Phase 1 Cycle Trail Development: update report
Ollie Graham, Project Manager, Hamsterley Trailblazers
(continued)

Difficult times

The biggest problem for the tractor drivers was that due to the weight they were towing, they had little or no control on the snow and ice during the long descent from the quarry to the Grove. To try and solve the problem, Wards spread large amounts of grit and used some of the diggers to clear the track, but in the end 14 tons down a steep hill in these extremes of weather proved too much and work had to be stopped. Things then went from bad to worse as when the snow finally melted, the ground became waterlogged and it wasn’t long before we were working in a bog. Work stopped again as the machines constantly became stuck in the mud. In one of the worst areas a small digger actually sank and had to be dragged out.

The Somme Battlefield

Thankfully, by mid-March the weather finally improved, the ground dried up and Wards were working flat out (7am – 6pm) to make up for lost time. To help, we organised two digger teams with one team concentrating on the Grove Link and the other working The Loop. The team on the Grove Link made good progress and was able to complete 50-60 metres of trail per day. Due to the large numbers of features in The Loop, however, we were lucky if we could complete 10-15 metres of trail per day.

Construction of the first stone feature on the climb in The Loop

To ensure features would be hard wearing, huge stones were used - being put into position by a 7.5 ton digger. Unfortunately this left large gaps/wheel traps that then needed filling with stones and hardcore. This was very time consuming and required a large amount of labour for which we had not budgeted.

Continued >>>