Footpath repair at Bosley Cloud on Sunday 5 July 2015

Six of us spent today at Bosley Cloud with Tim Ryan (Ranger) and Colin (Alderley Edge volunteer) repairing sections of the Gritstone Trail near the summit.  Andy and Christine drove there direct and Daniel, Adrian, Jo and Paige carshared from Quarry Bank Mill.  We rendezvoused on Tunstall Road at the junction with Gosberryhole Lane at 9:15.

The worktask was to build stone 'run offs' to prevent water running down the path and instead drain across it.  This should mean the path is drier and encourage walkers to stick to it and not walk on drier ground either side thereby widening the path through erosion.  The first step was to dig diagonal trenches across the path using mattocks and spades and the second step was to unearth boulders from the path/heathland and manoeuvre them to the trench by rolling and/or using wrecking bars, then set them in place slightly proud of the path.  Gaps between the boulders were filled with stones and spoil.  The footpath was easy to dig into (compact sand) and the boulders could be chipped to size with blows from the mattocks.

We ate lunch at the summit of the Cloud and enjoyed wonderful views to all four points of the compass.  The viewing disc informed us that Land's End was 264 miles away, Snowdon 81, Liverpool Cathedral 38, John o'Groats 380 and London Charing Cross 143.

We are returning to Bosley Cloud on 16 August and will be building more 'run offs' then.

Daniel

(PS volunteers from the Congleton group and Congleton Harriers also repaired footpaths at the Cloud today but worked on the west side and not at our worksite.)