Haven Farm: Stile 3
The work that was earmarked for the previous Wed (aka torrential rain day) was shifted to today. Due to other commitments, Jak, Jerry and Frank H had a later start than usual which, when combined with a long(ish) slippery carry to the work site, meant a spade didn't break the ground until 11.30!
The task was to insert a stile in the stock fence below Haven Farm so that a meaningful route could be established to untangle the confusion of paths that thread their way to, near and through the farm buildings. Today's stile is the third to be constructed and, once clear waymarking is added, will be the final piece in clarifying the path puzzle.
Today's work was possible because of donations to CROWS. Many thanks.
The detail.
Here's how the work progressed:
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| 1. Preliminary survey (done last week): Jerry investigating location detail before being investigated in turn by frisky heifers! |
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| 2. Stile side-post holes. It's synchronised digging time - easy at first then very rocky! The stock fence (two strands of barbed wire) is well tensioned so cannot be cut at this stage. |
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| 3. One side-post bedded in place. Barbs being taken off the still tensioned stock fence. |
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| 4. Both side-posts in place and fitted with diagonal braces. The top strand of barbed wire has been stapled to the posts, then cut before being wrapped around the post and further secured. |
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| 5. More of the same with step- legs embedded and a temporary cross-rail maintaining the correct separation of the posts. |
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| 6. Testing! Testing. Stile step in place and possible height of top rail under investigation. |
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| 7. It's synchronised nailing time! |
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| 8. Nearly there. Three rails in place and protector sleeves over barbed wire near to side-posts. That is a spirit level on the top rail. It's a pity the bubble (exactly dead-centre) is not visible - you'll just have to believe us ! |
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| 9. The end product: fully braced one-step, three-rail stile! |
Today was a late finish; partly because of a late start and partly because of those two bugbears of any constuction job - ground conditions and alignment! However, the outcome looks very neat and is stable, secure, safe and durable.
Jak as well as doing her share of load carrying, hole digging, post embedding and wire de-barbing etc failed to appear on any of the pictures . . . so you can guess who took the majority of them. Thanks, Jak.
We still have some work to do here - some grab poles, and suitable signage to keep walkers on the safest route etc. We intend to complete these asap as other jobs are stacking up . . . and stacking up . . . and stacking up!
Here are some examples of signage:
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| 10. Near Haven Farm: Marker pole and signage for a permissive path leading off a right-of-way footpath (Sowerby Bridge 055). |
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| 11. At the bottom field below Haven Farm: Stone-step stile on right-of-way footpath (Sowerby Bridge 098) marked with a yellow-topped grab pole. |
