Wednesday 26 March 2014

Improving the path up to Scott Gate Ash Quarry Mark 2: 25-03-2014

Was it really a week on?  The conditions were so similar it was as if we had never been away- more mist and more rain!  11 volunteers, Paul and N. Y. Ranger Catherine, turned up for another day against the oozy mud and steep gradients, to repair the path up to Scott Gate Ash Quarry.  

The first task of the day was to move a considerable number of boards, to be used for making steps and defining the drainage channel at the lowest part of the path. These boards were at the top of the path and were extremely heavy. Conditions underfoot were steep and slippery, so a cunning plan had to be implemented. Two boards were laid side by side, downhill, a third was then slid over these, followed by a fourth, to a lower level, and so on. In this way full use was made of the steep slope, and volunteers were positioned at intervals down the slope to guide the slithering boards on a straight and downward path, until all the boards had been lowered successfully.
Slowly the cunning plan is formulated.

Bit by bit the planks make their descent

As soon as the first plank arrives the step gang get started,
 adding to what was done last week.

Laura waits in eager anticipation as Graham demonstrates his new labour 
saving automatic spade. "All you need to do is move it by brain waves."

Down at the bottom of the hill work continues on the newly exposed path.....

....whilst further up the slope Anita and Julia create wooden  steps, ignoring 
the fact that a pink gloved NCV has been buried alive beneath their feet.

A fantastic transformation took place:

The starting point - full of trip hazards.

Then .... Ta Da! New steps await gravel. Not a root in sight. 
Walkers can travel in safety down the hillside.

By the end of the day we had completed the construction of 20 steps- are we aiming to complete 39? Some of the more literary members of the volunteer group seem to have made that total their target. Just over halfway then!! We looked at the state of our clothing - we were absolutely filthy and totally covered in mud, and many "dirty " jokes started flying about! We collected up the tools, admiring the progress we had made but knowing there is much more of the same to do during the next 2 weeks.

Join the Nidderdale AONB NCVs for a thoroughly dirty weekend.
"I've never felt so disgusting in all my life" reported one excited individual.

The path at the bottom of the hill looked good too.

Meanwhile 3 -yes 3! - additional volunteers found a wonderful way of avoiding the weather by making some more shelves in The Barn, a most necessary task in warm and dry surroundings!

Father and son plan the job and gather their tools.....

...everywhere is cleared ready to start the job....

...and with a wave of the magic wand - there were the shelves! Pity they can't stay this tidy.


Ros K.

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Improving the footpath up to Scott Gate Ash Quarry:18-03-2014

This week we started working at Scott Gate Ash Quarry, way up the hill behind Pateley Bridge, a task that will take three or four weeks. The footpath leading upwards from Sparrowhawk Farm - a scene of former work - is in poor condition and we are the group to do something about it.
 
Twelve hardy volunteers met in poor weather with our leader, Paul, North Yorkshire ranger, Catherine, and Shona, one of her colleagues from County Hall who was allowed out for the day. We walked up the hill to the start of the path. This takes more energy than you might think.
 

Breaking news from the BBC: NCVs perplexed as their leader disappears in a puff of smoke, leaving only his boots.

Various miniteams worked on:- 
  • discovering the old stone path under the mud
  • lopping brambles and wild roses to clear the path edges
  • digging a new drainage channel alongside the path
  • fixing boarding to define new steps

Work gets under way at the top of the hillside. 
Sites for the steps are levelled and brambles are cut back.


The gang start to use their carpentry skills and turn planks of wood into steps.


No two steps are the same shape. Each one is bespoke.


These two were made a little further up the hill.

Meanwhile - down at the bottom of the hill another team start to unearth the old, stone footpath and dig a culvert to channel the water away.

Fortunately the rain stopped while we had our lunch break and it was good to see Ruth who had climbed up to meet us after a few weeks of enforced absence.
Lunch outside the nearby barn - 
everyone ignores the pleading looks from the equine neighbours. 
(A second lunch site was established at the bottom of the hill for readers wondering where the extra NCVs were.)


More of the same work was done after lunch. 

 Ros E. pinches Angela's hard won stones when her back is turned.


Having dug a superb culvert the girls decided that it needed 
to be 3 feet further over - actually it was just an excuse to play 
in the mud a bit longer. 

 An impressive bit of excavation.



The 'top of the hill' gang proudly stand by their newly made steps
All that is needed now is the gravel.


The story will continue next week. Will it be as muddy?

Angela

Thursday 13 March 2014

Pond clearance and path work at Hackfall Woods: 11-03-2014

Despite an early morning frost we had glorious sunshine all day at Hackfall. 16 NCVs met Paul at the Hackfall car park and then walked or got a lift to the work site near Hackfall Farm. There were several tasks to be done from path work to scrub, bramble and sapling clearance. 

Off we go - what a glorious day!
  
  
Spring has definitely sprung - wild garlic and frogspawn are
starting to make an appearance.

Mike spent all day transporting gravel in the track vehicle for path work down near the Alum Spring. Wire mesh was laid on the bridge near the top pond and gravel spread on the steps down to the bridge. Scrub and brambles were cleared alongside the path above the top pond and trees and branches were taken down alongside an electric pylon. 

