I appreciate that those who read this blog after consuming more than six units of alcohol may be having some difficulty pronouncing the title of this blog post.
Its Ok. Don’t worry. Have a drink.
Anyway, when I looked out of the periscope in the bathosphere twelve feet down under the goldfish at the knipetowers moat on Monday morning it was, as they say in Crook, “Hoyying it down” And it was windy too. So, instead of fabricating a tasty butty and driving off to Barningham, I fabricated a hot coffee and some toast and went back to the bunk. It was only much later, after a spot of power snoozing that I came to realise that the sun had come out.
I made up for this lassitude today, though, by joining in on a Durham County Council Brush Bashing Bash on the Deerness valley walk at Ushaw Moor.
The “before” picture
There was, in fact, a bijoux bunch of brush bashers bashing the bad brush in a bunch and, in about four hours, we cleared a couple of hundred yards of bramble, whin, hawthorn, alder, birch and empty Carslberg tins. And we had a nice fire and chats with the dozens of dog walkers and their dogs, horse riders and their horses, ramblers, walkers, shoppers, people with kids, and cyclists.
The “after” picture
Its a very busy footpath.
It looks very tidy now. A robin watched some of the proceedings.
Maybe walkies later….but this was fairly hard work, so the exercise quotient is looking healthier, even if I’m not (I have a bramble scratch on the end of my nose)
We had a nice fire too. Forgot to bring sausages.
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5 comments:
No leg irons, ball and chain ?
I'd have thought a Council job would have had safety:- helmet,visor,gloves,jacket,pants,fluorescent waistcoat,steel toecap boots and the requirement for a 200 page "risk assessment" ?
or did you know the "funny" handshake?
cheers Danny
It looks to my like you all did a good job.
No leg irons, Danny, but we did enjoy the odd lash of the birch. They gave me some gloves.... and we were told about the hazards (mainly broken glass and dog poo)
I get to keep the gloves as they're now blood stained from the bramble attack.
Tilly - It is very tidy now, innit? Seems a pity to cut out some of the young hawthorn. And I've kept some orange lichen that was on a hawthorn to see if I can transplant into one at knipe towers... Lichen is very beautiful if you look at it closely...(thats wot I think anyway!)
Are you a Voluntary Ranger for Sustrans in your area Mike?
Anne-Marie I'm not a volunteer for Sustrans (well, not at the moment, anyway) This is for Durham County Council who have a voluntary ranger scheme. The work party was partly volunteers and partly staff from the Countryside section.
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