Five group members joined NYMNP senior ranger, Bernie McLinden for the last working party of the year.

Most walkers will be familiar with the path, which starts at Howdale School House (NZ 951 022), which is situated overlooking Robin Hood's Bay. The path crosses a shale bank, passes through woodland, then there is a stile into a field through which the path descends to another stile, then yet another stile before crossing a bridge over Howdale beck (NZ 950 019). The stile  just before the bridge served no purpose, so we removed it. The bridge was cleaned up and none-slip sheets were attached to the surface. The adjacent stile, which has always been difficult to climb over, was replaced with a new one. Large stones were retrieved from the beck and placed to provide steps from the stile down to the bridge approach. This approach was a total quagmire, so we dug drainage channels and covered the  path with shingle retrieved from the river bed.

Vegetation across the path from the School House to the first stile was cleared.

We may well be using this path on next Sunday's ramble from Stoupe Brow Quarry

Our lunch break was an extended one, with festive mince pies, stollen, and mulled wine!