Christmas in Cumbria 2018

Nine go to Cumbria: Wet, Wet, Wet feat. Santa

Starring: Matt, Lisa, Ally, Neil, Tim, Sue, Pip, Mick, Martin and Ranger Philippa

Guest Starring: Ranger Bethan

In the run up to our annual Christmas Weekend it had been a very wet few weeks, but that didn’t put off ten volunteers from signing up.  It turned out to be the wettest weekend in a long time.  The weekend starts here!

It started with my trip south on the train to Oxenholme where Sue and Neil met me and we headed to basecamp.  En route we discovered that the three of us had forgotten to look up the safe code for the keys to get into the basecamp, all thinking the others will have done it so as Ally tried to log into Dropbox to get the document we drove under cloudy skies closer and closer to the basecamp.  With the signal not too good we couldn’t get the document we were after so were relieved to find Philippa in the office to ask her.  We were joined later by Tim, Pip and Mick and it was then we discovered that our tenth member Nasrin would not be joining us as she had a bad cold.  We hope you feel better now Nasrin.  We adorned the basecamp in Christmas decorations which included lots of colourful lights winking and blinking at you wherever you looked and many sparkling bits of tinsel.  At 6pm we headed out to the Outgate Inn near Hawkshead for our evening meal.  Upon returning we found the final three members of our work party (Matt, Lisa and Martin) had joined us having travelled up after work.

Saturday dawned wet and Ranger Philippa met us at the basecamp at 8.45am and helped herself to a cup of tea whilst we finished getting ready.  We set off at about 9.30 after Lisa had a hunt for her car keys – always check the jacket you were wearing last night!  Our worksite today was Fell Foot Park on the southern shores of Windermere.  It was here we met Ranger Bethan who works at Fell Foot and was very pleased to have some help.  Our job was digging out brambles in an area next to the exit road.  Easier said than done!  Bethan wanted them and their roots dug out.  Some of the roots were really quite long and tough and I’m afraid to say some of the roots broke so the brambles might be back next year.  Having been to collect the tools from their shed on wheels we spent the morning digging away in the rain.

At lunchtime Matt and Lisa left the worksite in order to go and prepare dinner and the rest of us, as promised by the Rangers, headed for cover to eat our sandwiches.  The lunch room was rather posh and new looking.  It was in fact the clubhouse of the boating club at Fell Foot so we took off our wet waterproofs and boots and sat at a table (!!!) whilst we watched the rain come down outside.  After lunch, having put our boots and waterproofs back on, we had the chance to change tasks.  Some did and some didn’t.  Those who did went with Bethan.  She had a metal rod sticking out of the ground that she wanted to find out what it was so Martin, Tim and Neil went with her to see if they could help.  They dug down about 4 feet and there was still 3 feet left to dig down so they admitted defeat and returned to where the rest of the group were still pulling up the brambles and it was still raining.  If anyone knows what is at the end then please let us know and we can pass it on to the correct person.  We carried on with the brambles task getting really quite muddy and at about 3pm called a halt to the day as we were wet, muddy and tired.  We packed up and headed for the warmth of the cars and back to basecamp.

That evening we dined on Roast Chicken.  The table groaned with pain as it was laden with food: there were two types of potatoes, five types of vegetables, pigs in blankets, gravy and stuffing!  Thank you and well done to Lisa and Matt for cooking it for us all.  Santa arrived on his sleigh and gave out the presents in his sack and we all got a present. I got some banana lights that I have stuck up in my kitchen and some Danish Traditional Butter Cookies.  A number of people got games so we broke with tradition and played Who am I? (Lisa’s present), The Music Quiz (Neil’s present) and Pub Quiz (Matt’s present).  We then decided it was time to go to bed!

Sunday morning, and today it was not conservation work we were doing it was clearing up basecamp and being tourists.  Whilst eating breakfast we spent some time watching the birdlife around the basecamp.  Sue got very excited at seeing the local woodpecker and jay along with many other finches and tits.  After breakfast we tidied up and some of us walked over to Hawkshead and others went by car because it was still raining or we had exerted ourselves a little too much the day before.  We visited the Christmas market.  Neil very kindly provided a shuttle service so we didn’t have to walk back in the rain to basecamp and it was getting late.  Once back Mick and Pip left and the rest of us had lunch, cleared up the last bits, packed the cars and headed home.  It was not a pleasant journey home down the M6 - the rain just kept on coming.  I can inform you however that on Monday whilst in the Manchester area I experienced a small amount of rain in the morning and then blue skies.  On Tuesday, when I left for Edinburgh the sunshine was out, there was some mist and fog patches on the way north but it was a beautiful day in Edinburgh city centre when I got back.  It’s Wednesday now and you guessed it, it’s raining again!

