On the 25th of August (I really am playing catch-up here) Mike, Donald and new member Pete visited Gullet Wood at Wooplaw Community Woodland (www.wooplaw.org.uk) to finish off the section of wall which we'd begun to repair earlier in the year. We'd got up to about through level previously, and as ever I forgot to take a 'before' shot. However, here's how it was when we'd been at it for a short while, when I remembered that I should be taking photos (breaking news - I've now uploaded the post from our previous visit ... so, the closing pictures from the 1st of May visit will be the same (barring a few stones which may have fallen off in the meantime) as the 'before' photo which I forgot to take ... ).

If it looks a bit overcast in the photo, it's just because it's much overshadowed by trees - it was actually a lovely day. Which made a nice change from the last time an attempt was made at completing this section, when Mike and Alan turned up and spent half an hour looking at the wettest day of the summer from Mike's car before giving up and going home (and fair play to them for turning up at all - the rest of us just looked at the rain from our homes). The weeds had grown up somewhat behind the wall, so we cleared them and got on with building.

And by lunchtime we'd got it up to cope level at the bottom of the slope and level with that for the rest of the gap. 

At the bottom of the hill where we were working there's a pond with a picnic table, where we sat and had lunch in very pleasant and sunny surroundings. If I'd thought to take a photo of it, I could show you. But I didn't, so you'll just have to imagine it.
After lunch we carried on building, though we were running out of suitable stone to some extent.

And it pretty soon became apparent that we were not going to have enough copes to fill the gap. However, I reckon we'd done pretty well, and we left at about four with it only needing the coping stones to finish the repair.

Update: Alan went along a couple of weeks later and finished off the cope - I'll post a photo of the finished wall if I can get one!

On the 10th of August (sorry about the lateness of this post), the SES DSWA once again visited Swanston in the Pentland Hills park, to complete the dry stone bench which we'd been building with the Friends of the Pentlands voluntary group. Three DSWA turned up (Richard, Margaret and Donald), and five FotP (Hamish, Dennis, Fiona, Jack and Phil). One of the nice things about working at Swanston (and there are many) is that the golf club at the bottom of the hill is happy to open it's clubhouse to all comers, including dykers. So we met up there first for coffee (and, in some cases, cakes) before heading up to the site. It wasn't a particularly sunny day but it wasn't too cold, and as we headed up through the historic village of Swanston to the site the rain seemed to be intending to hold off. The location is fantastic, with views out over Edinburgh to the Forth and the North Sea beyond.
Sadly, since the last visit, the seat had become somewhat de-constructed - some of the stones had been knocked off the walls, a fire had been lit in the middle, and the cut slabs for the seating which Dave and Richard had previously arranged in order had been strewn randomly about.

The main structure, however, was still mostly intact and it looked like all the pieces were still there, so under Richard's instruction we set about sorting it out - numbering the slabs so that we could easily put them back on once we'd rebuilt the wall.

We'd brought most of the tools we needed and the FotP had provided us with a wheelbarrow and some sacks of ready-mixed mortar to fix the slabs in place, which they had hidden in the nearby bushes, but Richard discovered that he'd left his spirit level at home, and no-one else had thought to bring one. However, all was not lost, as Phil nobly offered to go back down and fetch one from the FotP lockup. So, while he slogged back down the hill, the rest of us got on with building the seat. The ends of the seat back had been knocked down and needed rebuilt, and the wall below the seating slabs needed brought up to a level finish. Also, the back needed brought up to a reasonable height all round, and bedded back in to the hillside.

For the most part the day stayed dry, with only one fairly heavy shower sending us scurrying for our raincoats. Once the seat base was in place, we could start putting the numbered slabs back in, mortaring them in to prevent their wandering off again.

With the seat in and the back built up it only remained to put the turf cope on the wall. Some turfs had been cut on a previous visit, but it had been so dry that they'd become completely dessicated, so Hamish and Jack set to work cutting more.

And with the addition of a couple of muckle great stanes as bookends, by the end of the afternoon it was done.

A perfect spot for weary hillwalkers (or dykers) to rest.

The last report from Swanston was actually only the most recent of two return visits - so this report is for the second visit, despite being posted after the report on the third. Confused? Me too. On this (the second) visit there were six branch members (John, Gillian, Dave, Alan, Richard and Margaret) and about nine Friends of the Pentlands. From the photos (once again, thanks to Margaret for these) it looks like they had a great day.