Lots of clearing to do along either side of the top pond - all of it prickly!

Ros K. and Anita gradually beat a way to the bridge, in spite of 
the ever present danger of falling into the water and laceration by 
bramble and holly.....

.... whilst just above Ros E. and Julia were stacking the armfuls of prickles 
that were passed up and cutting back all the encroaching scrub.

Eventually the pond is cleared. Now that looks better!

Meanwhile Chris and Sally get busy clearing the nearby electricity pylon 
of  undergrowth that threatens to engulf it and cause a power cut.

Meanwhile Graham lay down on the job, stapling wire to the wooden bridge.

Dave volunteers to shift gravel down to the bridge,
and is happy in his work.

Dave and Colin make the steps easier to walk on - 
out with the mud and in with the gravel.

 
The newly surfaced steps and bridge look good whichever way you look at them.

A second bridge was cleared of mud and scrub.

Mike gets ready to race pell mell down the slope with the track barrow - 
at the dizzying speed of 1 mph.

Jan and Alistair set the world to rights whilst waiting....and waiting....
and waiting for the track barrow to get back up the hillside.

At long last - the track barrow reaches its destination 
(just the first of eight, very long, trips).

So little gravel, yet so much time spent.The lads all stand around 
and ponder how best to use this precious load. 

What difference a bit of gravel makes to the footpath's surface.
 No more slipping and sliding now.

The call for lunch was very welcome and we spent time overlooking our handiwork and the beautiful reflections in the pond. It was hard to return to work again but fortified by Audrey's flapjack we managed to complete our tasks by 3pm and had lovely views across the valley on our way back to the car park. A really enjoyable day. 

Back to the car park - tired, but happy that we'd done a good job.
Chris

Wednesday 5 March 2014

Tree Planting at Wilson's Plantation, High Birstwith: 04-3-2014

After four weeks of unavoidable absence I was pleased to be able to return to the fold today and join my other family. What a day to have chosen - excellent weather, a beautiful location and a free lunch!

10 NCVs (including a new member, Stewart) met Paul at Bell House, High Birstwith where we were tasked with planting 120 oak and wild cherry trees in Wilson's Plantation. The trees and their accompanying equipment were provided by Sean Kelly, one of the Nidderdale AONB's Firm Friends for the company Richard Austin Alloys.

During the morning we planted about 50 of the trees on a piece of hillside that had just been cleared of conifers. 


The sun shines on the hillside - the trees lay waiting.

The peace is shattered as the NCVs descend and make a start.

The theory was that the trees would be planted 3m apart - a theory soon abandoned when it was realised that they just had to be planted wherever a hole could be dug. Intervening rocks and old conifer roots prevented the perfect plan from happening. There was a good deal of hole envy and tree root envy going on; NCVs were heard bartering - "My hole won't go down any further so can I swap my long rooted tree for your spready outy one?" Other, more devious NCVs simply pinched prized short rooted trees, that had already been collected for a particular hole, when their owner wasn't looking.


 Paul prays his tree will survive.

Will heels in the soil around the newly planted tree. 
This was one hole that was nice and soft to dig. Lucky Will!

That's the tree tie, now just the plastic spiral and then I can stand up straight... 

After a well earned cup of tea we then trailed off down hill, carrying all our equipment and the rest of the trees, to the next section of woodland - a deciduous area that we knew well from a previous bracken bashing trip. 

Builders' tea or tree planters' tea?

And off they go taking all their gear with them.

As we got over the wall a cry went up - "It's a tree tube graveyard!" - and indeed it was. Although many of the trees in the original planting (mainly silver birch) had survived, there were many that hadn't and their tubes were either upright and empty, bent and empty or horizontal. Some of us made a start in collecting the dozens of empty tubes to try and find out where the new trees could be usefully planted. Others got busy digging holes and planting trees.


 What's that in my glove?

 Laura tries this tree for size.

At 1pm a halt was called and we adjourned to the shed at the top of the hill for a lovely sausage sizzle lunch (thanks Sean and Mrs Sean). Conversation ranged from discussions about wine and cars at the male dominated end of the seating area, to the joys of changing nappies at the female end.  

Dining Al Fresco with the NCVs.

The three wise monkeys - Stewart and Alistair listen intently 
whilst Graham makes an important point with his bottle.

Replete, we all trailed back down to the plantation to continue planting and de-tubifying the hillside. The views over Nidderdale were wonderful, although I seemed to spend most of the time looking at black holes down defunct tree tubes. Carrying great armfuls of these unwieldy items over long  distances was not easy, but gradually large piles were made and the area looked much tidier. New trees sprang up where green plastic once reigned supreme.


Will stands back to admire his handiwork.

Graham takes advantage of this de-tubed area to plant a tree.

Well at least the soil is easier to dig than this morning.

Joanne piles up the unwanted tubes - this is just one of the piles.

Just after 3:30pm a shout went up that we were finishing for the day. There is still work to be done releasing all the older trees from their now unneeded tubes and further de-tubification of the area, but we were glad to make our way back to the cars and home for a well earned rest.

At the end of the day a weary soul plods her way up the hillside.

Ros E.