Colin and Martyn worked at erecting the second run of guttering on the east side of the mill, driving in the stakes and fitting the supports for most of the length of the run. This side of the mill is a full two storeys high, so progress would have been slower anyway even without the need to stop work while water was pouring off the roof.
Richard decided that working inside the culvert would keep him out of the rain. There is a limit to how much silt can be dug out of the culvert and tailrace though, so he emerged back into daylight at lunchtime.
Headley also worked indoors during the worst of the showers. He prepared the adjustable supports for the guttering. These have a bit too much powder coating on the threads and need easing a bit before they can be mounted onto the stakes.
John wanted to continue with the wall he has been building at the side of the steps but everything was just too wet. Instead he turned his attention to the hay-loft steps. After some thought and discussion with the rest of the team he removed the rotten timber from the top of the steps to reveal the steelwork underneath. Once that was out of the way the last root was finally torn out. Like all the others, this root had developed through the joints of the brickwork, forcing the bricks apart and loosening the mortar.
By this stage John had been joined by Richard and Headley and they tried to unscrew a tie rod that runs from inside the barn to the remains of the handrail. If we can get this off without any damage we will be able to re-use it in the same position when we have rebuilt the root damaged brickwork. The first attempt at removal failed but Headley is convinced that the application of some heat will loosen the nut, so we will try this the next time we meet.
While all this was happening Derek was tidying up some of the scrap metal lying around the area between the mill and the black steel barn. The farmer obviously used this triangle of ground as a dump for broken farm machinery. There is a complete but ancient tractor rake near the mill that we will probably keep as an ornament but most of it is just twisted scarp metal. Derek has been chopping this up into manageable pieces and stacking it neatly for disposal.
What had been a rain interrupted day in terms of progress cheered up a lot at the very end of the day when the webmaster was handed a donation of £50 for mill funds. The donor would like to remain anonymous but if they read this we would like to say thank you.
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