because they were working so hard but mainly because they hadn't got a camera!
Task 2.
Meanwhile Frank H, later to be joined by Paul and Fred, started on the refurbishment of a stile on the Pennine Way. Here are some 'before' pictures:
 |
| Stile seen from 'downslope' side. |
A stile with multiple problems!
From the downslope view:
*High step-ups from ground to bottom step and from bottom step to top step.
*A tangle of stock fencing with one section acting as a 'dog-hole'.
*A leaning and partly rotten lower step.
*Rails attached with very short nails.
 |
| Stile seen from 'upslope' side. |
From the upslope view:
*Leaning left-hand upright.
*Top rail not horizontal (hard to spot on picture).
*Detached rail (third one down).
*Buried fourth rail.
Some time later we have a work in progress:
 |
| Stile seen from upslope side is more open than usual! Stock fencing gone, side-upright nearly vertical (very hard to shift without major excavation) and some rails temporarily removed. |
 |
| Stile seen from upslope side: Two rails in place and some step legs temporarily in place to start the creation of a three-step stile. |
Towards the end of the day we have:
 |
| Stile seen from downslope side: Now a three-step stile with dog-gate and stock fencing re-attached. |
 |
| Stile seen from upslope side: Three-step stile with dog-gate and four crossrails. |
We hadn't expected to fit a dog-gate but fortunately we had just enough spare oddments of timber to create an opening for most normal size dogs! It made for a longer session, but there was still enough daylight for Paul to spot the bigger pot-holes on our return journey. Well driven, Paul!
