Repairing Steps in the Valley

After the busy summer some of the steps up the valley path were in need of repair so we spent the two work parties in September getting on with that. 

You can see one of the damaged steps here where it looks like a bike was ridden over it.

For the Sunday work party on 13th September we only had five people. Luke, Peter, me and two new volunteers - Imogen and Zach. They helped me to make some pegs - small stakes that we use to hold the steps in place; while the other two got on with the repairs.

Peter is placing some pegs at the ends of the step to hold it securely in place ...

... then helped Luke further down the slope.

We didn't get as much work done as we would have liked but with just five people, some being first timers, I thought we did really well and achieved a lot.

For the Wednesday work party on 23rd September we returned to the valley path and continued the path repairs started last time. 

We worked mostly in the area near the bottom of the path repairing the path edges.

Today Moray joined us for the first time as a volunteer. Here he is busy making pegs to fix the path edge timbers.

Two other new volunteers - Josh and Keith; along with Paul who volunteered with us a while ago are using the pegs that Moray made to fix this edging pole.

Further up the hill Eric and Peter are repairing the path edge near post 10 by the open area where primroses and bluebells grow in the spring.

Nearer the top of the hill Imogen and Zach helped me to complete the step repairs we did at the last work party.

Eric and Peter carried on and completed a splendid new path edging ...

... and after some inspection and discussion.

The work was completed and the path was repaired.

Two contrasting work parties. The first with  few volunteers, the second with lots. A great deal of good work was done and the path is much improved.

Valley Path Clearing

The second work party in August was on Wednesday 26th. We were a bit low on numbers with only four of us there - Cathy, Aiden, Eric and me. Since our last work party a branch had broken off a tree in the open area behind post 7 so our first job was to deal with that.

We thought that the branch was still attached to the trunk but a closer inspection showed that it was actually just resting on it so we were able to carefully lower it to the ground ...

... where we could cut it into pieces and stack them into a safe pile.

Then we went down the valley path to cut back some dead wood and overhanging bits.

Some of it was dense and it took quite a bit of time to open up the pathway.

We worked our way back up towards the top of the path cutting back the vegetation on both sides.

Sometimes in quite dark conditions.

But eventually we had restored the path to an easier and safer state

Considering that there were only four of us a lot of good work was done.

Summer Scything and Path Clearing

This post covers two work parties and the different activities that took place at them.

The first work party was held on Wednesday July 22nd and there were only two volunteers - Eric and Peter.

I was away for this work party so the photos were taken by Eric. They worked on the path at the top of the hill leading to the pylon.

It had narrowed considerably and was close to being blocked.

They put in a lot of hard work in difficult working conditions because of the heat and as can be seen in this photo opened up the path considerably.

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The second work party was held on Sunday August 9th and there were eight volunteers - Eric,  Peter, Cathy, Aidan, Andy, Jim, Luke and me.

We had three jobs to do. Carry on the path clearing that Peter and Eric did last time, Open up the path alongside the Sort It centre from the glade onwards and clear/open up the Paddock area.

Andy and Eric dealt with the path clearing near the pylon

Before ...

... and after. 

Before ...

... and after.

Before ...

... and after. 

As you can see from the photos above they did a good job dealing with dry grass and hot weather.

Meanwhile, the rest of us went to the path alongside the Sort It centre. From the glade onwards

it had become a bit overgrown and needed to be widened.

Peter and Jim made a start at the glade end of the path, 

Cathy and Luke took on the centre section,

and Aidan went further along to work back towards the others. I took the photos and began raking up the stuff they were cutting down.

Good progress was being made ...

... with Luke and Cathy clearing out this section quite quickly.

As you can see in this photo.

Aiden and Jim had been doing a great job working at the other end ...

... and before long the clearing had been done so we had a break from the heat.

We then moved on to the third job of clearing the Paddock. This always seems like a never ending job, as you will know if you have read previous blog posts, and this time was no exception as you can see from the following two photos.

These were taken by the stile at the post 12 entrance.

We made a good start on the left hand side and reached the fence next to the stream ...

... then carried on further down that side. 

Unfortunately we then discovered that we were not alone. There was a wasp nest on the other side and one of the volunteers was stung. We have had this problem in the past and found that the best thing is to get away from the vicinity of the nest and leave them alone. This means that clearing this area will have to wait until the wasps have gone. One of the volunteers made some warning signs the following day and put them up by the entrances to the Paddock.

Considering the hot weather we had a lot of support today and the volunteers put in a lot of hard work. It was a shame that we were hampered by the wasps, but they have to live somewhere and we shouldn't begrudge them a home.

Clearing Paths

The first scheduled work party in July was held on Sunday 12th. This was in the middle of the fourth heat wave this year with temperatures often above 30 deg C so rather than cancel it as we did back in June, we started the session early at 9.30am when it was cooler then finished around 11.15am. We decided to clear the valley path near post 10, where we get primroses and bluebells in the spring. The path has narrowed considerably because of overhanging vegetation - mainly bracken. Then if there was time we could clear the path from the top of the valley along to post 6.

This was the path looking uphill. You can see the narrowing caused by the overhanging bracken

This is looking back downhill from the far end end in the previous photo.

Six volunteers turned up and we set about scything down the bracken.

Peter is dealing with the upper part of the slope.

Aiden and Luke are clearing the lower section while Cathy is moving the cut bracken away.

It wasn't long before the bracken was gone and the path restored. 

We had cleared it in good time and were all OK to continue so we moved up to the top of the path to deal with the narrow path between the viewpoint and post 6 at the top of the steps.

This is the path looking from the viewpoint end, near post 8 ....

... and this is looking back from the post 6 end.

Andy is making good progress ...

... and joined by Peter, Luke, Aiden and Cathy soon had the path opened up.

The path is now clear and hot weather will hold back growth so it may stay open for some time.

Despite the hot weather the volunteers did a splendid job today and achieved a lot.