Here there and Everywhere

A varied week this week.  Richard P., Barry, Catriona and Graham spent the morning at Markenfield whilst I went swanning about the countryside

Firstly I visited Pateley Bridge to pick up the walling paraphernalia that James at the AONB has kindly purchased for us. We now have 2 extra walling kits consisting of a bucket, hammer, lines, goggles and chisels. We also have plenty of gloves and enough spare pairs of goggles to protect a whole rugby team. Perhaps most importantly we also have a nice new book about walling, written by the TCV. It tells us all the things we have been doing incorrectly, sorry, I mean all the things we have been doing exactly as they ought to be done.

I also met with Jan from the Tuesday volunteers to see about sharpening tools, unfortunately the AONB's set up is meant for tools which need a much sharper edge that our chisels and walling hammers. Though he says he might be able to do something for us.

After meeting Jan I ventured further up the dale to the heady heights above Lofthouse to check on how much more work was needed to complete the job at Thrope Plantation. It was freezing up there but the view was really rather lovely. I estimate about 3 to 4 Wednesdays of walling to complete the original stretch, however when I went to look at the other gaps further down the wall, they'd already been done! I think David, the farmer, might have decided we're a bit too slow and got someone else on the job.

I raced back to Markenfield for an afternoons walling with the rest of the gang.
Here are a few photos of the state of play, firstly at Lofthouse, and secondly at Markenfield.

THROPE PLANTATION above Lofthouse

 The remaining section of wall to be completed.

Sections of wall that have been mysteriously completed

MARKENFIELD.


Catriona, Barry, Richard P. and Graham had put some decent height into the wall before I waltzed up at lunch time to fiddle about a bit. Here's the wall at the end of the day:-

Richard H.

Grid ref: SE 29558 67806

Map : Here

Short on Stone

Well! It was a lovely day for the second week running. We must have been good! Six of us turned up to add a few more courses to the wall. Barry, Graham, Richard the Elder, and Catriona arrived on time. Paul and Richard the Younger turned up at a more agreeable hour. 

The two sections between the already completed wall and a section of still standing wall were brought up to just below finished height. This task was achieved with much grumbling and hunting for stone, of which there is plenty, unfortunately most of it is in little bite sized pieces. 

 

Front and back of wall just after break - Don't know who took the photos with those dreadful shadows in - wants sacking

The suns position duly noted for these shots of the wall just prior to lunch 

The Team preparing for a well earned repast.

The front of the wall at the end of the day

The rear of the wall at the end of the day.

 

Richard H.

Grid ref: SE 29558 67806

Map : Here

 

Sunny day at Markenfield

What a perfect day for walling - no rain or wind and plenty of sunshine.

The hall at 8.30am

The team today was Barry, Catriona, Paul, Richard H, Richard P and Tony

 

The team take a break for lunch and can always find a suitable seat

The aim is to try and retain as much of the original wall as possible 

Richard is determined to place this stone in the wall ( a job for next week maybe)

At close of play and the sun is still shining

Tony

Decidedly Soggy Markenfield

It was very wet at Markenfield today. A team of four wallers gently marinated in the fine North Yorkshire sun shine rain. Roderick was so taken by the fine weather that he has requested that we get some AONB branded sun glasses for the whole team.
Richard the Older had promised to bring a new volunteer, Oliver of Jenny Ruth fame. Unfortunately, not only did he not bring Oliver but he also forgot his water proofs, and beat a hasty retreat just as the really fine weather reached us at 11 o'clock.
Roderick managed a further hour, whilst myself and Barry carried on until about quarter past one, decided that we weren't really drying out very quickly and slithered our way back to the car park. The drive out via the newly created Hell Wath river was interesting.

A small section of wall that remains in reasonable repair which requires a bit of gaping - start and end of the day. The right hand section of wall  may need to come down further, as can be seen by the 5 course running joint at the rear of the wall

The front of the wall at the start of the day, just before break, and as we left

Richard working on the rear of the wall, and it's state just before we left.

A view down the wall as we were just about to depart.

Richard H.

Grid ref: SE 29558 67806

Map : Here

No new old wallers to report.

There were no additional returning wallers this week, so we miss out on the New Years hat trick, although we did enjoy the company of Elaine for a second week.

After Richard The Younger had returned from his morning skive the pros and cons of a possible new walling project at Grantley were briefly aired. No conclusions were reached, but watch this space!

The team of Catriona, Roderick, Graham, Elaine, Barry, Paul, Richard P and Richard H, made some fine progress with both the dismantling and re-mantling  of a section of wall. Richard H and Barry also managed to do a bit of clearance in preparation for the next stint of wall.

Proof of what we done:-

 The Gang Having their lunch.

 

 Clearing a new section of wall - the a reasonable section of savable wall to the left

 The afternoon stint

 

 More from the afternoon stint.

 The last three photos of the day.

Richard H.

Grid ref: SE 29558 67806

Map : Here