Todays workday was a different experience....
Not a great turnout this time round, but still got a load done between the 3 of us...
Sal and I made a start on clearing the clearing at the bottom in the rain, ready for camping
....Pete then arrived after an airport run, and bought torrential rain with him....cheers mate!
Did it stop us......NO......we got soaked, but then you dont get any wetter once fully saturated, so we pushed on, and cleared probably 2/3rds of the camping area, cutting down some of the trees, logging up all the stuff that was littering the clearing floor, and moving all the wood/debris into several large piles near where the campfire will be...
The rain finally got too much so we retreated to the cars, and Pete and I went off to explore the rest of the site...and survey the damage the recent high winds had caused...
I was still tipping it down, and it made the driving far more challenging...
For those who are familiar with the site...the li'll white leafer would NOT do the easy horseshoe shape track on the left as you first come into the bottom...and I could not get up the final climb down the far end of the bottom...
I was running the dirtdevils on it...and they just clogged after 2 seconds and I could find no traction....
Pete's 2.8 fared better, with its simexy things....did the horse shoe with a bit of sliding around, and managed the final climb a couple of times....but it couldnt make it up the climb when you go through the whole under the tree, next to the final climb!!!!
Will be having me dumper tyres on for the picnic me thinks!!!
Down the bottom a huge tree had come down across Krushers revenge...
Several other trees/branches were across the various tracks...which we cleared as we went around...
We then checked out up the top where it was ok, but difficult to see the tracks as so many leaves had fallen, but where it muddy they quickly become apparent again by driving on them...
My little bruv came up for a while to lend and hand and see what weve been up to up the woods...
He bought a bit of sunshine with him thankfully!!We decided that the access track at the bottom needed more work...there is one bit where you first come out of the clearing and head down towards the stump garden, where you have to do a kind of slalom, and maybe a shunt where the track is single not twin as it is most of the way through...
This had to go...the slalom can still be done if you want to, but the shunt is difficult as its on a sideslope, and the tendancy is to slide towards the trees...I also find this bit quite challenging when towing a trailer round there....
So we felled a few trees, and opened a new cutting through, so now you can drive pretty much straight right down the bottom, next to the fence, down to the stump garden...tis much better, making the tricky bits optional and giving us a decent extraction route and trailer route...
We then tidied down the bottom and removed a load of branches so access is even better...
We then tackled the huge tree accross Krushers revenge...cutting it down in sections and logging it all up...so that is open again...
We then went for a wander and identied some new climbs that will be fairly straight-forwards to commission...2 or 3 in total...I will open them up in the morning at the picnic if not before...
We decided against doing these today as time was pushing on and daylight was fading...
So instead we spent the last part of the day clearing the fallen trees between the stump garden and fence....We felled a few more there also, so with a little bit more work this will mean the stump garden/side slopey bit are now optional, so a standard car should be able to drive right through the bottom of the site...
We finished up working by headlights, but it was getting too dangerous on the very slippy uneven stump garden so we called it a day before someone got hurt...and retired to the workshop for a well earned cuppa!!
So there you have it....
Cheers Pete, Sal and Little Bro for your help today...it was a horrid day, we got cold and soaked, but we are one step nearer being ready for the weekender and all the recent storm damage is sorted.....Jolly well done!!!
Laters
Gregster...
A few pickies...was peeing down too much most of today to get the cameras out...so not many I am afraid!
Group shots of the cars today...
The much much clearer clearing...our campsite!!!
The Fronties...
Petes 2.8 swb...
Our 2.5tds...
Our L'ill white leafer...
The carnage...
Pete's OSR quarter....matches the other side now though...
Li'll white leafers OS mirror....slid sideways into a tree...trying to do something I knew it wouldnt do...when will I learn!
. I will of course make sure that I'm on downtime for the next one.
