More Destruction

The good news was we had had two small stone deliveries, one in Catriona’s car boot the other presumably a tractor bucket of stone from Andrew.
The bad, the ovines have been at it again, using the wall as a coconut shy. Most of the last two courses laid a couple of weeks ago had either been knocked off or displaced, so Catriona and I in a somewhat disgruntled state set about removing and restoring our previous work. We managed a further course on top of our repairs, but due to domestic demands had to call it an early day. To try and discourage further destruction we temporarily topped the wall with spaced faux toppers in an attempt to bind things in the event of further bu-jiggery by the sheep.

 

 

 

Roderick L.

No. Waller: 2

Happy Birthday Graham.

On a cooler day than recent Wednesdays, Graham demonstrated his commitment by choosing to celebrate his ‘significant’ birthday with some dry stone walling, and generously shared some excellent Betty’s chocolates to mark the occasion.

The day started with more gardening to reveal stones hidden by nettles which will make selection easier later as we grade up through the courses.

Another course completed plus progress on the stile, but every stone hard-won with hammer work, so a 2.30 finish with 'fill' in place felt a reasonably well-earned end to the day.

 

 

Barry S.

No. Wallers: 3

Stone Finding

Very pleasant day at Markenfield with numerous walkers passing by  including some 20 plus doing DoE or similar.  Rich also paid us a visit. A rare sight for the Markenfield contingent.

The day started  with vegetation clearance, the nettles having taken over the site.  We can now see the stone again!  Duncan continued with the wall while Barry and Graham  built up and further improved the stile... Relatively slow but solid progress. 

Graham D.

No. Wallers: 3

The hottest walling day

Barry, Duncan, long lost Tony and Graham slogged their way through the hottest walling day for a long while.  Its quite amazing how quickly the vegetation has grown adding to the difficulty of finding the right stone. Progress seemed quite slow, probably to do with the temperature but in the end good progress was made. The stile was reconfigured yet again and is beginning to look like a stile once more.

 

 

Graham D.
No. Wallers: 4

Disaster - of a minor variety

 Chatting whilst walking the short distance from the cars to the wall distracted Rod, Catriona and me from the minor disaster that had befallen the wall. The sheep had decided to pass judgment on the previous weeks work by jumping over it and dismantling the top three courses. Undeterred we set about rebuilding it and had repaired the work by lunchtime, we proceeded to protect what we had done by putting some large toppers on top.

We shall wait  to see what our ovine judges think of our most recent efforts.

 

Top three courses missing

More Ovine judgment

Rebuilt and toppers on.

 

Richard H.
No. Waller: 3

Big Brown Bull

 On a hot and sunny day, Duncan & Barry toiled with the largest cobbles available and set them into a sturdy half-course with a bit of imaginative levelling, and tidied the interface with the stile.
Some useful height gain on the western elevation.
Several pairs of ramblers commended our efforts.
Heat and fatigue deemed a 2.15 finish sensible.
We were pleased to be separated from the big brown bull by the new fence near the Hall, and admired the beast’s attributes from a safe distance.

Barry S.
No. Wallers: 2

Too much hammering

 Rod and I spent a rather warm day hitting rocks with hammers. I'm not sure 1 stone was laid without giving it a bit of a bash first. Very bad form I know, if there is any defense for such wanton disregard for the tenets of walling good practice, I would say that the stone was bloody awful. Thank you to last weeks wallers who left us with a nice surface to wall off, sorry to next weeks wallers for what we've left you to deal with. 

 

Richard H.
No. Wallers:2

Hammer down

We were greeted by a sunny and warm day. After a period of dry weather, it also meant that we could park the cars close to the site without the fear of getting stuck in the mud.  Chris and Tony got started on laying the next two courses on top of the “gate post” foundations, whilst Catriona and Val added three courses to the adjoining higher section of the wall.
In view of the very hot day and the possibility of having to lift some heavy throughs, it was decided to down hammers at 2.15pm. 

 By lunch time

End of the day

Tony H.
No. Wallers: 4

 

Dismantled

A lovely walling day for Duncan, Barry and Graham, and as far as we were concerned, very successful.  A second course completed and most of the stile dismantled together with a large chunk of the next bit of wall.  As usual the well built stile wasn't!

 

 

Graham D.
No. Wallers: 3