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.