TODMORDEN - Tod Edge and Greystone Lane

 There were two teams out from Todmorden today:

Team 1: Andrew and Catherine were replacing a stile on Todmorden 080, between Todmorden Edge North and Dyke Green Barn.

Team 2: Gareth, Kasher, Kris, Richard A and RJ worked on the upper reaches of Greystone Lane cutting back and improving the drainage.

Today's work has been funded by Todmorden Town Council and by individual donations to CROWS. Many thanks for your support to enable us to keep the footpaths and bridleways of this area clear and useable.

Team 1: the problems with the stile on Tod 080 were reported to CROWS a few weeks ago. Timbers to complete the task were taken to the site a while ago but this job on the Tod "to do" list just seemed to be slipping down the list.... until today! We have fettled up this one step stile and have added in a yellow topped marker post both to act as a grab rail and to indicate the route across this set of fields which seem to cause some confusion.

The blue "pin" marks the location of the repaired stile on Tod 080.

Greystone Lane, below Great Rock/Devils Rock is indicated by the blue "pin".

Team 1:

The stile before... with rotten step legs and a
loose tread board.... and lots of bailer twine and redundant
sheep netting.

First create a space for a stile... and remove the legs.

Then put in two legs...

Then find enough stone to fill the holes and 
pack them down...

Add in the new cross rails...

Put on the tread board and add staples...

A new stile in place.

Team 2: 

Greystone lane is a useful route down from Great Rock. However in the summer it tends to be overgrown with brambles and Himalayan Balsam and in the winter the trackway is extremely wet to use. We try to cut back along this path at least once per year and tend to work on the drainage issues every other year. Please watch your footing as you use this route. There are a number of turn-bys which need to be navigated. The main ditch switches sides down the route. There are lots of loose stones from the nearby stone walls which we have tried to incorporate into a hard stone path. Hopefully the path will dry out but it is extremely wet in places.

There is a drainage ditch under this somewhere...

and under this too....

Gareth and Kris clearing the ditches and sorting
out the turn-bys.

Wellies? Maybe waders would have been better!
Clearing out the drainage ditches.

Richard A attacking and deepening the ditch.
Note one of the stone edged turn-bys to Richard's left.

RJ sorting out the ditches and creating
a solid pathway.

Gareth, Richard and RJ at work.....

The water in the drains is now flowing well. Hopefully
the wetter parts of the track will dry out a little.

Baitings Dam, Ripponden

On  a day of mellow mist and orange autumnal views Jerry, Stella and Rich D arrived with shears, loppers and the strimmer to cut back the overgrowth encroaching on a path just above Baitings Dam.  This short path runs from opposite the dam car park up to the cottages on Blue Ball Lane and has fine views across the valley.  There are two stiles towards the top which need new tread boards, which we will come back to do.

This work was funded by donations to CROWS for which we are most grateful.

This is the path, marked in blue.

Rich getting started with the strimmer

Making progress uphill

The lower section now very easily walkable

SOWERBY BRIDGE - riverside path

 A big group today - Angus, Lynda, Jak, two Richards, Linda and Jerry - went equipped to tackle a badly overgrown path running along side the river in Sowerby Bridge. This job was funded by Calderdale Highways. 

 

BEFORE WE STARTED

 AFTER THE SESSION

 

 The path (now wide enough for a double buggy!) is much lighter and open for people to use. 

On-site supervisor!

 

OLD TOWN AND MAYROYD

Waymarking, Cutting Back and Drainage - Delph Lane and Mayroyd.

Ginny and Paul were out today tackling a variety of jobs in the Wadsworth and Hebden Royd areas. It was a mixed day weather wise with early drizzle turning into a cloudy overcast day.

To begin with, we did some waymarking on Delph Lane above Pecket Well and then moved on to Dike Lane (Wadsworth 061) to install a small waymark post and deal with a drainage issue on the path. 

After lunch we moved onto Mayroyd (Hebden Royd 017) where a ROW ascends the hill at the rear of the house toward Higher May Royd Wood. Here, we cut back a fallen Fir tree blown down over the path in the recent stormy weather and continued to cut back overhanging branches and intrusive brambles higher up the path.

Dike Lane map

The Old Town area work was funded by Wadsworth Parish Council and the Mayroyd work was funded by Hebden Royd Parish Council. Thankyou to both.

