Walshaw: walling and strimming
A day that started blue-skied and chilly was ideal for hard work as Frank H, Guy, Kasher and Steve continued with improvements to a section of the right-of-way (Wadsworth 039) that forms part of the forthcoming Heptonstall Fell Race route.
The main tasks were:
i) Carry out selective strimming of the route between the Walshaw vehicle track and Hamlet (mainly where orange band is on the map)
ii) Add more side-trim to a boardwalk that was worked on last week (red dot on map)
iii) Stabilise and improve the fragile drystone wall crossing near the vehicle track (yellow dot on map)
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| Map 1. Locations as described above |
This work is being funded by a donation from Heptonstall Fell Race. Many thanks.
The details
Kasher (i/c strimmer) and Steve (i/c side-trims and rake) started at the drystone wall and, following the r-o-w markerposts, strimmed, where necessary, up the hillside towards Hamlet. Work on the boardwalk was done en-route.
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| 2. The strimming begins. It's all uphill from here. |
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| 3. Distant views with some blue sky. Path becoming clearer. |
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| 4. On the way: its more side-trim for a stabilised boardwalk. |
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| 5. Man at rake . . . and there's a lot of raking! |
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| 6. Work in progress. There's a jungle of reeds but markerposts are now becoming visible! |
Meanwhile, back at the drystone wall by the vehicle track Frank H and Guy were faced with a dilemma - how best to stabilise wobbly sections of the wall to give a safe crossing without turning a minor repair task into an extensive walling project!
Here's the problem:
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| 7. View from field side before: Lower tiers are sound but the top layers are loose, gappy and wobbly) |
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| 8. View from field side after: Wall stabilised, grab pole in place and a wooden step-up constructed. |
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| 9. View from track side before: Worse than it looks - top layers are loose, unstable and some stones are missing - precarious is the word! |
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| 10. View from track side after: The wall is stabilised. and a wooden platform step is in place. The perspective is deceptive - the upward climb from wooden step to narrow through-stone to top platform is straightforward. |
Frank judged this not be be the most aesthetically pleasing of repairs but the stones are now interlocked, wedged and packed to give a stable and more easily negotiated structure. It should survive the passage of a couple of hundred fellrunners but wanton vandalism (that occasionally happens) is another matter!
All in all it was a pleasing day - apart, that is, from the cold, sleety hail shower that swept over us just as we were clearing up. Mmm! Should have worked faster!
The Heptonstall Fell Race in on Sun 23rd March when runners will take on this 25 km (~15.5 mile) category B race. Good luck, guys!
