There were big smiles all around this week. Sighs of relief were heard throughout the dale. NCVs walked about with a lightness in their step. No longer were their weekly task emails opened in trepidation.
THE BALSAM PULLING SEASON IS NOW OVER!!!!
"What on earth will the NCVs do on a Tuesday now?", I hear you ask.
Well - Liz was on holiday this week but left a number of instructions for work at the barn or along the nearby meadow verge. The NCVs did their best to follow these. See the pictures below - firstly the group who stayed at the barn...
that they are ready for the verge harvesting in 2 weeks time.
They also checked out all the loppers and bow saws.
Thanks guys!
This defunct bread oven structure needed emptying of hardcore
and the floor levelling to turn it into a seating shelter.
So a team of 5 got busy with spades and rubble bags.
Could someone please hold this bag open for Ruth?
As the bags were filled they were carted off in a barrow....
...until Alistair had the bright idea to nip home for his sack barrow.
This was much easier to load and unload.
It soon became evident that the hard core was a lot harder to
shovel than it looked.
A spit was most definitely needed to loosen the gravel....
...and lever out the large pieces of rock that were buried underneath.
It was at this point that the pulling of Himalayan
balsam didn't seem like such a bad option!
Especially when stones of this size needed shifting!
By coffee time the job was well underway and the shelter could be
tried out for size. It was decided that there was no need to
make a bench - the walls of the structure filled the bill very well.
"Where did all the hard core bags go?" you may be thinking.
Here they are - all 30 of them.
And here are the 5 very dusty hard cores shifters looking very pleased.
Please note that anyone who is very tall needs to beware when entering this structure.
Tony and Alistair were both in constant danger of knocking themselves senseless.
No sooner than the team vacated the area, Jan ran in with a
variety of tools in order to re-position the railway sleeper that
had been pushed out of alignment by the gravel.
He and Alistair managed to coax it back into position
before clamping it tightly and hammering in some nails.
Phew! Now it's safer to sit on.
to carry out a tool inventory
Now - is that everything?
Er - no. Not quite. Just look up.....
OMG!!!! The ceiling! The ceiling!
There are spiders' webs of ENORMOUS proportions
ALL OVER THE CEILING!!!!!!!
These were dispatched as much as possible.
Some were just too high to reach.
Cleaning off the brush heads after each foray
was not the most pleasant of jobs.
The rest of the group walked down to the verge at Glasshouses. They had to clear the underneath of the hedge and alongside the fence to allow the cut grass to be piled. They also needed to clear any encroaching vegetation from the bridleway next door. Let's see what they managed to achieve shall we.....
To work!
After which - a rest.
First job ticked off - now on to the bridleway.
Uh-oh. This was going to take some time and effort.
That's starting to look better already.
Andrew shovelled away in a good boy scout's uniform.
There's nothing nicer than a breeze around your knees!
By close of play the bridleway was as clean as a whistle.
Well done laddies!
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