My thanks must go to Neil for my transport and to Matt and Lisa for their superb cooking.  I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

MNTV you were awesome. Let’s do it again!

Ally x

Weekend away at High Wray, Cumbria on 25-28th August 2017

After six years of having our annual Christmas weekend at High Wray in Cumbria, we decided to do something quite radical this year: we went there in summer instead! And Christmas will instead be celebrated in the Yorkshire Dales at Buckden.

The night before

Grey skies and steady rain accompanied the drive up the M6 and A591, but we all arrived in decent time. Lisa and I had brought a tent, which we managed to put up before dark. We were slightly apprehensive about the volume (and poor quality) of the music being played by our neighbours in the other basecamp block 100 yards away, but thankfully the rain had sent them indoors long before we turned in for the night.

Home for the night ...

Day 1. Task: fence removal. Small green visitor of the day: froglet.

The next morning we were woken by the flapping of wings as birds flew over our tent on their way to the feeders that hang outside the basecamp veranda. We were treated to blue tits, great tits and coal tits, chaffinches and goldfinches, and a couple of nuthatches.

The nuthatch opts for the seed feeder rather than the nuts!

At 9.30 we set off for Fletcher's Wood near Elterwater, where we removed an old fence that was past its best, had given way to a new replacement, and had sulkily started to embed itself into the ground, the wall and various posts and stumps. We grappled with wire, posts and undergrowth, and had done the bulk of the work by lunchtime.

Lisa and Gordon multitask by flattening the old wire while imitating some animal or other

After being greeted at lunchtime by a froglet that somehow avoided the trampling of boots around our camp, and indulging in Ben's lemon drizzle and Ally's tiffin, we headed uphill to find more old fencing, and dragged down several large bundles of wire to leave with the morning's spoils, just behind the wall by the road, for woodland ranger Richard to pick up at a later date.

Little lunchtime visitor

After an afternoon spent showering / recovering / drinking tea, Lisa and I cooked up some pasta for tea - despite carefully measuring out the quantities, we had twice as much as we needed - followed by chocolate orange cheesecake which did its best not to set, but still tasted great. Then the games began.

Lisa beat me in the opening round of Giant Connect 4, was then beaten by Neil, who was then beaten by Martin. Martin managed to avoid the 'Curse of the Champion' and went on a half-dozen game winning streak before I came out on top in an epic tactical battle that eventually came down to whoever was the first to be forced to drop their big plastic disc into the 'column of instant death'.

The tension is palpable: Giant Connect 4 doesn't get more epic than this ... Note the 'column of instant death' third from the left!

Giant Connect 4 was followed by Giant Jenga, played on a big and very grippy set that Gordon suspected had been waxed at some point, making it impossible to move most of the bricks without bringing the whole stack crashing down.

Lisa expects while Ally ponders. The rest of us keep a safe distance!

Bedtime followed swiftly, and while Lisa and I settled down in the tent with music still being played loudly by the neighbours, at least there was some quality '80s fare being offered up, in contrast to the previous night's drivel. Within seconds though there were some extremely loud bangs (thankfully it was fireworks in Windermere rather than gunshots in High Wray), followed by a couple of minutes of the neighbours' dogs baying like the hounds of war. After some 'encouragement' from Lisa, the music was turned down a few notches and we finally got to sleep.

Day 2. Task: spruce clearance. Small green visitor of the day: lizard

Day 1 had seen us complete the fencing work in double quick time, so we stayed closer to basecamp today and did some spruce regeneration clearance at Nor Moss, a task that we had done last Christmas.

Any job that involves mattocks is usually an unwelcome one, with 'backbreaking' and 'attritional' being uppermost in the vocabulary of descriptive terms. And there were some big trees to remove (Philippa cunningly demonstrated on a small specimen, exactly as her colleague Matt had done last Christmas!).

"Can we fit this in the car?"

But as we set about the job, we found that a methodical approach, strategically targeting particular roots, worked a treat. At one point Lisa and I took out seven closely growing trees in one go, while later on a 15-footer was taken down in just a few minutes with minimal fuss.

