DODD NAZE AND STEPHENSON HOUSE

Two work parties out today.

Team 1.

Steps between Dodd Naze and Mayroyd

Six of us continued work on these - steep and muddy but we're making good progress!
Dick and Bernard started work on the steep upper section and slithered around a lot getting some revetment infrastructure in place.
Paul and Richard J cleared invasive ivy and fallen branches and scraped off a lot of mud.
Fred and Stella completed the repairs and infill to the lower steps.

First, carry tools and materials up...

....quite a work-out.....

....so have a rest half-way

Then get cracking...

Stand back and look - good enough?

Team 2.

Meanwhile  . . . Ray and Frank H returned to the area near Stephenson House with the hopes of constructing a boardwalk after a couple of minor tasks had been finished. Mmm! The boardwalk will be done next week. The 'minor' tasks presented significant problems . . . so we had a long and tiring day.

However, here's the first 'job':- the only one that was accomplished without any difficulties!:

Cord loop added to dog-gate to make lifting the 'gate' easier.

The second job was to install a handrail at an awkward point along the path. In principle this required four posts, evenly spaced, in a line and the addition of some rails. In practice, four posts were put in the only positions that ground conditions would allow and (fortuitously) they happened to be in line!

Protective railing in place.
It just needs a central rail (next session's task).

The third job involved a stile. Here's a before picture:

This looks to be a perfectly adequate stile but it has multiple problems:_
*The stock fence to the left is full of holes. At some stage, wire cutters have been used on it to make a hole at the bottom! This hole has then been patched with a tangle of barbed wire.
*The left-hand upright is out of alignment and has rotted all the way through at ground level.
*The right-hand upright, although vertical, has also rotted all the way through at ground level.
*The right-hand fence post is not in the ground at all!
*Two of the cross-rails are rotten.

Apart from the steps, everything is completely unstable and only the round pole on the left-hand side is preventing complete collapse.

Again ground conditions were not easy but we progressed as follows:

Work in progress: Old uprights and cross- rails removed.
New left-hand upright ready to be embedded.

Work in progress: Both new uprights firmly (and how!) in place.

Later in the day:

The two-step stile is complete and secure, with vertical uprights and horizontal cross-rails

The stock fencing to the left-hand side is temporarily in place, but next session (weather permitting) we will install a dog-gate, rather than have further incidents of wire-cutting ... and then it's the boardwalk!