The first session of the new season was planned for Sunday 4th March, this was quickly postponed due to heavy rain. The replacement date, Sunday 11th March, could not have been more different. A beautiful warm and sunny spring morning.
No Stile, only barbed wire
Due to late cancellations the ‘small team’ of Paul and Chris headed off to Wheatlow Brookes to install a new stile on Footpath 19. This was urgent as it is mentioned on one of the walks in the booklet which is about to be published.
On arrival we were greeted by the sound of a woodpecker drumming and a buzzard calling. A lovely tranquil scene, soon to be disturbed by digging and hammering. There was no stile here, just a string of barbed wire and an electric fence wire (fortunately not live).
After a bit over an hour of hard digging through clay and stones (fortunately no roots) we had the stile in place and it was time for a brew. We then finished off the step installation and fencing either side. A second step may be required but will have to be done at a later stage when we have more manpower. The fingerpost here also needs replacing soon.
We then just had time to remove a redundant oak stile for reuse later, before heading to The Green Man shortly after opening for a very well earned couple of pints. It’s amazing what a couple of people can do in one morning! Why not try the Birchwood Park walk in the booklet when it comes out and admire our handiwork.
The finished job
