TODMORDEN - Swineshead Clough

Ian V & Gareth made the first of 2 planned visits to the flight of stone steps descending from Lumbutts Road to Knowlwood Road (off Rochdale Road) via Swinsehead Clough.

The job was to clear away the soil & grass now covering much of the steps, making them safer to descend.  Starting at the bottom, we got about halfway up the flight.  However, the further up you go, the more they are covered, and the higher steps may be a challenge to complete in one visit.  We shall see…

Today’s work was funded by Todmorden Town Council.  Thanks as always.

Today’s location

The “before” photo.

Looking down from halfway up. 

Ian reaches the top (or rather halfway).

Finishing touches.

More work ahead.

TODMORDEN - Bean Hole

A team of four (Catherine, Duncan, Kasher and RJ) spent today cutting back Long Lane (Tod Bridleway 031).

This well-used bridleway has not had such an extensive "haircut" for a few years. The brambles, thankfully with very few blackberries left to pick, completely dominated some sections of the route. There were also a large number of small trees which, had they not been cut back, would have caused problems in future years. We have, where possible, removed overhanging branches to make this route much safer for horse riders and mountain bikers alike. 

We will return, later in the autumn, to the end of the bridleway near to Baulk Head to see if we can, once and for all, sort out the drainage issues.

Many thanks to the residents of the house at the end of the bridleway who kindly allowed us to park in their yard.

Today's work has been funded by Todmorden Town Council. Many thanks for your continuing support.

 

The bridleway above Bean Hole Wood.

The seat near to the top of the bridleway.

The path gets narrower and narrower....

RJ and Catherine in cutting back mode.

Brambles and trees getting a haircut.

The cleared track down from the bench.

Duncan and Catherine on their way
back up the cleared track.

End of session: Certainly a wider and clearer track.

TODMORDEN - Various

 There were three teams out from Todmorden today:

Team 1: RJ and David: step building in Scaitcliffe Wood on Tod 082. We think that the tipping point has now been reached and further work to replace the steps on this route will start from Flailcroft rather than from the Scaitcliffe Hotel. The route is now much safer and the slopes are easier to navigate but this steep path still requires care.

Team 2: Catherine and Kasher: cutting back on Tod 175 between the old tip and Lumbutts and then on to Tod 216, which is the newly created right of way off Pudsey Road in Cornholme. CROWS had been informed about the state of path Tod 175 earlier in the week. When we arrived to start to cut back this path we were pleased to see that someone had been there before us and had managed to cut back and pull lots of the Himalayan Balsam. We spent time dealing with the brambles and removing branches which were making this route difficult to negotiate. Please note that there are two areas of Japanese Knotweed along this path which we have not cut.

Team 3: Ken and Mick: working on the TCW near Calderbrook on Tod 143. Today's survey along this path has resulted in a number of stile repairs, stile rebuilds and stream crossing improvements, etc which have now been added to the Todmorden "to do" list

Today's work has been funded by Todmorden Town Council and by Active Calderdale (for the work on the new PRoW off Pudsey Road in Cornholme).

Step building in Scaitcliffe Woods.

Cutting back near the old tip in Todmorden.

Surveying along Reddyshore Scout / TCW.

Team 1:

Removing the old risers and stobs from the first section
of wooden steps.

RJ and the cleared flight of steps: now all we 
need to do is replace them.

The replaced wooden steps .

David and RJ putting in more steps near the 
revetment added recently.

The next few steps installed: only 20+ more to do!

Team 2:

Catherine clearing cut-back vegetation from the path.

We have left two large patches of
Japanese Knotweed.

The start of the path.

The cleared path: the new PRoW off Pudsey Road, 
Cornholme.

Team 3:

A couple of stiles to fettle up on Reddyshore Scout.

It's going to be a long carry with timber to sort out this stile!

TODMORDEN - Various

 We welcomed Duncan as a new CROW today for our party of three - Kasher, Andrew and Duncan - to complete a number of small but important tasks in Walsden and Todmorden.

1     Cutting back on Tod 135 from the fishing lake off Ramsden Wood Road to the housing estate below. This popular but overgrown path was reported by a member of the public.

2    Inserting protectors over the barbed wire fencing adjacent to a stile, completed last week, on Todmorden 138 (part of the Todmorden Centenary Way) near to Cranberry Dam. Way-markers were also fixed to the stiles here. The team will be back to complete another stile in a couple of weeks time and then, hopefully, to install more boardwalks on the lower path nearer to the dam.

3    Step building (continued) in Scaitcliffe Wood on Todmorden 082. There is still a few weeks of work to be done here . . .

Today's work has been funded by Todmorden Town Council (tasks 1 and 3) and by Todmorden Wind Farm through CFFC (task 2). Many thanks for your continued support.

Cutting back on Tod 135 near Ramsden Wood.

Stile completion and way-marking on Tod 138.

Step building in Scaitcliffe Wood, Tod 082.

The overgrown footpath down from Ramsden Wood fishing lake.

Duncan trying to clear the upper path.

Barbed wire on a new stile completed last week.

Andrew sorting out the protective sleeve to go over
the wire.

The completed (small) task plus new way-marker!

Missing riser but old stobs remain to become trip hazards!

Installing wooden steps above the first set
of stone steps.

Attaching the risers to the stobs.

Caption competition for this week . . . 

Hardcastle Crags

 Accompanied by Connie, who is writing an article about CROWS, and a "munching" of marauding midges (well, we weren't far from Midgehole) Andy, Jerry, Nick, Stella and Steve tackled some routine maintenance on this delightful old route. It runs uphill from the top National Trust car park at Hardcastle Crags, between old walls and then through the woods on causey stones.  Eventually it comes out above the woods and goes up to Willow Gate, near Shackleton.

Like most of the paths through the Crags it is well-used. Between the walls it had become quite overgrown (lots of brambles and fat blackberries!)  and the causey stones were starting to disappear under leaf mould, which meant people have started walking off the path and eroding the ground to the side.

So, to clarify route, Jerry and Steve took the brush-cutters to the overgrowth and the rest of us cleared and swept the causey stones. Both satisfying jobs which opened up the path for easier walking.

The path we were working on, in red.

Disappearing causey stones

Brushing off after clearing

Lovely eh?

ITG?  A builder of the path or a later graffiti artist?

The old route through the woods 

Overgrown 

Clearer for walking

After lunch, Andy, Jerry and Steve went on the Gibson Mill to replace a damaged step. Stella and Nick took tools back to the depot for cleaning and putting away.

Step here

Damaged....

.....dug out....

.....replaced

Today's work was funded by individual donations to CROWS.  Thank you for being so generous..