Edge Lane: stile (nearly done!)
A windy day with sharp showers - some sleety - for Ray, Jan and Frank H to volunteer for a morning session to do some finishing work on the stile which was started this week.
The old stile (picture 1) was a very high, single-step construction that was slowly rotting into a state of instability!
The new stile (picture 2) has to take into account the sloping ground so will be three standard steps on one side and two standard steps plus one low step on the other.
Today's tasks were to add the third step (very low on one side), add stonework to the edges of the approach path from the track, grade the approaches on both sides and add signage.
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| 1. Stile (old) at start of week |
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| 2. Stile (new) at end of week. |
The signage - a 'dogs on leads' plaque and a 'right-of-way' disk were also fixed to the next stile along the path (Heptonstall 014) that leads up the hill. This was a wet, windy, finger-freezing venture that Frank volunteered to do while Ray and Jan were de-nailing and bagging any scrap timber ready for its removal from the worksite.
We then reviewed the whole job, the geometry of which had been constrained by difficult ground conditions. Happily, the stile is stable, secure and easily negotiable but it may need an extra (narrow) cross-rail - the gaps between the lower rails are wider than they look . . . and lambs are adventurous creatures!
This work was funded by a donation from Blackshaw Head Fell Race. Many thanks.
