See the morning report for the first part of our mega task! https://www.goodgym.org/reports/twiggy-sawdust

After a lunch kindly retrieved by Paul, Mitch, Lizzie, Louise and Laura (breathing a sigh of relief that we hadn't had to walk back up the hill after fetching it), we cracked on with our controlled destruction.

Fortunately any material that didn't fit into our exacting trailer system didn't have to travel far up the ever-widening path to the alternative disposal route. Take three corrugated sheets, a small pile of twigs and a team of GG'ers including an over-excited Leanne, and you have the perfect recipe for a bonfire.

Coaxed into life by the lovely Tristan recently returned from the far side of the world, with no shortage of material being supplied from down the hill, whilst lovely Al, visiting from his new life slightly less far south, wielded a pitchfork with abandon.

Back at the bottom, Egg had interpreted the suggestion to "take back a little more on this side" as "completely remove all vegetative and organic matter to expose solid rock that hadn't seen the light of day for centuries"... Dragged along by her implacable enthusiasm we acquiesced, and got properly stuck in with the old "shovel 'n' roll" technique. Scraping along the rock, the humus carpet was gradually peeled back, with roots chopped or lopped as needed, and more than one GG'er going bottom-first into the undergrowth as their section gave way. Progress increased rapidly with the suggestion of using the handsaws to cut through the base layers at rock level, and then to slice off pieces of carpet that Ed tried (and failed) to hammer-throw into the woods. With a last gargantuan effort we'd more than doubled the exposed rock, and Nick and an out-of-control wheelbarrow deposited our last soily bundle in it's new home.

Team bonfire had reduced a small forest into a glowing pile of embers, and that meant only one thing - marshmallows. Sticks were chosen, and people vied for the position where you got the least hot face. Those trusty pitchforks came in handy once again, and soon there were sticky fingers all round. All done it was time to tidy up, and Rich and Max were let loose with a pair of leaf-blowers to clear the remaining detritus, prompting the rest of the crew to back away rapidly.

Job finished we split into runners, fast walkers and amblers, and wended our separate ways through the magnificent grounds back towards home. Let's just say that some folks took a lot longer to escape the rhodedenron labyrinth than others, but Mitch saved his group in the end - surprising given his known success at running extra unnecessary laps at parkrun... A quick play on the trim trail, then down the windy steps back to the bunkhouse for some well-earned dinner.