Ryburn - Longley Lane and a path off Poverty Lane Sowerby.

LONGLEY LANE 

Day 1

This visit to Longley Lane saw Jerry, Graham, Richard, and Angus barrowing large quantities of wood chip to fill in the worn-out centre of the narrow path passing between the properties leading away from Longley Farm towards Sowerby Bridge. 

This work was initially reported by a couple of local walkers and has been funded by several local donations - a big 'thank you' for these. We also need to thank Ian Mathews, a local landowner, who kindly donated the woodchip.

Today's work location highlighted in blue.

View along the path towards Sowerby Bridge.

The first job was to strim back the grass to expose the sunken centre section. Once Jerry had done this with an electric strimmer, the extent of the task was soon revealed. The woodchip had been transported in a one tonne bag in the back of Angus's vehicle and deposited just across the road from the worksite prior to barrowing between the houses and down the path. 

You would have thought such a rural location wouldn't have much in the way of traffic . . . Wrong! Delivery vans galore!

The path after strimming clearly reveals the sunken centre section. 

The plan was to use the woodchip to fill the sunken centre section which, in some parts, was so narrow, that without care, you could easily twist an ankle. Carefully negotiating the narrow gap between a parked car and Longley Farmhouse, Richard barrowed the material along the path to fill the worst of the sunken section.

Graham in charge of back-filling and directing barrow operations.

Our supply of woodchip (there's only so much you can get into a Ford Connect!) was enough to level half the sunken section so we will return with another bag, to complete the task. Once this has all settled a third bag may be needed to level-off the whole path. It's always satisfying to use natural, recycled materials on a job like this.

The path now more level and easier to negotiate . . .  and it didn't rain!

Day 2

We returned 2 weeks after the initial visit, to continue backfilling this path, not much more to report other than there will need to be another day of similar work to try and level-off the worst of the worn centre section. It took a bit longer today as it was a longer trip with the barrow, the good news was that yet again we missed the rain!

Vehicle loaded with another bag of woodchips courtesy of Ian Mathews.

Jerry on transport duties, whilst Jak is levelling, still a bit to do!

POVERTY LANE SOWERBY

A job reported by Calderdale Highways - an entrance to a path almost invisible, awkward steps and a very uneven stretches. 

 

Much easier surface

Now you can see the path

 

SOWERBY CROFT

 Overgrown vegetation blocking the path below Sowerby Croft was reported to Calderdale Highways. After an inspection we realised that this was a stone path that needed clearing to prevent further encroachment.

Frank H, Jerry, Angus and Rich had the task of cutting back the path, clearing the surface and improving the waymarking.  Calderdale Highways funded the work. 

First, a before and after photo (to go with the videos posted on Facebook)
 

We started off by giving the encroaching vegetation a good haircut!

 Then came the lifting of the vegetation off the stone surface - very satisfying. We left a grassy margin as in some weather some of these stone flags can become slippery. 

Once we finished the main section we did a cut back and strimming of the bottom section. 

 This revealed an additional drainage problem. 

 The drain under the path was clearly blocked, so we channelled the water off the path. 

Last job was to waymark the entire route and clear off a set of steps to the road. 

No rain which was a great relief in this exposed site.
 

 

Sowerby - Footpath (Hebden Royd 103) on Aaron Hill

This was the completion of a job started in July this year following a request from Calderdale Long Distance Walkers who also funded the work- a  big thank you to them. It was hoped to be a relatively simple job for a Friday but as Jerry, Graham and Angus were to discover, this was not the case!

Location of today's work site shown along the blue arrow.

Things started off simply enough - a bit of stimming, some cutting back, minor pruning of low/fallen branches and the installation of a markerpost to show the best direction across the adjacent access land.

The first section to be strimmed back.

If you look carefully at the above image you will see two strands of barbed wire which sag downwards from the strainer post into the grass. What Jerry discovered, over a stretch of about 50 m, was that they led to several buried posts and three lengths of barbed wire tangled into the grass! When the previous fence had been replaced, the old one had just been left lying on the ground to become partly overgrown.

This posed a significant risk to 2 and 4 legged walkers, not only as a trip hazard but also, of more concern, as a potential source of puncture wounds to feet and paws. We set about e

xposing the wire and carefully removed it from the buried posts (which we also extracted) and rolled it up. Despite it being high-tensile and extremely "springy", the removal was completed without injury . . . other than a torn waterproof.

Three rolls of wire now removed and taken off site.

The finished section, wire removed, support post fitted and treadboard made safe.

The second section to be strimmed back.

No such drama on the second section, so job done!

Air-bnb anyone?

Sowerby/Luddenden Foot - Stile replacement.

It was a change of location for the Ryburn team: Linda, Jerry and Angus travelled to Jack Hey Farm on the border between Sowerby and Luddenden Foot to replace a couple of broken stiles. We got to the worksite through the landowner's property, and received a welcome cup of coffee from Sheila who also  funded today's work. A big 'thank you' for this from CROWS and all future users of this path.

Location of today's work: the stiles being replaced are circled in blue.

The first stile to be replaced.

