Ramsden Farm area: Border country again for Stile 2.
Overhead clouds threatened rain as Ian S, Duncan and Frank H worked on rebuilding a fourth stile leading off the rough track that goes from Ramsden Wood Lane towards Horse Pastures. This stile is accessed from the short boardwalk that was refurbished earlier (see blog for 20th August).
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| 1. Location of worksite shown by blue 'tag' |
Today's work was funded by Todmorden Wind Farm through CFFC (Community Foundation For Calderdale). Many thanks.
The Detail.
The original stile is as follows:
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| 2. Original structure |
At first glance there seems little to be wrong with this stile but, on closer inspection the treadboards and the top of the right-hand side post were found to be rotten and further extensive decay was evident as shown in the the following pictures:
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| 3. Base of one side post. |
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| 4. Mid section of other side post. |
As some of the cross-rails (not quite horizontal) were in fragile condition it was decided to replace the whole stile. The work begins . . .
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| 5. More open than usual! |
Except for the step legs which were sound, all old timbers were removed then new side-posts were embedded (much deeper than previously) and substantial cross-rails fixed in place. Linking this new structure to the old, more-than-slightly-out-of-true timbers was the technical challenge for the day!
However, a few hours later:
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| 6. Brand-new two-step stile and inclined boardwalk. |
The stile passed the stress-test (courtesy of Duncan) and was judged to be safe, secure, easily negotiated and aesthetically pleasing. What more could the walker, bound for open access land, want?
We tidied the site, packed-up all tools and then set-off towards Cranberry Dam to check on any alignment issues for next week's triple boardwalk task. It's perhaps a 15 min walk - just enough time for the heavens to open and give us a soaking . . . Happy Days!