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.

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. 

TODMORDEN - Todmorden Geological Trail

Mick & Gareth braved the weather forecast and set out across Todmorden Moor to reset some of the marker posts on the Todmorden Geological Trail.  These regularly fall foul of the sheep & cattle on the moor which use them as handy rubbing posts!

The weather stayed fine until we reached the very far end of the trail at which point it started raining!  One or two posts have gone completely astray and will need to be replaced.  All the others are now upright again, helping to guide walkers around this fascinating route through Todmorden's geological & industrial history.  Check out the Heart of the Pennines website for more information or buy our newly reprinted walkers' map from Todmorden Information Centre.

The miscreants responsible for pushing over this marker post

Mick next to one of the Trail information boards

The rain sets in - spot the wind turbine!

TODMORDEN: Langfield Common and Obadiah Wood

David, Duncan and RJ worked at two locations.

1. Langfield Common: new fingerpost erected, drainage carried out and old waymark posts straightened.

2. Obadiah Wood: platform constructed around the previously installed bench.

1. The previous fingerpost on Langfield Common (just up from The Shepherds Rest) had been damaged by cattle on the moor so we decided to put in a replacement to encourage people to walk to Gaddings Dam via the Basin Stone (or via Jail Hole) rather than up the very eroded and steep edge path. 

At least with the cattle off the moor for a few months the post should remain in place . . .  these posts, unfortunately, are such a convenient scratching post for the moorland cattle. The posts need to be in the ground by at least 1m - that's a fair amount of digging! 

Many thank to Langfield Common for letting us install a fingerpost at this site.

2. CROWS have previously erected two small seats: one on a new footpath from Pudsey Road and the second one at the entrance to Obadiah Wood. We were asked to make it easier to get onto one of the seats which we may be slightly too high. Consequently, we have built a step platform around the bench.  Many thanks to the landowner for allowing us to erect this small bench in his woodland.

The funding for today's work has come from Todmorden Town Council. Many thanks

Task 1: Langfield Common:

David starting to excavate the posthole.

The post in place (correctly orientated!) and the hole being filled.

The new markerpost in position and vertical . . . 
Mmm! Until the cattle return to the moor.


Task 2: Obadiah Wood:

David and RJ sorting out the timbers for the step platform.

Duncan making final adjustments to the platform.

The completed platform around the bench.

Todmorden - Walsden - Blackshaw Head - Cornholme - Marker Posts

Mick, Catherine & Richard A tackled jobs around Todmorden on a very wet Friday morning. The weather did gradually improve as the day went on. The trio resurrected three marker posts. Firstly on the path just after the hairpin bend on Allescholes Road. Then on to Blackshaw Head near Great Rock on a path below the Full of Joy animal sanctuary. And finally at Cornholme on the steep path above Monkroyd.

Today’s work was funded by Todmorden Town Council.  Thanks as always to all those who support our work.

Site of Job 1

Site of Job 2

Site of Job 3

This footpath post on Allescholes Road
needed to be reinstated.

Richard A admiring the finished job.

Then it was on to Blackshaw Head and
 a very muddy walk to the site!

Richard A with another reinstated marker post.

Then on to sunny Cornholme and a
steep hill to climb for the last job. 

The team got to admire a stunning view
with a tiny Stoodley Pike.

Mick and Richard A with the final post in place.

We'd noticed the stile above Monkroyd was a bit
slippery so Catherine knocked in some staples.