Monday 4 December 2017

Signing Route 680 along the Monsal Trail

Catherine, David (R) and David (G) were joined by Sustrans' Midlands Volunteer Co-ordinator, Dan Robertson on 4 December 2017 to undertake further signing of the Monsal Trail. Although David and Catherine had (very impressively) cycled all the way over, we all joined up to start at the Coombs Road viaduct in Bakewell; eventually finished up by fixing the final sign onto a post in the Wye Dale car park (4 miles out of Buxton).



The event had been postponed by a week because of inclement weather on the original work day. This time the weather could not have been better with perfect blue skies and bright sunshine, albeit a bit winter watery. David (G) soon demonstrated why he shouldn't be let anywhere near a hammer as the first nail bent over and the "professionals" within the group had to rescue the position. Dan provided masterful Quality Assurance over the entire proceedings and we all fully accepted that these signs are the only thing that most people ever see or recognise about the National Cycle Network. Therefore they have to be displayed in the correct place to be seen and then positioned perfectly with "no creases".

Clyde had done a wonderful job in preparing all the signs with waymarked distances at strategic points along the length of the trail. Although he was unable to come and help us put them up I am sure he will be pleased that they are now doing a useful job helping cyclists appreciate just how far it is to cycle to different points along the trail.


As well as being a most useful work day this was once again a great opportunity to catch up with other members of the White Peak Rangers group, as well as getting updates from Dan about all the projects he is currently involved with across the region. Not only did he do a very good job of "selling" the Brompton concept to a couple of people we met along the trail, but he also introduced us all to the idea of his travelling coffee filter, which I would certainly welcome as a Christmas present, (another action point for me to add on to my Christmas present wish-list!).


The signing took longer than we had expected and so we didn't get further than Wye Dale car park on this event. We will need to plan another day to conclude the route into, and out of Buxton. We should really extend all the way down the High Peak trail to Cromford, which will certainly keep us going for a few more workdays yet.

Quite a few additional Action Points came out of this workday with regards to signing and I will email these separately. We were definitely a pair of scissors short in the "signers' tool-kit", but we will know better for next time. Thanks to Catherine who saved the day by pulling a "claw" hammer out of the bag.