Legless Hermione

The Great Wall of Stainley. 

The garden has matured nicely although the rockery proved too much of a maintenance burden so it’s now just another area of rock and gravel.  The big news is that Hermione is no longer guardian of the wall!  It may have something to do with one of her legs rotting off, but she now resides in the bushes at the end of the right hand wall, looking faintly miffed (see below)

The rest of the wall is much as we left it back in the day.  Occasionally, a cope or two gets dislodged by youthful hi-jinks but otherwise it is as solid as …. 50 tons of Ainley Top rock. (more photos below).  Check out that cheek-end and recall the joy of cutting 200-odd coping stones!  Ah! them were the days!

Chris G.

A good Example?

I haven't been able to get to any other of our walls recently, but I thought this section of wall that someone has been rebuilding over the past few years might give us inspiration.

It's near Dallowgill and Kirby Malzeard Moor on  a cycle route I do occasionally. Does anyone fancy placing a few of those small pebbles in the middle of our walls? We should be able to get them in place with a bit of rope and an iron bar or two.

Richard H.

Return to Hackfall

Hi Folks. It's a month since my last walling update. Here's another old wall I managed to run past. I stupidly cycled there, ran, and then cycled back home again. My legs felt like they were made of lead for the next two days.

The old Hackfall wall is blending nicely into the landscape again and thankfully there have been no tree falls onto it, this can't be said for the rest of the woods, where a couple of large trees have come down and there's been another small rock fall in the vicinity of Mowbray Castle.

I didn't meet a soul on the paths, though I could hear a few families splashing about on the mini beaches that border the River Ure as it winds it's way through.

Some snaps of a well hidden wall

Lockdown running

No walling to report on!
Instead here are a few photo's of an old wall at the Jenny Ruth workshop which is near enough that I can run there and back in the rather lovely weather we've been having recently.
I'm happy to report that the small industrial estate seems to be packed full of essential workers! I'm not sure quite how essential steel frame work constructors are at the moment, but they're there if you need them.
Jenny Ruth also seemed to be in operation as did all the other units, though I'm not sure what they all do.
Anyway I shall attempt to visit other walls, by foot or bike, during lock-down to see how they are holding up.
Take care.
Rich

A wasted journey

4 turned up at the start of a very windy day at Markenfield, with a promise that Graham would turn up later. Catriona and Duncan working on the first stint whilst Barry and I worked on the 2nd section. The wind whipped up the dust a treat and Catriona was in fear of being blown across the fields. Barry called it a day at 12ish and the rest of us, thinking it unlikely that Graham would now turn up, decided the wind was too much and trudged up the slope by 12.45ish.
Unfortunately as we neared the car park we spied Graham in the distance. He was very gracious about our early abandonment though I did feel guilty that he had travelled all that way for naught. Thankfully the rain started to descend as we got in our cars, so my guilt was somewhat assuaged.

We got a couple of courses from the top by the time we abandoned:-

  Accidental photo taken by dropping my camera

 At tea break

 As we left

As we left

Richard H.

No. Wallers: 4

4 for walling

A rather nice day was not spoilt by the lack of mad March Hares. Though our leading mad March hare spotter, Graham, was otherwise engaged in London, so there may have be hare there, of which we were not aware.
Catriona and Duncan coordinated to put a couple of courses on the first stretch, whilst Barry and I worked on opposite sides of the second stretch. A suitable point was reached by about 3 o'clock when all parts of the team were up to the same height, and so, at that, we called it a day!

Morning

Lunchtime

Hometime

Richard H.

No. Wallers:4

Retreat to Markenfield

Spot the hare competition. 

A nice sunny day for a return to Markenfield for Graham, Barry, Duncan and me. Weather, and more importantly ground conditions, have meant a retreat from Fogfield for a while. So it was back to Markenfield and a nice bit of solid ground (if you don't count the walk across the field.)

Graham spotted a couple of hare (s?) on the horizon, though you may have worked out by now they aren't in the photo above.

Getting back to cobble was interesting. Barry manhandled a monster into position ready to support the new section of wall leading up to the stile.

Graham did sterling work digging out the overgrown stone. I think it's important to point out that I'm not suggesting the stone has got larger, but that the plant life has grown and covered it over.

I believe we used cobble almost exclusively this week, saving the limestone for the front of the wall.

Here's some pictures, which don't really show the amount of work that got done.

 Morning

At lunch and at the end of the day

End of the day

Richard H.

No. wallers: 4