Marker Post on Dike Lane

The drainage problem was located further down this path toward Middle Nook:

Ginny at work

It is a wonder where all the water comes from!! We must have had lots of rain! This sodden waterlogged area is a result of water ingress (from the reed and rush beds in the fields) seeping through the dry stone wall. 

Drainage channel dug out on one side 

We dug out a drainage channel on each side of the pathway. The two channels flow into a small rivulet that crosses the path underneath the small bridge (seen in the background of the above photo).

Second drainage channel on the 'other side.'

Mayroyd, Hebden Bridge - working in the woods.

Work done on FP in red on the map

We went to cut back this pathway and discovered a fallen Fir tree blockage:

Pathway blocked!

We cut away the smaller branches with the tools we had which was enough for walkers to get through safely. The main trunk will be tackled at a later date.

Branches cut away and access now possible.

Further up the pathway part of a Beech tree had come down near the path with one of its smaller branches over the track.

Smaller branch covering the path.

This was cut away successfully. 

Overgrown 

We then trimmed overgrown branches, brambles and nettles from this long stretch of pathway.

Looking better!

A good day's work with the successful completion of several small tasks. 

Return to High Hirst Walk, Dodd Naze

Ian S, Gareth & Neil D. returned to Dodd Naze above Hebden Bridge to strim and cutback overgrowth and clear fallen leaves etc on the fine path, created originally in 2004, that skirts the Estate.

The path takes local residents, dog walkers and others on a stroll past the High Hirst Allotments (above the Woodmeadow) and on through the delightful woodland, which is also an occasional home to the Forest School based at the Community Centre. The path finally emerges onto Wadsworth Lane via a flight of steps.

A quick recce at the start revealed how much cutting back and hedge trimming

there was to do since we'd last tackled the path back in July.

 

 While Gareth and Ian set to with strimming the edges of the path

and round the various benches and picnic tables along its length . . .  

 

 

. . .  we were also helped by two keen volunteers from the Estate,

who attacked a large pile of hedge cuttings with loppers and shears.

 

Someone had dumped all this at the entrance to the walk off Manor Drive. It was not only unsightly and partially blocked the entrance, but was proving to be a mecca for more litter ('etc')!

Unspotted at first by any of us, was a poorly pigeon perched below the greenery of the hedge. Can you see it in the photo above?  It seemed stunned somehow, perhaps a victim of the recent gales and Storm Boelo? As the pile got lower, the pigeon became more visible and eventually it shuffled away into the bushes. 

As it was clearly unwell, we called the wonderful folk at the 'Full of Joy' animal sanctuary up at Great Rock, near Blackshaw Head. They told us, if we could catch it and leave it in a cardboard box at the entrance, one of their volunteers would come and collect it and, if necessary, they would take it to a vet. (See below. . . ) 

Before and after (1)  . . .

     

The pile of cuttings (left) now neatly bagged up (right) ready for Calderdale Council to collect.

Note the sawn logs neatly stacked awaiting collection by a local resident (as requested!) on the High Hirst Walk boulder at the start of the walk, and the boxed pigeon by the ground also awaiting collection.

Before and after (2) . . .

(Left) The nettles had grown back with a vengeance since the ground had last been strimmed back in July (left), while (Right) Gareth and Ian survey their good work at having fully revealed, once again, the boulder stone inscribed with the name of the walk at the other end of the path near Wadsworth Lane.

 

Job (neatly) done! 

N.B. This work on High Hirst Path is undertaken twice a year through an agreement originally drawn up between CROWS and the Dodd Naze Community Association and the now-disbanded 'Friends of High Hirst Woodmeadow' project.  In return for helping to keep this path clear and accessible, CROWS agreed to provide safe storage for both groups' Husqvarna multi-tool.  They could then be properly serviced and maintained as required, and used on other paths throughout the area in the upper Calder Valley in which CROWS operate.

P.S. A sad ending... 

Unfortunately, we later received this message about the fate of our pigeon from the good folk up at 'Full of Joy':

'Your chap was incredibly ill, I'm afraid. He had a huge abscess on his right leg that had infected the bone and smaller one on his left foot. The larger one had eaten and destroyed a lot of his leg. The kindest thing was to say goodbye. I'm really sorry. But you saved him from a long, painful death.'

MIDGEHOLE - below the Blue Pig and Midgehole Lane

 This was a follow-up visit by Jan and Gareth to sort out some drainage prior to re-laying new aggregate. The fingerpost issue had already been sorted by someone (thank you) so we had time to start the cutting back work on Midgehole Lane. This work was funded by donations to CROWS.