We were back at Wooplaw Community Woodland (www.wooplay.org.uk) today (see post of 30th June below) to carry on with a further section of the same wall.
I had a surprise birthday party yesterday (even more of a surprise as my birthday isn't until November), so for once I had an excuse for the fact that I - once again - got there late. The others (Richard, Mike, Alan and Steve - sporting our new branch-logoed hi-vizes) had already cleared down the next few meters of wall, and put up poles and strings for the build.
I had a surprise birthday party yesterday (even more of a surprise as my birthday isn't until November), so for once I had an excuse for the fact that I - once again - got there late. The others (Richard, Mike, Alan and Steve - sporting our new branch-logoed hi-vizes) had already cleared down the next few meters of wall, and put up poles and strings for the build.
The decision had been taken to join up with the existing wall (eventually, at some future date) at a point further down, so as to keep away from the ditch that runs close to the wall down one side. Even so we were quite close, making working on this side a bit tricky - not least as the stone tended to end up actually in the ditch.
Dry stone wall fact for you - if there's a wall and a ditch between two landowners' properties, the ditch (usually) marks the actual boundary. This has the advantage (from a dyker's point of view) that it's clear who owns the wall (and who therefore needs to be billed for any repairs). Not that it matters in this case as: A) Wooplaw own the land on both sides; and B) we aren't charging for it anyway.
It was generally a pretty good day, with only a few showers (the heaviest of which fell at lunchtime, and sent us scurrying back from our picnic table by the pond to the relative shelter of the wall beneath the trees), and by the end of the day we'd got another five meters or so of wall up to cover level. As before, we had a shortage of cope stones, but there are plenty elsewhere in the woods so hopefully we can get some delivered to the site for our next visit at the end of next month.
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