The female member of the team, is not, strictly speaking a member of the team, although she shares office space. She reports to the same boss (the Regional Manager) as Mr. Head Ranger, but has a different remit. Her responsibility is the maintenance of a 60 mile section of the Pennine Bridleway. I was intrigued to know what this entailed, so asked last week if I might be permitted to spend my volunteer day in her company. My wish was granted. In short, the remit involves checking different sections of the path for damage, whether it be caused by rain, trail bikes, horses or just general wear and tear. Then repairing, or arranging repair in the case of larger works.
We started the day with a 40 minute drive in the landrover, to a section of the path which crosses some of the high moorland area. First stop was at a junction of the path, where we needed to put in a way marking post, as the previous one had gone missing. Where to? Who would want to steal a sign? A puzzle this. So I had a go at digging a post hole. There is a special spade for doing this, that looks rather like a peat cutting tool. It has a long curved blade that allows you to cut a deep, narrow hole without disturbing the surrounding area. This was not easy as the ground is full of stones. But it was a temporary measure until a proper sign could be installed, so when we encountered a rather solid base of stones about 50 cms down, we decided to call it a day and did not go as deep as an arm's length, which is the usual recommendation. The sign was inserted in the hole, and rocks chocked down the sides of the hole to hold it steady. There is also a snazzy little spirit level which fits round the post and enables you to make sure it is upright.
Job completed, we then set off along the track and came to a couple of places where the drains needed to be cleared to prevent water from getting onto the track. They weren't too bad. Our progress then became quite hair raising in places where the track had eroded quite badly, as a result of the recent rains. I would like a go at driving the landrover! A note was made to come back and see to the erosion later. At one point it was necessary to drop down into a nearby housing estate, to access another section of the bridleway further on. As we came down the hill, we came past some farm buildings and a badly churned up field - mud patch - which was home to several sorry looking horses. They had blankets on, but these were caked with mud. One horse was lying down, and as we passed by tried to get up, but couldn't. We were very concerned and upset by what we saw. I know nothing about horses, but these poor creatures looked in an extreme state of neglect. There was a woman coming out of a nearby barn, so we told her about the sick horse. I suppose another explanation might have been that it was about to give birth.
Eventually we came to a gate, up another part of the track, beyond which was land owned by the Water company as there are several reservoirs in the moors here. The moors are run as grouse moors, and my supervisor for the day explained the delicate relationship between what they do and are responsible for, the water company and the local gamekeeper. The gamekeeper apparently fits the stereotype of being quite hostile to intruders. At a place where the bridleway goes over a dam we were to erect a finger post. But first we had to remove the old one, which had lost its fingers. We dug down a bit at the base, sawed through a bit, but as this was a bit difficult given the awkward position, my supervisor decided that we would winch it out using the landrover. So, some new instruction on winch technique, then...pull! It came after a bit of wiggling. Our efforts were observed by some water company workers, who seemed rather bemused by the fact that two women were not only in charge, but doing the heavy work. The world is still full of dinosaurs.
Digging a hole for the new post was a lot easier than the previous one, the soil being a nice peaty tilth, with no stones. The job was finished efficiently and with a lot of laughter. The weather had been cold and overcast, but in spite of this, it was lovely to be in a remote spot in the moors, and have it mainly to ourselves. A great day out.
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