Come join us on the 9th July at the carpark near the Foresters Pub for the next TAG trail maintenance day. We will improving trails and completing general trail maintenance – everyone is welcome.

Time: 10:15am
Location: OS Grid Reference SU827527 (car park near the Foresters Pub)
Map link: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=482750&Y=152750&A=Y&Z=115
What to bring: Spades, shovels, rakes, suitable footwear, and some gardening gloves

The 11th is the second Saturday of the month which means it’s a TAG trail maintenance day. We will be clearing water catchment ditches, and completing general trail maintenance – everyone is welcome.

Time: 10:30am
Location: OS Grid Reference SU830510 (car park on Bourley Road
Map link: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=482800&Y=150685&A=Y&Z=110
What to bring: Spades, shovels, rakes, suitable footwear, and some gardening gloves

The weather delivered bright sunshine which encouraged a good turnout and made for a very pleasant time at Ceasars Camp training area . Armed with a motley selection of shovels, rakes and our trusty barrow we headed out at 10am.

First order of the day was to re-route a section of trail away from an Iron Age barrow on Beacon Hill which was quickly accomplished and then one sharp eyed member spotted another barrow marking that was new to us and so we re-routed around that as well and covered it with brash to discourage foxhole digging.

Then it was down the hill to clear some catchment ditches and clean up the crossing points so that the water could flow. Very muddy smelly job but the dogs loved it and were wading around in the mud to cool down. Here it was important to ensure that trail crossings did not block water movement and to remove all the old roots and rubbish from the drains that was blocking them up.

While this was all going on a second group had tackled the closure of two trails which crossed the Iron Age defensive ditches which adorn the plateau at Ceasars Camp. These required an extensive barrier of ‘dead hedging’ so much hedging material had to be searched for and brought up onto the site by van. Stakes then had to be drivven in to support the hedge across the trail entrance and then filled with the collected ‘brash’. With the ground so dry hammering stakes in was no easy task but the lads persevered and made a super job of it.

Then it was onwards to a sandy descent where youngsters had been digging pits and making little jumps. These pits were very dangerous at night and had caused some accidents, so they needed filling in and the jumps removed. The youngsters had also left a lots of drinks cartons and pop bottles so this rubbish was collected up from this area and taken away.

At this point everyone was ready for a beer so we called it a day with a quick de-brief with the Landmarc Training Area Warden, Steve Plain who reviewed the days work and said “This is a great help in managing the area and excellent standard of work. It shows what volunteer groups can achieve by working cooperatively with Landmarc. Well done.”

Thanks to everyone who attended particularly first timers and we will hope to see you all next month.

Using recently felled natural materials to create the dead hedge posts

In addition to perserving the iron age ramparts the dead hedges will act as shelter to small mammals and reptiles

One of the six dead hedges

First job was to remove some slightly shonky jumps that had recently been put in on Tunnel Hill together with putting in a few drainage channels on the trail they’d been put on.

Then it was off up the hill to walk a few of the more highly used trails clearing debris, clearing existing drainage channels, and inserting new drains where we encountered standing water.

Finally we rerouted one of the less well used trails and added in some support to corners to prevent it following the fall line. After a quick scoot round to put up some MTB awareness posters it was off down the pub after a hard day’s work – thanks everyone!

A happy (but tired) team - off to the pub!