Excitement was provided when Tim and Tricia discovered a small lizard beneath a big tree (which unfortunately they'd just destroyed). This definitely trumped yesterday's frog as the most exciting small green thing to appear on a worksite over the weekend. It was allowed a couple of minutes of fame before being released back under the trees.

The best small green visitor of the weekend

By 12.30 we'd done a surprising amount, and piles of vanquished spruce dotted the borders of the moss. Then we headed back to pack up (well, most of us except Ally, Neil and Madeleine who were staying an extra night). Ally was particularly handy at deflating airbeds.

Mick and Pip turned yesterday's excess pasta into a delicious lunch that was enjoyed by all. It was a glorious afternoon and felt too soon to be heading home. But we'll be back, whether that's in summer or winter next year.

Day 3. Optional day of leisure

Neil, Ally and Madeleine did some stuff. I'm not sure exactly what, aside from visiting Wray Castle (judging by Ally's Facebook page) as by this stage I'd gone home and was lifting bricks and shifting soil in the garden. I'm sure Wray Castle was much more enjoyable!

The Weekend Reprobates (sorry, 'Hard-working volunteers'!)

Finally getting to Cumbria - MNTV Christmas weekend at High Wray, 2nd-4th December 2016

This was our first proper Christmas weekend for two years: Storm Desmond wreaked havoc in 2015, the high winds causing the cancellation of our weekend, with the rain and consequent flooding taking the national headlines. This year Cumbria was in a much calmer state, and we enjoyed good weather throughout the weekend.

We were eleven strong in all, with nine arriving on Friday evening (most having met for a meal at the pub on the way) and two joining us at the worksite on Saturday morning. Having metaphorically shuffled our feet and looked askance when offered some hedge laying (a larger group isn’t ideal for the task, and several people usually end up getting cold – see ‘Alderley Edge Jan 3rd 2016’) our task would be pulling up an unwelcome encroachment of spruce next to a SSSI area of bogland above Windermere. This would be a much more energetic task and make sure we would all keep warm and supple all day.

Pip shows how it's done while Tim and Ranger Matt look on.

After Ranger Matt had shown us the technique for using a mattock and loppers to manoeuvre the spruce out of the ground (cunningly using a noticeably small specimen for his demonstration) we split into four groups to have a go ourselves. Some of the trees were between twenty and thirty feet tall, and tested our arms, backs, and other obscure muscles that only get woken up about once a year.

One for each of the twelve days of Christmas. All eleven of us now on the worksite, plus Ranger Matt.

Morning break saw us joined by Louise and Lyn (a small search party helped them to find their way across the bog to the worksite) and woodland ranger Richard, who had seen movement among the trees while out walking, and came to check that nothing untoward was going on. He was accompanied by both his dog and his son, who was magnificently attired in a tiny dragon suit. The dragon was particularly fond of chocolate brownies, which was handy, as we had plenty of them to go round.

Lisa demonstrates 'the death of Christmas' in tree form ...

... and hides among the debris. Note the fine badger bobble hat.

The heave-ho then continued, and a large pile of vanquished spruce began to accumulate, before we took lunch. Matt and Lisa headed off to start cooking Christmas dinner, taking two trees with them: a five foot spruce to use as the basecamp Christmas tree; and a one-footer to plant up at home. The rest of the gang continued to work throughout the afternoon, finishing up at 3pm to return to the basecamp. Two more spruces also made the journey back, to be taken home by Louise and Lyn.

Christmas dinner went like clockwork, and was served up at 6.30 bob on, with a strange absence of panic (I even had time to leave the oven for 20 minutes to get a shower), and there was just enough to go round with a small amount of leftovers. Dessert stole the show though, with the sticky toffee pudding (accompanied by a choice of toffee sauce, cream or fancy vanilla custard) going down particularly well. Louise warned us she might have to take hers to the dorm so we wouldn’t hear the rude noises she’d be making while eating it!

Back at the basecamp, enjoying the Christmas roast

After the traditional Secret Santa (no-one seemed upset by what they got, and some seemed positively delighted), Ally organised a couple of games which involved lots of names, lots of guesswork, the odd moment of confusion and lots of people on one sofa. For those present, a certain Irish musician will now forever be known as ‘Delivery’ Van Morrison and the Cluedo character Reverend Green will be associated with rap. After so much hard work and excitement in one day, it was no surprise that everyone was ready for bed by 10.30.

