Stairways to 'Heaven'

For the two work parties in October we did some path maintenance. I was only present for the first of these on Sun 12th, and at the second one on Wed 22nd nobody took any photos so this post is really only about the first.

Over the spring and summer quite a lot of the steps up the valley path, and some from the viewpoint down to the bridge had become damaged. The two work parties were used to repair some of this damage.

Most of the damage was to the wooden edge of the steps. Some were wearing away, others had been broken. Here Chris is selecting some poles we'd previously coppiced as replacements.

Eric investigated the steps on the valley path ...

... and a repair was soon underway.

After replacing the wood we had to level up the step by adding wood chip.

This work was continued until ...

... all the repairs needed to the valley path had been completed.

Then on to the path down to the bridge for some preparation before the second work party.

Paddock

For the work party on 24th September we returned to the Paddock which had become a bit overgrown since we were last there in the spring. 

This photo shows how much has grown up over the summer. This is looking from the steps by the stile near post 12 ...

... and this is a little further in.

This is the 'open' area alongside the fence where the main path goes.

Looking back towards the stile Cathy, Aidan and Graham have made a good start clearing the new growth.

While Chris is assessing what to do next!

Meanwhile, Graham is clearing a path to the dumping area.

While this activity was taking place, I cleared the pathway leading to the lane.

Chris is making a start on shifting the arisings we created ...

... and has thrown himself into his work! 

We cut down and shifted a lot of stuff ...

... to restore this area to a more accessible space. 

Compare these photos with the ones at the top to see how much work was done by the volunteers. A splendid effort. 

 

Volunteers from AtkinsRealis

Last Wednesday we were helped by seven volunteers from AtkinsRealis who came along for the morning.

The volunteers - Jodi, Gemma, James, Dan, Sam, Jack and Karishma.

This is the path along from the woods entrance towards post 2 then left up the hill to the memorial limes at post 3. As you can see, it's considerably narrower than usual because of the encroaching vegetation.

They quickly got stuck into the lower part of the slope ... 

... and were soon around the corner and heading up the hill.

When the left hand side of the path had been cleared they moved across to the other side where the vegetation was lighter ...

... and pretty soon had widened the path to an extent that will make walking much easier. Particularly in the winter months when it gets very muddy.

This is the corner shown in the second photo and you can see the enormous difference they made. 

Round the corner looking up the hill in this photo compared to the third photo shows the results of all their efforts.

The volunteers have made a big difference to this path that not only has saved us some work but also will help the people who visit the woods to be able to get around more easily. We thank all these volunteers for giving us their time and being so friendly. You are welcome to come back to us another day.

Path Clearing - End of Season

As I've said in recent posts we have had to maintain the grassy paths in the woodland by hand this summer - using scythes; because S Glos council have not been able to do this work for us using mowing machinery. This has of course meant that work in other parts of the woods has not been done, as we have been clearing paths pretty much exclusively.

We carried on this work at the Wednesday work party on 27th August when 7 volunteers had a go at the path leading from the top of the pylon field near post 4 where we finished last time. We wanted to clear the path from there back to the top of the hill by post 3 where the three memorial lime trees are growing.

This was the field alongside the edge of the path.

Graham made a start by taking back the long grass alongside the path ...

... while Erika and Cathy got stuck into the brambles on the other side.

Eric had started clearing brambles and other stuff further on down the path with Alan R and they were joined by Graham.

Because there was some rain on the way some of us had been raking up the cut grass and bramble arisings while it was still dry. As you can see there was still a lot left to clear up.

Some of the volunteers had needed to leave early and the remainder of us carried on cutting, raking and moving the grass until we reached the lime trees. Then it began to rain!

For once our timing was good and we completed the work we'd intended without getting wet. Well, not very wet.

 We had a good morning and got a lot of work done. Hopefully we have completed the path scything for this year and that next season S Glos will have a new mower!

Path Mowing Again

For the recent work parties we have concentrated on opening up the paths in the woods. This is work usually carried out by South Gloucester council who normally keep our paths clear from March onwards by regular mowing. They have not been able to do this for the last two years because the machinery they use has not been available - it's broken and not yet been replaced. Consequently we need to to this work by hand as best we can. It's hard, time consuming work and we struggle to keep all the paths open all the time. 

Some work was done at the work party on 23rd July but I was not present and no photos were taken so I can't write anything about it apart from noting that it was done. 

For the work party on Sunday 10th August, eight volunteers tackled the path up the pylon field along to post 4.  This was what we started with ...

The path wasn't completely blocked but soon would be if it was left.

We made a start near the pylon where most of the problem was ...

... while Chris began clearing further down the slope. 

The rest of us carried on working near the pylon making good progress ...

... then stopped for a quick break.

Afterwards, Andy carried on widening the path towards post 4 ...

... while Aiden and Cathy cleared some brambles alongside the path.

Before long the path was much wider and easier to walk along. 

Meanwhile, Chris and Alan R had dealt with the path going down to the entrance ride.

We sorted out all the tools we'd been using and headed back to the store after a successful morning. The volunteers worked hard to get the work done and should be very proud of all their efforts.