Seven of us met ranger Mark at 9:30 in the Sett Valley car park for our first Hayfield workday since 10th October. We then travelled in convoy to South Head Farm - a journey not without incident with three of our six cars taking a wrong turn that required Mark to drive back from the farm, round them up and shepherd them back!
The task for the morning was to clear silted up grips (drainage channels) on the old Edale Road. Long since impassable to cars this road is now passable by walkers, mountain bikers and Landrovers. During the morning several mountain bikers came past pushing their bikes, a few walkers came past too and two fell runners sped past us downhill. It's a beautiful worksite, ringed by South Head, Mount Famine and Kinderlow End.
We used mattocks and spades to clear the channels and drainage ditch running beside the track and despite there being no rain the water soon began to trickle down. Coffee break was called at 11 and we tucked into the chocolate fudge cake that Daniel had baked.
Lunch was taken indoors at South Head Farm (welcome respite from the biting wind) and then in small groups we unblocked a drain on the farm approach road and unblocked the drains outside the farm itself. They unblocked quickly and the over flowing water level quickly dropped. With all drains unblocked we finished work at 14:30 and Mark then took us on a short walk down to the valley floor to show us the ruins of the 19th century bakery!
Thanks to Mark and my fellow volunteers for such an enjoyable day.
Daniel
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