Ryburn - Replacement stile at Norland.

It was the first day out for new volunteer, Richard, as he joined Linda, Jerry and Angus to replace an old stile next to the former Blue Ball pub at Norland. The stile had been reported by walkers as being rotten and somewhat challenging to negotiate! As with other work of this type, the job has been funded by donations to CROWS. Many thanks.

Location of the stile circled by the upper blue circle (more on the second circle later).

Far from being a simple replacement job, the old stile presented significant problems, the major one being that it was partially sunk into a concrete pad! The reason for this soon became apparent - it was located above a culvert, which, surprisingly given the near drought conditions, still had water flowing through it. Mmm! Much discussion needed!

The stile to be replaced embedded in a concrete pad.

Having removed the rotten tread-boards, we found that the support legs had been sunk into the concrete at depths ranging from 100 mm to 500 mm. Worst of all, they were of varying sizes and rotten!

We decided to totally dismantle the existing structure and start from scratch, although working around the concrete pad and the culvert would be a tricky.

Richard soon got stuck-in by dismantling the old stile!

With one useable hole in the concrete, and sufficient clearance from the culvert on the opposite side, we agreed on a somewhat unconventional approach to our construction - use the existing strainer and one of the original uprights to form a triangular support for steps on both sides.

Two main support legs in place. These will be braced to the strainer on the left.

After lots of measuring, checking levels, discussing options and some trial and error our plan began to materialise. Our work generated a visit from a couple of local residents and the farmer in whose field we were working. 

As very little of the original construction was now of any use we needed a quick trip to the depot for more materials.

We had to ensure that the new stile didn't obstruct access to the culvert or compromise the opening of the field gate. (During our initial digging we had discovered, at the edge of the concrete pad, an 'inspection stone' which if lifted gives access to the culvert below. The new stile has been constructed clear of this stone). 

Deep in discussion over the next move.

Starting to take shape . . . albeit it's an unconventional one.

The finished job being tested by Linda. A very satisfying day's work.

Now back to the second blue circle at the corner of Blue Ball Cottages. One of the residents of the cottages mentioned that the right-of-way adjacent to her house was badly overgrown and requested some help from CROWS. She wasn't kidding. The path was almost blocked and, hidden in the hedge, we discovered a beautifully preserved waymark post!

As we were clearing this path, a dog walker complimented us on the work, saying (unsurprisingly) it would make her daily walk so much easier. 

 

The overgrown footpath, before and after . . .  and look - a waymark post!!

There is still some work to do in this area - replacing a "pallet" gate, sorting a fallen wall and repairing  a broken waymark post. 

Richard enjoyed his first outing, and looks forward to joining future work parties.