This was one of those tasks where, if you took any notice of the weather
forecast, you would stay in bed. Gales and driving rain were predicted and
come morning, it looked like they might be right. But we've never
cancelled a task because of the weather yet, so off we set.
Colin was waiting for us when we arrived and he presented us with his recent chainsaw work, ready for us to cut up and burn. It didn't look that much at first glance, but as we progressed along the ride, more and more felled trees became apparent. Nick's scout skills came in handy as he managed to light a fire in the rain, using just 2 matches and sad to say, 2 pieces of newspaper, but it was raining!
10 of us had braved the weather (and the excesses of the previous night's
LCG Christmas party) and were rewarded with a good hour of sunny weather
just before lunch. But the forecast wind began to make itself known,
by battering the tops of the trees. Fortunately, a dense woodland like
Thurlby is nice and cosy even in a storm, so it didn't reach us.
After lunch, the rain reappeared and joined the wind to finally create the predicted weather. Fortunately we had almost finished disposing of the cut material and made a small but significant start on opening up the dense woodland either side of the ride cutting through the woodland. Colin was content with our work and we set off home for a warm cup of tea just after 2.30
Julian