South Mains wall repairs and Training Course

Earlier this month we went to South Mains Farm, just south of Forfar, to do some work on the walls there and to hold a beginners' training course, once again in the very capable hands of Jim Grant.
Our hosts, Daan and Kirsty, had cleared away the undergrowth and put tarpaulins down for us. There were only three members on the Saturday, so we tackled a small gap while the trainees rebuilt a longer section.

Saturday was near-perfect walling weather - sunny but not too hot and with enough of a breeze to keep the insects away. Daan and Kirsty provided us with delicious home made soup and cakes (and their own home-grown apple juice), and sustained by this the trainees made a good job of getting their section up past through height.

However, there were a few issues with the other bit of the wall. The ground level behind it was now quite a bit higher than in front, though it didn't look like that had always been the case, and it looked like the build up of material behind the wall had pushed it forward a bit, causing it to tilt somewhat. We'd had to take our little section almost down to ground level to sort this out and also dismantle quite a bit more at each side.

By the end of the day it looked like we'd made a bigger gap than when we'd started (though of course the rebuilt section was in a much better state than before).

On Sunday we only had one volunteer to tackle what was now quite a big job, but the trainees got their section finished before the end of the day ...

... so they very kindly came and helped finish off the other bit as well.

Thanks to Daan and Kirsty for hosting a great weekend, and to Sam and Doug for photos.