We had a successful volunteer workday on Sunday – 28th September.

A dozen of us completed a variety of jobs including erecting our new sign at the cattle grid on Mountain Road. I promised to post a fuller report and you will find it below, under the gallery of photos of the day.

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Workday on Twmbarlwm

A personal diary entry by Terry Evans

Took hour and half to fill car with workday paraphernalia – me and Sue arrived there at 10.20 and stopped at the cattle grid to recce the site for the sign. When we got to the car park Alun Booth was already there attacking the bracken around the triangle area. A new guy, Phil Anderson, also arrived to help out.

Howard arrived and we chatted for a while before Dave Parry arrived – bit more chat till me DP, HV newbie PA went down to erect the sign. I had a lift down in Howard’s brand new Landy. We got the sign up in just over an hour – I hadn’t taken anything down with me, camera, spirit level, nothing. PA took some pics on his phone though. Looking good.

When we got back to car park, Andrew, Lyndon and Rob (and Sam) had arrived and Simon was there with a guy called Greg with his dog Trixie who was camping out in the area to search out new mountain biking routes. More chat. Rob started to clear where burnt out car had been and Andrew was litter picking so I asked PA to start strimming the triangle (on which Sue and Alun had already done a good bit of work) – while I got Simon to transport me and tools etc up to the stock gate where I put a length of half round to cover the barbed wire. Lots of chat with Simon and Greg up there before he set off back across the ridgeway.

After a while Simon rang me to ask if I’d seen any bikers, while I was on the phone to him I could hear them coming up the hill. I didn’t actually see them although they were obviously messing about on the slopes below and maybe on the old “race track” – then I saw them disappearing in the distance on the ridgeway.  I phoned Simon again and he was coming back from that direction. Next thing I saw was the 5 bikers coming back towards me with Simon following behind – I later learned they had dropped down the Henllys side. They split into 2 and 3 and I don’t think Simon got any of them. I also learned later that the guys below had seen the bikers and taken photos of them going through the gate – the bikers’ reaction to that was abusive gestures, an attempt to run down Lyndon and a spell of riding around the bomb holes on the common.

While I was doing the gate I could see Andrew doing his litter pick around the summit – he already had a big bagful.

When I got back down to the car park I had a very welcome coffee and biscuits – PA had left having done more than his fair share of work. I then set about strimming the triangle, and all around the stone cairn because Rob wanted to use all the brush to disguise the area where the burnt car had been.

The bikers – just 4 of them now – came back down the ORPA and I quickly grabbed my camera to get some photos of them – more abusive gestures.

I then helped Sue to plant some of the trees in the triangle – we only put in half a dozen for now because the ground is so dry – and because we were getting very tired by now.

We packed up and left there at about 4pm – stopping at the sign to take some photos – and collapsed in the garden with a bottle of beer or two. Very satisfied with a good day’s work.