YOUTH RANGER PROGRAMME 2009
REVIEW: DAY 6 18th August 09
DAY 6 : Stile Repair
The Youth Ranger Team was out today doing a repair to a stile on the Mourne Wall between Wee Binnian and Slieve Binnian. The Trust has installed 66 stiles throughout the Mournes, mostly in high mountain areas to providing crossing places over the Mourne Wall. The Mourne Wall is built without mortar being constructed of loose blocks of stone built up on each other. Dry stone wall like this are stable and strong and can last for up to 100 years if well constructed but if people climb on them stones can be dislodged. The stiles help prevent damage to the walls.
The Mourne Wall is a big obstacle for walkers who are trying to follow walks in the mountains as it is an unbroken continuous barrier, 22 miles long and over 2 metres high in places. There were originally very few crossing places and this contributed to the wall becoming damaged. This left gaps in the walls where sheep got through, creating problems for farmers trying to round up their flocks.
The stiles provide crossing places at strategic points on routes used by walkers and other hill users, at cols (passes between hills), where a trail crosses over a ridge or summit or near the start of a trail, providing access from a road or laneway.
The stiles are built out of treated timber with the treads bolted in to create a ladder. Two ladder sections are set up, one either side of the wall, levelled and then bolted together to form a solid frame.
The stile we were working on today had been vandalised with the legs of the steps on one side having been deliberately smashed leaving the steps unsafe. We were working with the MHT Countryside Team (Dave, John, Alan and Phillip) and with Volunteer Rangers (John and Peter). The task was to transport in the materials and tools reqiured to repair the stile as far as possible using the four wheel drive vehicles and then carry them up a steep track to the site and rebuild the damaged half of the stile. Using a rough former quarry track leading up from the Head Road we followed the Land Rover up to the foot of the col between the mountains. We then still had a distance of about 400 metres to go to the site, up a steep 70 metre climb over rough ground. We loaded up with packs, tools, and timber and had two teams carrying each of the long side rails. Because of the very rough ground it was essential to move slowly and carefully and work as a team – communicating to each other about obstacles on the path.
Once at the site we first had to dismantle the damaged part of the stile, undoing and cutting the old fixing bolts and hammering out the rails and steps. Then the new ladder section had to be assembled from the rail and step sections we had carried in, sawing the steps and rails to size, nailing the steps into the rails and bolting the two side of the rails together. Then the ladder section was set into the prepared footings. With a bit of persuasion it slotted in perfectly. Then all that was left was to bolt the new half back onto the old half and saw the tops of the rails to the correct length. Another job well done!
