Goodbye Sparrow Hawk; Hello Darley

Looking ever so slightly content with themselves, the merry band pose in front of a completed, bee-proof semi-circle of immaculate dry stone wall.  And it's goodbye Sparrow Hawk Farm.  I must admit I won't miss the slog up the hill but I will miss the cakes and pies.

And now on to Darley - a small rebuild project alongside a children's playground hosted by the local playing fields association.  The pictures tell the story - copes cemented on, wall settles, stones fall out etc. etc.  Two weeks there so far and the main stretch of wall is complete and coped.  Next week (8th August) we'll be tackling a stint outside the playground and then it's off to pastures new again.

And the next job is ...

This little beauty is about 4ft tall so it's all the kind of stone we're used to.  Sadly, it's in Cornwall so by the time we've met at 9:30, travelled down and had coffee it'll be time to come home again!  Shame!

Twice more up the hill

We've been up and down the hill to Sparrow Hawk Farm twice since I last blogged and haven't drowned on either occasion although waterproofs did tend to be on and off like a Tom Cruise marriage.

Last week (4th July) we allowed ourselves a little diversion and made repairs to the culvert that runs alongside the wall.  Richard and Roger couldn't resist jumping into the hole for a rummage around. 

The rest of us had the good sense to stay on comparatively dry land.  Thereafter we made further progress on the wall and made a start on the copes. 

until by the end of July 11th we had finished the wally bit and were more than two thirds of the way round with copes thanks to a sterling effort from Paul and Richard the Younger. 

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Richard does his best to cope!

One more week of coping and tidying should see us home and .... probably still damp.

Acknowledgements to Richard the Elder for the photos

PS for David's records we had seven wallers on each of the two days

This is June, right?

Let's just say the weather was mixed, shall we?  So anyone apart from me, Richard the Younger, Phillip and Graham D was probably sensible in staying away. 

We all enjoyed a brief, Malteser-laden visit from Em II and Boogie - he said he hoped to be with us again soon and promised to bring Em with him.

Both hives are now populated again but our buzzy friends were pretty quiet (apparently they don't like rain, so I have something in common with bees after all) as, thankfully, were the Pateley midges, altho' Graham said that he 'sensed' them.

Continuing moderate progress on the wall.  We're at the tricky uphill stage now but our strategy seems to be working.

Please let summer come soon!

Two for the price of one (weeks, that is)

Sorry I forgot to blog last week and apologies to those who showed up on 13th June because I've forgotten who did and who didn't ... apart from Robert, that is, who joined us for the first time in many a long month.  Welcome back and I hope you're able to get more time off before we run out of walls.

The bees, although only recently decanted into their new homes, were very well behaved and only mildly curious about our comings and goings.  Not so the midges which were a complete pain in the butt and anything else they could get their itchy little feet/teeth/fangs into.  Aaarggh!

Good progress on the wall though, as evidenced by Tony's separately loaded photos.

Yesterday (20th June) is clearer to my fading grey matter.  A beautiful, warm, sunny day (yes, we did have a summer one day this year!) and Tony, Emma, Roger, Phillip, Paul, and the Richards for company.  Only one hive still occupied (altho' Kit whizzed off to collect a new swarm in the afternoon) and the bees plagued Richard the Y but left the rest of us alone.

The lower end of the wall is now up to full height and the remainder is coming on well altho' the uphill middle section is still presenting challenges.

Photos below courtesy of Richard the E.

Wed 13th June 2012  -  The bees have arrived

                                                               

Two's company but there will be more.

Lunch break

Close of play

I wandered lonely as a..

Clouds!  We'd almost forgotten what they look like after so many days of glorious sunshine but there they were offering some relief from the blazing sun. 

So making the most of the modest weather we carried on piling on the courses and digging out whatever large stone we could find to help us raise the height of the wall.

We were joined by Kit who did some heavy haulage work and Kev (a proper waller!) who had itchy fingers and added a few stones to the wall - every little helps! Soon we might even be joined by the bees, although we have been assured they can be locked up on Wednesdays so that we can wall without being stung.

The adventurous bunch this week were; Phillip, Paul, Richard (senior), Catriona & Roger

See you next week

Em

NAWG goes global

From time to time we are joined by people who are just passing through or visiting Nidderdale who have heard about us and the work we do and this week was just such an occasion.  We were glad to welcome Mick who has come from Australia just to enjoy some walling with us, oh and he might be seeing other parts of the UK at the same time but really that pales in comparison to walling with us!

It was a glorious day in Nidderdale, the sun beating down and the best views from Sparrowhawk Farm across the dale.  However, not always the best weather for walling as it's hard work, but we slogged on in the sun and managed to throw up several courses around the wall.

We worked on filling in the gap between the low end and high end of the wall and generally raising the height of the rest of the wall.

As we sweltered on through we all had a fantastic day out in the sunshine, the sunburned few were; Chris, Richard Senior, Richard Junior, Paul, Phillip and of course Mick.

See you next week, Em

not sure what happened here, for some reason it won't turn round :-/