Another hot sunny day, and Guy, Nic and Stella went clear the beautiful walled and cobbled path which goes steeply up the hill from the valley bottom at Stubbing Brink almost to Horsehold. I think that path will have seen a lot of "traffic" going up and down the hill in its time - not least because it is a quick route down to the Stubbing Wharf pub on the canal. There is a fine flight of stone steps at the bottom. At the top in the woods the path is more open and it emerges onto Horsehold Road via some steps which are not quite so fine.
The path gets very overgrown with ferns, grass, nettles, Himalayan balsam, brambles, and escaped raspberry canes. Our job today was to clear the overgrowth and make a clear route. Blackberries and raspberries provided sustenance . . . a zillion pesky flies provided company!
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| The path |
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| The steps before |
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| The path before |
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| The steps after |
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| The path after |
Bare cobbles can get slippery and it's always debatable how much to clear. In this very dry weather they should be fine and when (if!) it gets wet the wall is there to steady any walkers. We left more grass higher up where the wall offers less support. There is more cutting back to do right at the top which we'll come back to.
Today's job was funded from donations to CROWS, for which we are always very grateful.
