A crisp day in bright sunshine for Ray, Graham and Frank H to work (mainly) on the section of the Calderdale Way (footpath Blackshaw 027) that leads down towards Colden Clough.
Stile 1 repair:
Survey picture:
Taken on a much warmer day!
The stile seems to be in working order but ...
One step leg is rotten and the other is loose.
The uppermost section of the double top rail is rotten.
The underneath part of the tread-board is split and decayed.
The thin scattering of snow on the frozen ground is obvious but what you cannot see is the wind chill created by a brisk Northwesterly sweeping down the Colden Valley!
The day, therefore, was ideal for vigorous digging, heavy hammering and energetic sawing. (This is known as work or freeze!)
The rotten step leg is being removed but there is a significant amount of excavation work still to do
. . . some time later . . .
View from up-slope side of the stile:
One step leg was re-usable but the other was replaced to go with a new tread-board and a new top section for the cross-rail.
Heights were adjusted to make the stile easier to negotiate.
While Ray and Graham were tackling this job, Frank H was further down the hillside starting on . . .
. . . Stile 2 repair:
A very old stile in a new (and very high quality) stretch of fencing
This much-patched stile has multiple problems:
The lower step legs and tread-board are rotten. The left-hand upright is slightly loose. The step-up from ground to lower step and from lower step to upper are awkward, and overall stability is less than desirable!
Work in progress:
One tap and the lower step leg falls over! Not too surprising as it was rotten and not deeply enough into the ground.
A length of rail (difficult to spot) has been fixed from side-upright to side-upright just under the top tread-board. This will help to stabilize the stile
End of the session:
Ray and Graham joined Frank H to complete this repair.
The lower step now has new legs and a new tread-board. The legs are vertical, deeply embedded and very firmly packed.
Cross-braces on both sides of the stile join the new 'short' legs to the old 'long' legs. This improves both the structural strength and overall stability of the stile.
:
Picture taken from the up-slope side of the stile.
Skies are blue. Wind is chill. Temperature is about -4 Celsius. Fingers are frozen . . but it's a job well done.
Later, near the top of Mytholm Steeps we installed a grab pole to help walkers negotiate a set of stone through-steps in a wall on the footpath (Blackshaw 026) opposite New Lane. (no pictures available)
All today's tasks were funded by a local donor. Many thanks.
