We started at the stile on Tod 102 on the footpath which runs parallel to Stones Lane and the Bacup Road. We were tasked with adding in a box step on the western side of the stile and then finishing off the treadboards with some staples. The box step should make it much easier for people to access the stile step, via the stone steps which are already in place. The use of MOT to infill the box step does make the area seem a little harsh but this will rapidly weather.
We then moved on to the stile below Hartley Royd on the footpath Tod 197. Previous teams have built the stile and thus our task was to "just" add in the dog-gate, sort out the upright round posts holding the sheep netting in place and then make sense of the sheep netting on either side of the stile. All would have been well except that a trip back to base was necessitated because we (well . . . I) forgot the bits for the drill.
When the word "just" is used for a work party it is a well known fact that the task will take much longer than expected! However, by the end of the session we have a dog-gate in place, treadboards with a random arrangement of staples and, thanks to the perseverance of Neil, sheep netting that works!
Many thanks to the landowner who allowed us to walk to the first work site through his fields and not on the RoW (which would have taken considerably longer).
Thanks too to Todmorden Town Council for funding today's work. We appreciate your continuing support to maintain the footpaths and bridleways in this area.
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| The blue "pin" marks the location of the new stile below Stones. |
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| The blue "pin" is the location of the stile below Hartley Royd. |
Stile at Stones:
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| The Stones stile before... |
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| Neil and Andrew working on the new box step. |
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| The completed stile with its new box step. |
Stile at Hartley Royd:
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| The original stile being demolished by RJ and Duncan a couple of work sessions ago. |
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| Andrew and Neil working on the next section of the stile. |
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| Dog-gate in position and now the team are working on sorting out and attaching the sheep netting. |
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| Dog-gate in position and bracing structure for the stile now in place. |
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| Andrew and Neil getting to grips with the sheep netting. |
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| The stile now completed and ready for use . . . where are the dogs when you need them to test out the dog-gate? |
