Stairway to Heaven or Uphill Struggle?
A change of direction for the Working Party this month as our task involved the installation of the first of the steps up Clark’s Hill on the Hampton side of the river. Optimistically, Louisa brought enough wood for us to install twenty steps and we swiftly transported it in a wheelbarrow along a track to the top of the hill.
We split into two groups – Mike, Alan and Phil tackling the steps at the top of the bank; Geoff, Dennis and Glyn working on those further down, with Geoff’s brother, Roger, joining to give a hand.
Two major issues immediately presented themselves; firstly, the muddy, slippery, horse-trampled slope that we would have to negotiate whilst working and secondly, the fact that we had drills, spades, metal bars, saws and sledge hammers, but we hadn’t any string to be able to establish the correct line of the steps from top to bottom. Glyn kindly volunteered to go and fetch the string. While we were waiting, Phil and Alan cleared a fallen tree which was over the kissing gate at the top of the bank, whilst the other group very gingerly made their way down the slope with the materials they needed.
As we started to work on the steps, we quickly realised that installing them would not be as straightforward as we originally thought. The wooden stobs used to keep the steps upright split as soon as we began to drive them into the ground with the sledgehammer. Several different methods were tried to overcome this, but none were entirely successful.
Having installed only half of the twenty steps and, with one of the group having slipped over for the third time, we decided that the atrocious working conditions had got the better of us and, plastered in mud, we called it a day.
Thanks again to those who came along to brave the conditions; your participation was much appreciated.
The next Working Party is scheduled for Thursday 17 February when we hope to continue the installation of steps at Clark’s Hill, Hampton, and replace a stile with a kissing gate.
