Come rain, come shine

By the session leader:

From the off, today promised a mixed-sweets-bag of outdoor experience.  A promising start when, at least for one volunteer, this was the sight out of the window first thing in the morning …

not so nice by the time we had all assembled at the top of the Chilterns scarp:

Fortunately, our target was sited slightly below the crest of the scarp; and, by the time we had got there, the rain had eased. 

The task looked as though it would be similar to last week’s: clearing a metre-wide strip (or a yard-wide strip for those who work in old money) along a road-side boundary.  But no: for a start, this time the ‘road’ was one long abandoned as a public highway, which has reverted to farm track.   Last week, it was grass and weeds to be cleared, for the sake of protecting a hedge.  This time, the vegetation-target was a mixture of: grass and weeds, yes, but also thick brambles; plus the odd small tree (mostly elder and hawthorn) – all woven together with creepers – that were growing into and over a wire fence.  Much more challenging, and very suitable for WGG!

Again, we had to fight our way to the subject we were supposed to be protecting, which could hardly be seen in places:

Either the rain had stopped altogether, or we were so busy not to notice it.  Maybe the trees sheltered us.  Spread out along the hill, occasionally we difficulty seeing each other:

When coffee time came, we thought we had lost our most senior member.  She appeared later from the other side of the fence, which could only be reached by walking to the top of the hill and back again.

The job called for a certain degree of specialisation from team members: some wielding dasselbashers, and others loppers; while others concentrated on work with saws.  As the second half of the session wore on, more stretches were cleared entirely:

As the vegetation was cleared, it became apparent why the task was needed: the fence was badly in need of a little TLC.  When it is the wire holding up the posts, rather than the other way round, it is time to go in and replace fence-posts, then re-wire.  But that cannot be done unless the fencing party has access to the fence:

The scenario at start of play today

By session end, we had nearly finished the whole strip, but there was still some left at the top for the next occasion.   So we [Ed: or some other work-party] still have that to do.  Plus sinking new fence posts and re-tensioning wire.  Oh, and there’s also the small matter of about 2 tons of firewood, in four piles like this one, waiting to be brought out of the field, loaded on a trailer, and carried away.

Roll on next time!