Sunday began with a steady trickle of people into the lounge/kitchen at regular intervals from 8am onwards. There was enough food for breakfast without adding a fry-up into the mix, so we decided the keep the bacon, sausages and eggs for lunch, and go for a walk by Windermere instead. Clear skies and a crisp frost made for a perfect winter morning in the Lake District, and we wandered along the shore to Wray Castle to enjoy great views of the Langdale Pikes, Fairfield and the low-lying countryside in between.

We set off on Sunday's walk with a spectacular backdrop of the Fairfield horseshoe.

The chill in the air made the lunchtime fry-up all the more welcome, and then before we knew it, it was time to clean up, divvy up the leftover food and head back down the M6. It was a very successful and enjoyable return to a beautiful part of the world. We’ll be back up here in August 2017, but in the meantime we have one more workday left this year – hopefully Mick & Pip won’t be left laying hedges on their own next week!

High Wray Christmas weekend, December 12-14 2014

A big weekend deserves a big blog entry – and they don’t come bigger than the annual MNTV Christmas festivities, which returned to the idyll of High Wray in Cumbria for the fourth year running.

Eleven volunteers (Matt, John, Ally, Neil, Lisa, Mick, Pip, Sam, Louise, Tim and Belinda) made the trip up this year, with five of the group enjoying their first MNTV Christmas, emphasising what has been a very successful year for attracting new members.

Charlie popped in to say hi on the Friday evening, somehow finding time from her busy schedule at the nearby Elterwater Hostel. While Sam joined us at the worksite on the Saturday morning, the remaining ten arrived in good time on the Friday, although Lisa almost made herself into a Darwin Awards candidate by following her satnav into the lake where the ferry crosses Windermere. Signs showing cars plunging into water helped her to stop just before tarmac turned abruptly to H₂O.

Having expected many people to eat at home before travelling up, I was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough food for Friday’s supper, but Ally managed to make the butternut squash soup go twice as far by the clever use of milk, and we just about fended off starvation before settling down to a slightly chilly night.

Somehow we all managed to be ready for 8.30am on Saturday, whereupon the new ranger Matt arrived, full of the same enthusiasm as his predecessor Jamie. Half an hour through icy country lanes took us just south of Coniston village, to a hedge in a tricky location between fencing, and on top of a low wall.

As hedgelaying sites go, this was a challenging one, but nothing that the skill, dedication and perseverance of MNTV couldn’t handle. Despite having several novices in the group, and despite being pelted at regular intervals by rain and hail (which always seems to happen when we lay Cumbrian hedges), we attacked our task with gusto, and by 3pm a thing of beauty had emerged from the tangled chaos that had existed when we arrived. Another handful of hedgelaying experts have now been added to MNTV’s burgeoning expertise.

Halfway through the day, Lisa, Mick and Pip had headed off to prepare Christmas dinner, and by the time the rest of the group returned to the basecamp, culinary wonders were already in the process of being performed. The aim was to eat around 6.30-7.00pm. The turkey, potatoes (roast and mash), carrots, sprouts, parsnips, stuffing, broccoli, pigs in blankets (and possibly other things that I’ve forgotten, there was so much) were all timed to perfection, and we sat down at 6.45pm. You just can’t buy precision like that.

Secret Santa’s sack had already been passed round (somehow there were enough gifts for everyone, including the weekend leader – who, er, shall remain nameless, and who forgot to bring something). Everyone seemed pleased with their gifts, but especially Neil (see Sunday morning activities!).

After the relative quiet of people contentedly tucking into dinner, we enjoyed a few games and some superbly stimulating conversation on a number of topics. As usually happens, Tim talked a load of outrageous nonsense. And as usually happens, a quick consultation on Google confirmed that Tim was actually telling the truth. This time, we found out that sugar gliders are very cute furry creatures similar to flying squirrels, and that cows have a tendency to face north, and sometimes have magnets in their stomachs to collect the metalwork they accidentally eat, which is then retrieved when the unfortunate bovine eventually heads off to the pastures in the sky.

The day’s endeavours caught up with most of us sooner rather than later, and bedtime was taken at a respectable hour. Neil had worked his magic on the heating system, and a noticeably warmer sleep was enjoyed by all.

