The old stepless stile
What a difference a week makes!
A session was scheduled for Sunday 31st May but postponed because it was raining and cold. One week on and the sun shone on the team of Richard, Mark and Paul as we replaced a stile on the footpath from Fairfield House up to the Red Lion.
We drove up through two fields of very long grass and covered in wild flowers. The stile that we were to replace had no step and covered in nettles so the first job was to cut these back to make the job easier (and less painful!). Once removed it was a simple job to remove the old rotten stile and start digging the holes for the stile.
Mark and Richard with the new stile in place.
Mark and Richard started digging the holes with a shortage of tools (Paul forgot some of them). At the same time Paul fabricated the new stile to drop in as soon as the holes were deep enough.
We were soon able to get the new stile in position and secured and it was time for a coffee break before digging the holes for the stile steps.
Paul does help with digging occasionally!
There were several large roots from an adjacent tree so these holes were harder so we chose to nail one of the steps to the stile.
It was then just a matter of fitting the dog gate and re-attaching the barbed wire.
A quick tidy up and then off to the pub for much needed refreshment
Another job to be proud of!
The improved route to the Red Lion
