The title is a vast exaggeration but I hope I’ve done a couple of good things today. The story started 2 days ago when I walked our dog, Freddie, up our local hill, Healey Nab. After 3 named storms in a week we had some trees fallen across the trails. I couldn’t do anything to help at the time but added a post on a Facebook group and the leader of the trail building volunteers, Scott, said he’d get up there ASAP. I know that the trail builders focus is usually on the black graded trails and since I’d also seen a blockage on the red route, which I use most often myself, I thought I should take my folding saw in case this had been overlooked.
The problem had not been caused just by strong winds but also by the fact that spindly trees have been exposed to the winds by the felling of 2,500 larch trees 2 years ago. Many have already fallen and been cleared and as I climbed today by bike I found a small blockage caused by a spruce. The offending branches were thin and took no time with the Bahco Laplander saw. It folds to around 8″ in length and can cut on both the push and pull strokes. The cleared area is shown at the top of the page. I then rode to another blockage and needed to cut branches of 4-5″ which are about at the limit of the saw’s capacity. I managed to clear the trail to make it rideable but it might need the branches to be cut further for safety. Round the corner was an upturned tree stump which is also a bit close to the trail for comfort.
I rode around some more and then descended by a superb trail. It’s berms or bankings on every corner but has a great series of twists. I was just into the best part of all when I saw an iPhone right in the middle of the trail, so I stopped. It worked but asked me for a password so I thought that all I could do was take it home and publicise the find on various Web pages.
I was just about to go for a bath when the iPhone rang. It was the owner’s brother and I was delighted to be able to reunite the phone with it’s rightful owner. They’d been riding the area at about the same time as me and the younger one had fallen off where I found the phone.
So there you have it, I’ve done 2 good deeds in a single day. I fancy going outside now to see if I can walk across my garden pond. Isn’t it simply a matter of the strength of your faith?
Mountainbiker 