The inescapably ‘drich’ weather scoffed at any plans we had for a scenic walk on Sunday morning. We scoffed back by enjoying a morning of untempered joy and excitement, both within the basecamp and elsewhere.

First, Neil took out his Secret Santa gift, which was a mini table tennis set that was perfectly suited to one of the small tables in the kitchen/lounge area. Mick and John proved particularly adept, and played out an epic ‘mano a mano’ struggle of skill and wits to rival the classic Federer-Nadal Wimbledon final of 2008, in stark contrast to the frankly appalling efforts that were on show in some of the other matches.

Mick, Pip and Louise then headed home, while the rest of us went to explore the nearby Trust property at Wray Castle. A highly informative guided tour was followed by a less structured ‘wander at will’ exploration, which mainly involved Ally and Neil regressing to childhood by playing a plastic oversize Connect 4 and having a vigorous swordfight on a plywood castle.

Back at the ranch Lisa cooked up a hearty lunch of turkey, sausages, bacon and eggs, and Sam proved that yesterday’s veg is today’s bubble and squeak. Then it was a soggy relay of taking our gear out to the cars, and a heavy hearted departure after a weekend in which the magic of Christmas had burned as brightly as an MNTV rhodybashing fire.

Happy Yuletide, folks, and see you in 2015!

Christmas in the Lake District - 29 November-1 December 2013

It is a tradition of ours to go away for the first weekend in December to celebrate Christmas.  We do a day's work on the Saturday, have a traditional Christmas supper and secret Santa and then on Sunday go for a walk.  We used to always go to Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire but ever since their basecamp closed have gone to High Wray in the Lake District.

Happy Christmas!

We spent Saturday rhodybashing on steep wooded ground at Harrow Slack and gave the ranger Jamie a Christmas present by clearing most of the rhody there.  A roaring bonfire keep everybody warm.  Charlie had stayed at basecamp to start the chopping of the vegetables and Hazel returned to basecamp early to help prepare a delicious supper of turkey plus all the trimmings accompanied by the wine that we won at the pub quiz last month.  Later in the evening secret Santa visited and we played the names-in-a-hat game (if you don't know how to play join us next year!).

On Sunday we went for a short walk from the basecamp to Latterbarrow and enjoyed views of Hawkeshead, Windermere and the Fairfield Horseshoe.

(thanks to Ally for the above details and photo)

High Wray in The Lake District - Bank holiday weekend (24th-26th August 2013)

Sunshine and a good rhodybash make the perfect weekend

Starring: Sue , Neil, Hazel, Ally, Tim, Gordon, Matt, Karin, Jamie the Ranger & guest appearance of Charlie

Eight of us travelled to High Wray Basecamp for the Bank Holiday Weekend to work with  National Trust Ranger, Jamie, who is also the high Wray Basecamp warden.

On Saturday morning Sue, Neil, Ally and Hazel arrived at the Basecamp where we were met by Jamie.

On the way up the M6 the weather had not looked good but by the time Jamie met us it was turning into a lovely day. We emptied our cars of our gubbins and made ourselves at home,. At about 1pm Charlie popped in for a visit in time for us to eat our packed lunches. Charlie hadn't brought any so Neil insisted she have half of his ham sandwich and half his scone.

At 2pm Tim and Gordon arrived and again made themselves at home. The plan was to go for a walk in the afternoon but it was just so nice at the Basecamp that most of us just relaxed, chatted and watched the birds on the feeders that Jamie had filled up earlier in the day while Hazel and Gordon went for a walk. Charlie left at 4pm.

As Dinner was being prepared, Matt and Karin arrived having been for a long walk in the Langdales.

That evening we dined on Shepherds Pie and Apple Crumble & Custard and spent the evening doing the Bank Holiday Quiz in the Daily Telegraph that Karin had bought; Matt was particularly good on the sports section. There was a beautiful Sunset that night.

Sunday Morning dawned dry and bright, breakfast was eaten and Jamie arrived at 9am and helped himself to a cup of tea.

The task for the day was rhody clearance at Harrow Slack a densely wooded the area surrounding Pate Crag which is on the West Side of Lake Windermere near Far Sawrey. We travelled there in 3 vehicles and parked up at the shore of the lake. We took the tools that Jamie had provided up the hill to the crag. Some of us wished we hadn’t bought all those layers we always take with us on workdays!

