Cragg Hall Wood - the gang of four.
A drizzly day for Frank S, Rich, Ray and Frank H to improve the path through Cragg Hall Wood by building steps and installing revetment. Three tasks were undertaken; Tasks 1 & 3 by Frank S and Rich, and Task 2 by Ray and Frank H.
Task 1: Two more steps!
Last week we repaired and extended the revetment at the Castlegate end of the wood and built several steps up from it. When the time ran out we still needed two more steps - as you'll see in this picture.
We completed the steps today, but failed to take a picture of the result! If you're keen to see them, you'll have to go and have a look. As you can see, the walk through Cragg Hall Wood is beautiful even on a slightly drizzly day.
This work was funded by the landowner, Pennine Heritage.
Task 2: Steps or revetment? - decisions! decisions!
Ray and Frank H, in the shelter of beech trees, reviewed the following:
The path goes up this slope to pass just to the right of the beech tree (top centre).
The options were:
a) to install revetment (left foreground) and build about 5 steps up the slope to the tree.
b) fix revetment to the right of centre so the large stone (just visible) forms a natural step and then dig out the banking to produce a shallower graded path.
We chose option b) on the grounds that it would provide easier passage for walkers and move the path line away from the edge of the collapsing slope.
Work in progress - mid morning:
Optimum line for revetment being selected and a 3.6 m length of rail temporarily in place.
There's a lot of banking to the right which will need digging and levelling. Mmm! Could be a tiring session.
Interestingly, at some stage a previous path might have been in this direction because we unearthed the rotted remains of an old step.
Work in progress - lunchtime
First section of revetment - 3.6 m x 250 mm x 50 mm is in place and a further 3.6 m x 100 mm x 50 mm is being temporarily aligned by Ray. The downslope side of the revetment has been landscaped with soil and ground foliage.
There's still a lot of banking to excavate! It will be an afternoon of heavy labour.
It's a warm Autumn day and we are dripping with perspiration but fortunately, under the tree cover, we avoided most of the persistent drizzle.
Towards the end of the session - nearly done!
A big contrast to pictures 1 and 2!
*All revetment now secure.
*Banking significantly excavated (another upper-body workout!) to produce a wide and level path.
*Gradient is shallow and the route across this awkward section is now safe and easier to negotiate.
Task 3: Even more steps!
Beyond this new revetment the path continues through a gateway and then down an unusual set of steps, which are much wider than usual. These were built many years ago and are in a very poor state.
Some of the steps have completely disappeared, and the ground at the bottom has washed away leaving a very high step-up. We decided to replace two of the missing intermediate steps and add two new ones at the bottom. The result looked like this, where Rich is demonstrating how much easier they are to climb than before.
The new steps appear to be camouflaged! This was not intentional but a side-effect of drizzle, mud and falling leaves!
This work was funded by the Luddenden Foot Ward Forum.
