A tale of a log and a hammock.

This last week, I’ve been working with more of our fantastic volunteers.  This time it was a local Cumbrian group who come and work with me twice a year.  We worked on the open-air site (the amphitheatre) beside the shop.

They made serious inroads into some time-consuming tasks.  The section of tree trunk that is being used in the amphitheatre has some fire damage and that needs to be cleared off so that it can be used as seating.  We’ve tried a few methods to do that and it seems that a good old chisel might be the best answer because we do want the trunk to retain its natural appearance.

This little area is rapidly becoming an informal multi-purpose area.  It was used as an outdoor office one fine day recently when I met with one of my volunteers to discuss a project.  We usually have those meetings in our Trust offices in Borrowdale but the amphitheatre was a very agreeable alternative.  And I could carry on chiselling the tree trunk!

Later in the week, I went over to the Buttermere area to help out a fellow ranger Mark with a new walk.  He was taking out a school group that included a wheel-chair user.  I was able to borrow a wheel-chair from the Calvert Trust which specialises in providing outdoor experiences to those with impaired mobility.

In this case, the user was an inspiring young woman who was determined to walk if she possibly could.  She used the wheelchair only over particularly rough ground or on steep slopes.  Where necessary the chair was roped up and members of her group hauled it.  It was a good day.  Good to see different ways that my colleagues work and good to see how the group worked together so that everyone could have a great day enjoying the outdoors.

It’s Daisy:

I like hammocks.  You jump in and out and in and out and in and out ...!   Roy doesn’t like hammocks when I’m jumping in and out.