Ferney Lee: stiles wood and stiles stone!
Ray and Frank H finished last week's wooden stile and then tackled an interesting problem on a stone-step stile. It was a day of short, sharp penetrating showers interspersed with bursts of sunshine. We got wet!
The wooden stile:
*'Right-of-Way' and 'Please Close the Gate' disks added.
*Rope closure loop attached.
*Stock fence and barbed wire fully fitted and tensioned.
Treadboard renewed, field-side leg retained and a copse-side stub leg embedded so end of treadboard could now be anchored (rather than just be 'floating').
*On field-side, stone step replaced and levelled.
The stone-step stile:
Re-fixing the stone remnant would be an impossible task and we had no wish to demolish the drystone wall, replace the massive 'through' step and then start on a rebuild!
So what do you think of this for a solution?
*Drive in four pilot holes and hammer-in very long (1.2 m) stobs to form a square framework.
*Add a top rim of board around the framework.
*Add a couple of diagonals to further brace the framework.
*Construct a flat platform to act as a step.
*Embed a large flat stone to form a step at ground level.
Seems fine by us . . . but we are COWS not CROWS . . . and we have to say: "lying down chewing grass is a lot easier than all that hammering, drilling, screwing, sawing, nailing, digging, stabilising, packing and levelling lark!"
The end result!
The wooden platform is rock solid and makes negotiating the wall a straightforward task.
Two elderly pensioners managed it with ease as did a man and his dog - unfortunately we missed the photo opportunity!
Funding for today's work came from a landowner and from donations to CROWS.
