A fleeting glimpse of a new member

Catriona Graham, Barry, Rodderick and I were joined by a new member today. Mark, who brought the number of  Wessy Yorkshire folk up to 2, came  to try a bit of drystone walling with us. He took to it rather well and did some pretty good stuff. Sad to say them that he has decided that for the moment he is happy just to do the Tuesday volunteer day and won't be joining us again.
Rod and I left early but the others remained and managed to put a further course on the wall on what proved to be a very warm afternoon.

Richard H.
No. of Wallers: 6.

Some very heavy stones

A lovely day at Fellbeck started orf with a visit from Liz bearing gifts. Barry and I both got a new supply of walling gear. The day also saw the welcome return of Chris and Val to the walling team, and from a shorter absence Roderick. Barry and I made the group upto a five count.
The first order of the day was manoeuvring some rather massive stones into the foundations of the wall, on of which spans the whole width!
From there we added another course or two with Chris trying in vain to get us to build to something he called a 'the line'?

Starting the foundations

Foundation course done

End of the day

Richard H.
No. Wallers: 5

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Looks back at old walls - Number 3! 

A look backa at the Bewerley Adventure centre wall. Holding up very well, if I do say so myself. A prize for anyone who can read what the stone sign says. I think I ought to remind everyone of the nice bit of Roger styled wall tie engineering that's keeping it in place.

Brooky

A new site at Brookside farm in Fellbeck saw the attentions of Catriona, Barry Graham and myself. Andrew, the farmer, has put in a new gatepost and has fenced off the area to save us from the advancements of the brun cuw in the adjacent field. Due to various war wounds and ailment we decided to do a half day in which we demolished a 9 metre section of wall in preparation for next weeks building session.

We left a few treats for next week in the shape of some very very large and very very awkward foundation stones, but they should yield with a couple of pry bars and health dose of morning energy.

 The view to the South of the wall -n A Mini Brimham Rocks

 Prior to work starting

At Catriona called coffee break

 After a good half days work

Richard H

No Wallers: 4

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Checking old walls again 

I went to check out another old wall after finishing today; see how St Cuthberts school playing field is holding up. It's nearly 2 years since we were there! The wall looks in pretty good nick (we did a pretty good job of it didn't we?). They still haven't shifted any of the old mortar that the coping stones were held on with, and some people have taken the opportunity to add their own rubbish to the pile.

Last day at Ivin Waite.

Arriving in support mode to collect barrows etc to return to the Bewerley store, and braving the close attention of a dozen curious heifers, I walked from Ivin Waite to the walling site which is concealed in a cleft of the hill. The ringing of hammer on stone echoed round the craggy amphitheatre, bringing to mind a scene from The Hobbit, and indeed from a distance the Wallers appeared diminutive. Graham, Rich & Roderick were actively gathering and shaping candidate toppers from the quarry spoil, heavy work that on the osteopath's advice I had had to decline. The newly built wall corner looked impressively robust, the assembled toppers uniformly aligned ready to complete the final few yards of a fine job in a fine location. The heifers were positively drooling.

Barry S.
No. of Waller: 3

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Round and About

Birstwith

Road closures on the way from Ripon to Pateley meant a bit of a detour so I extended the detour to see how the second of our Birstwith walls is holding up.

As we left it

How it looks now

Link to blog post from last time we were there

 

Hackfall

I was at Hackfall the other weekend and noticed that someone has effected a repair on the car park wall that we had offered to rebuild. No comment.

Rich.