Harlaw completed (for now)

Last weekend we (ably aided by some volunteers from the Friends of the Pentlands) returned to Harlaw to complete the work we'd started on the curved corner where the tree had taken the wall down (see posts below), and also to build up cheek-ends next to where a new self-closing gate had been installed. Saturday was dry and bright, if a tad chilly, and fortunately the build site was among trees so we were sheltered from the worst of the wind.

Before the gate had been put in there had been a squeeze style here, but it hadn't lasted. One cheek-end from it still remained, but it wasn't aligned with the new gate, so it needed to come down and be rebuilt.

The park rangers had left us a big pile of stone ...

... so we set about building up the new cheek-ends.

And by lunch time we'd got them both completed.

The rangers had also left us some more stone along near the unfinished curve (see previous posts) so after lunch a few of us went along to finish this off ...

... while the rest used some of the remaining stone at the new gate to tackle a section of collapsing wall nearby.

This was one of those places (all too common on the Harlaw walls) where once you start work, you quickly find the problem is worse than it initially appeared, and a lot more of the wall needs to come down before it can all be put back up again.

The stone which had been left for us at the curve proved adequate for the job, but most of the copes had been lost. Fortunately there were some in the stone stash along near the new gate, and once these were barrowed along (well done Sam) the repair could be completed.

By this point it was getting a bit late in the day, so we packed up and headed home.

Sunday wasn't such a nice day, but we didn't let that put us off, and once again helped by volunteers from the Friends of the Pentlands we picked up where the repair to the collapsed wall had been left the day before.

And by lunch time it was done.

By this time the rain had stopped, so we decided to tackle another collapsed section of the wall. Again, the repair turned out to be bigger than it initially appeared (the stones on the left of the gap just fell down as soon as they were touched), but it wasn't quite as bad as the previous section, as at least the lower sections of the wall were sound and level.

By mid-afternoon we'd got it all back up, and as the weather had turned a bit threatening again we decided to call it a day. There are plenty more collapsed sections of this wall, however, and there was still stone left from the lot the rangers had provided, so we'll be back again at some point.

Thanks to everyone who came along and helped out, and to Sam (as ever) for the photos.