Join the Footpath Builders of Pitton!

Hello everybody. You might have heard about the project to create steps on the nasty slope of Path 16 up from the Green to the rickety stile. Well dates have been set of  1st, 2nd and 3rd April for us to carry out this work.

As a reminder, the plan is to create some steps on the 500 foot slope that runs up from The Green (opposite The Close) up to the rickety stile, just before entering into the channel between Mary’s horse fields. We have 72 risers available to create 72 steps, each around 20” in depth. So we will be covering nearly 25% of the slope.

Funding of £1,696 for this project has been provided by Pitton & Farley Parish Council and the PIGS (Paths Improvement Grant Scheme). The Wiltshire Rights of Way team are also providing the road planings, buckets and a kissing gate.

The basis of the plan is to remove the rickety stile first, to give us some room to move supplies at the top of the slope. Then we organise into three teams of two people to creates steps in three different sections along the slope. There will also be one or two people moving road planings from the top and bottom of the slope to infill steps as they are created. And then one or two people to tamp down the infill to create stable step platforms. After the steps have been finished we replace the gap created by removing the rickety stile with a new kissing gate.

We made three sample steps today to test out the process and I thought you might like to see how they will look when completed. Do take a look if you can.

I have had a great response from village volunteers and the numbers are up to requirements for all three days. But if you want to help out let me know and I can then ‘rotate’ the squad a little to give some volunteers a day of rest!

For more information, contact Brian Cudby 01722 712600 or 07815 888089 or briancudby@uk2.net

 

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