Back to the village of Lodge:11-10-2016

In spite of the poor weather forecast, a group of 16 NCVs turned up at Angram dam this morning to admire the view through the heavy mist and rain. 

The aim for the day was to continue improving the footpath to the old village of Lodge by the side of Scarhouse reservoir below- a job started a few weeks ago. The man with the plan was, again, Peter Lambert - a Yorkshire Dales Footpath Officer.

Basically we had to stand and wait ...

There was quite a bit of leaning on spades and rakes...

...and lolling around looking like a scarecrow.

...while Peter kept zooming up and down the path, in a track barrow, to a very big pile of gravel. This he brought back to us for moving into place:

Once or twice the barrow's load had to be lightened 

before it could be lifted.

But when it wasn't too heavy it worked like a dream.

Now you can all get busy folks.

That's it - spread it around to cover up the mud.

Every so often we had to follow the track barrow to the next hollow:

The Pied Piper of Scarhouse leads the 

NCVs to a new boggy bit.

Half the group worked at the Angram end of the path and the rest walked along to Lodge so that we all had sufficient space to shovel.

 Gradually the black mud track...

......was turned into the yellow brick road 

by the Munchkins.

Down at Lodge there was a bit more variety.....

Alistair dug a very nice ditch...

...and a culvert needed reconstructing.

Will this stone fit?

Oh yes - very nicely too.

The culvert withstood the ultimate test 

by the heavy machinery.

Lunch was a rather damp affair which was made all the more cheerful by Will passing on an old adage: "If the wind's in the east (which it was) the rain will not cease (which it didn't)."

Aren't we lucky to find such a nice dining area?

Some secret cake eating was going on further along the path.

Ros E. forgot her yogurt spoon so had to 

extemporise and use her finger instead.
Video version available HERE!

We returned to the cars at 3pm feeling rather damp and chilly with very muddy boots and over-trousers. Still, at least we had the satisfaction of knowing that the path is a bit easier to walk along now.

Ros E.