The first stile, whilst reasonably complete, was rotten at ground level and the lack of a complete barrier at one side made its purpose somewhat redundant! The landowner requested we replace the stile and the missing fence and, rather than fit a dog-gate, leave one side more open, to allow dogs to pass through.

Whilst removing the old stile we discovered a small water pipe (supplying water to the adjacent horse menage) buried across the path. The pipe was carefully excavated and relocated away from the new stile.

Careful excavation to avoid damaging the exposed water pipe.

The finished stile with a larger gap to allow dogs to pass through.

Linda proving that its not only dogs who can use this access!

The second stile, next to a field gate, allowed access through a horse-proof fence. The stile was located next to a drainage ditch which meant negotiating it was a precarious venture -  a careless moment could result in an unwanted trip into the ditch.!With this in mind, we decided to relocate the position of the treadboard and to install a grab-post to help users.

The original stile:  you can just see the treadboard pointing into the (barely visible) ditch.

Removing the old stile was straightforward, but the old electric fence was a bit of a challenge as it was secured through the end post. In addition, the main gatepost although leaning was concreted in place. However, we got round these issues and built the new stile as well as clearing the edge of the bank to better expose the ditch.

Nearly there: ditch exposed and grab-post fitted.

The finished stile with the step angled away from the ditch - another satisfying day.

SOWERBY BRIDGE - Boulder Clough

Today, Jerry and Frank S were out on the hillside above Boulder Clough where two finger-posts had been reported as out of place. The first post was where the bridleway (Sowerby Bridge 058) leaves New Lane. It had previously rotted at ground level and was too short to re-use as it was, but it could easily be extended by butt-joining an extra length of timber. The first two pictures show Frank checking it was upright before Jerry started filling the hole, and then the finished article standing vertical once more.

The second post was on the steep, narrow double-bend at Hollins Gate, where the footpath (Sowerby Bridge 061) joins Hollins Lane. The post had originally been in the ground, and then it had been screwed to the gate post, but when a new gate was installed it was left leaning against the wall. Once again we butt-extended the post and re-planted it in the ground. The photo shows the completed job.

This work was funded by public donations to CROWS. Thank you for your support. Thanks also to Hollins Gate for allowing us to park in their driveway, away from the very narrow road.

SOWERBY - Aaron Hill and Rooley Lane

 Graham, Jerry and Rich went to deal with two paths that needed a cut back and waymarking. The first path was reported as effectively 'lost'! Too true, it took us a while to find it. 

We then cut back nearly all the path but a return visit will be needed to finish off one section and to put in a waymark post. 

Then we went to Sowerby Town to deal with a short length of path that had been reported to Calderdale Highways. 

Today's work was funded by Yorkshire Veterans' Athletic Association and Calderdale Highways.

 

Aaron Hill path

Rooley Lane path

The details

It took us some time to discover where the path was before clearing could commence ....

 

 

The path is now waymarked at the top end. We still have one small section to cut back and a waymark post on the roadside needs installing. 

 

Then it was on to Rooley Lane at Sowerby.

 

 The short path was cleared and a waymark was added at the roadside. 

 

 

SOWERBY - Mirey Lane

 Jerry, Andrew, Frank, Angus and Rich went up this bridleway to deal with the side-drain which was choked with vegetation and silt from the hillside. Today's task was to make sure it could hold all the water and thus prevent the path from being scoured. As well as ground overgrowth, some of the trees and bushes were overhanging making it difficult for horse riders. 

Today's work was funded by Calderdale Council Highways.

The details

Where's the drain!?

We stared by clearing the vegetation with petrol and battery brush cutters, shears and loppers so we could actually see where the drain was!

The next stage was to dig out the sections that were still choked with gravel or bramble roots. 

Then it was lunch and time in the sunshine to admire the view.

 By the time we left it was good to see the water beginning to flow down the drain. 

The following is probably the most boring photo ever published . . . in fact, dull as ditch water!

 

SOWERBY - Wood Lane

 Clare, Steve and Rich had several jobs to do on the Sowerby 67 path. Two waymark posts, extra waymarking at the river bridge and lots of cutting back (mainly brambles). Today's work was funded by the Sowerby Residents' Association. 

The details

The path wasn't waymarked from the canal towpath so a low waymark post was added. 

Several waymarks were added on the route alongside Tenterfield business park. 

 On the Sowerby side of the river, the path forks so a waymark post was added to the public footpath (the other route runs alongside the river for a short distance but peters out). 

 We had a report some time ago that the path at the bottom of Wood Lane was overgrown with brambles. Someone had kindly given them a 'haircut', but we worked our way down the path pulling up the bramble plants which should check future regrowth. 

A lovely sunken walled path, now free of brambles

Walking back the length of the path, we dealt with a lot of encroaching brambles and bushes. 

Then it was on to Crow Nest Road to complete the drainage task we worked on a few weeks ago. The drain we had worked on was still flowing, so the job today was to clear the gully to two further drains. 

To prevent mud and mulch being washed across the track, the idea was to get as much of the water that seeps down the hillside into a channel and a drain.

 

The track was scraped and by the time we left, water was heading down the gully into a drain.