We started sawing and lopping rhody and decided it was probably sensible to burn some of what we were cutting, the plan had been just to cut it and another group was going to come in and burn it after we had finished. The 9 of us cleared a fair amount of rhody and enjoyed chats with other members of the party. There were many trees on the hillside and we set up camp underneath a Yew tree where we ate lunch and kept our bags.

some of the rhody that we cut and burnt!

We headed back down the hill at 3.15pm having cleared more rhody than expected. It had again turned out to be a fabulous day and had seemed a shame for us to have been in the wood all day - but that’s sometimes the nature of volunteering. On reaching the bottom of the hill and henceforth the lake, some of us decided to take a paddle in the lake, it was very refreshing after having had heavy boots on for most of the day. It was at this point we said goodbye to Karin who was heading back home to get ready to travel to Belfast to run a nearly cancelled NT working holiday at Strangford Lough.

The rest got back in our cars and the “Lads” – Tim, Gordon and Matt – took things at “Lads” speed in Tims car. Hazel, Ally, Sue and Neil travelled with Jamie in his National Trust vehicle at a more leisurely speed and also stopped in a National Trust car park so Jamie could check the car windows to see if all the cars had paid to park there, which they had. On arrival back at Base the “Lads” proclaimed they were off down to High Wray Bay to go swimming in Lake Windermere. So the Ladies and Neil chatted to Jamie and had a cup of tea.

After a nice hot shower, we dined on Farfelle with Pancetta and spring peas with Charlie’s Chocolate Bread and Butter pudding for afters.

Monday morning again heralded another beauty of a day. After breakfast we cleaned up the basecamp and Matt headed for the hills while Gordon and Tim headed for home!

Sue, Neil, Ally and Hazel went to visit Wray Castle – it was brilliant – the castle itself is unfurnished and has had several different uses, including being a Conference Centre, which is why, round just about every door that Sue insisted on opening , there was an en-suite bathroom.

As the rooms aren’t furnished, they have been filled with activities mainly to keep the visiting children entertained, there’s a dressing up room, Beatrix Potter Room, build your own castle, decorate your own paper crown, Lake District Room managed by the Rangers of the Lakes, the old library where you can draw your own book on the wall that looks like a bookshelf. Having had a tour round the castle and explored it more we headed into the hot sun to eat our packed lunches. After lunch we explored part of the grounds and discovered many paths that we could have explored if we had more time. As we didn’t have the time, we headed along the path to the lake, where there were many people enjoying the lake and stony beach.

The four of us had an ice-cream before heading home (Ally took the photo which is why she isn't on it!)

Thanks to Jamie for fitting us in and finding some work for us to do – see you in December!

and thanks to Ally for the text and photo's

High Wray Weekend social

After work we returned to the base camp, and were welcomed with home made cake and mulled wine, warmed mince pies etc.The food theme continued sometime with a large roast turkey, a vegetarian alternative - lots of trimmings - and even later Christmas pud etc. Many thanks to Charlie and Neil who did the cooking.

In due time secret Santa's sack was found and presents opened, and for some strange reason the evening ended in the early hours of Sunday with a vigorous discussion on the subject of education!


We got up eventually on Sunday to discover another grey day but with white stuff visible on the distant fells.

After breakfast the majority went for a leisurely walk

including the path we had worked on, returning via Wray castle. The rain restarted in earnest as we were heading back - so we cleared up, packed up and came home.

High Wray (Windermere) Weekend 3 Dec 2011

A large group of us celebrated early at High Wray for the weekend. To subsidise the base camp hire most of us worked on for the day, helping the staff "Rangers" as we now must call them to finish some work on a stretch of bridle path alongside the lake.


We started in full waterproofs in the rain at the end of the path near the gate to Wray Castle, and helped load a trailer with fire wood - as this was the fuel that was most likely to disappear. We then walked down to the lake shore inspected the "finished" work, before continuing the work ourselves. The task was simple but did required thought - cut down the "trees" on the sides of the path with pink spots - to open out the views and keep the path clear. The complex bit came next - as you then had to decide what to do with the cut material - cut it to one length for firewood, a different length for a hedging stakes, leave it as long as possible as material for "round wood crafts" (hurdle making etc) - or just burn it on the bonfire!

The sun never got very high of the hill, but the hill was sheltering us from the worst of the weather. We did see quite a lot of rain and some hail. The light was going by the time we finished but I thing the rangers were quite pleased that we had finished the section.