The Fallen, a Tandem response

Hard to imagine I'd face the trickiest driving conditions this winter over the Easter bank holidays but the strong easterly winds plus cold temperatures had left the high Cotswold roads with icy snow drifts which are just not going away. Another consequence of these unseasonal conditions, helped in one case by white rot fungus disease, brought about the falling of an ash in Leasow Furlong and part of a large beech in Little Setts near the cricket ground at Sherborne.

So having recovered from an annoying chest infection, {I rarely get ill,  I blame it on some bruised ribs}, I arrived at Sherborne where Mike was ready to go with the 'tractor and big trailer' plus the '4x4 with trailer'. The first task was to finish the clearing of the fallen Beech near the cricket ground and with some trepidation, {after last weeks trials} I set off in the 4x4 with Mike following with tractor. Good news was the ground was a good deal firmer than the water meadows so no sinking in the mud. Had to manoeuvre up the side of an elder hedge alongside an '80 acre' ploughed field but there was a useful grassy verge so no impact on the field. While Mike cleared up the large beech cordwood with the tractor grab I set to with axe on splitting the blocks Mike had cut the day before. Didn't expect to be doing this so late in the season, but with the wood store empty and demand still there, the extra wood was important. By lunch had added to the wood supplies in the nursery and apart from a hole in the hedge and a scar on the surviving part of the beech, all was clear.

'Leisure' furlong, again no picnic!

The afternoon promised more of the same but down in Leasow Furlong where fallen ash needed attention. Last visited this wood  last May, where fallen larch and 'prep' for a boy scouts camp was the task, but this time we were to work in the eastern side of the wood where some pretty old and strange looking multi-trunk ash dominated, the result of long ago 'coppicing'. After some energetic work, much needed in a brisk cool wind, we filled the tractor trailer with cord wood and after blocking and splitting filled the 4x4 trailer with wood supplies for a local customer. Mike deposited the cord wood in the nursery and we then drove the 4x4 to unload its wood loaded trailer manually at the customers residence in Sherborne village. A productive but tiring day so was pleased to get back home and turn into a couch potato in front of the TV!