Sterling Adventures

We heard the Downes hut was in need of a little attention, so I gathered some troops for a weekend of work.

Not much needs to be said, except a massive “thank-you” to all those that turned up; Dennis, Rod, Anna, Ian, Richard E, Richard W, Paul, Graham, Pete, and me.

The Downes hut now looks almost as good as new.

On the outside we have:

• Cleared nettles, brambles and bushes and thinned trees creating extra parking and enlarged camping area
• Built a new boundary fences next to the car park
• Discovered a path behind the hut
• Cleared gutters
• Painted windows and varnished door frames

On the inside we have:

• Deep cleaned bathroom and kitchen – walls, ceilings, vents, windows etc
• Built new shower cubicle
• Resealed other shower cubicle
• Fixed leaking toilet
• Painted bedroom walls and windows

Fortunately there was plenty of cake to keep us going – thanks to Anna, and Richard’s mum.

Further maintenance will continue – with specialist paint for the bathroom, boiler work, new mattresses, etc – but at least now even I am happy to sleep there.

After much hard work we settled for the night with bbq (cooked in the oven!) and beer, courtesy of the CC, with a reasonable early night.

The next day, Dennis and Rod continued with the painting while the rest of us went climbing.

Anna & Ian start to build a new fence

Richard, Ian & Paul fence building

Contrasting new fences

Richard starts clearing the over-growth

Dennis painting

Rod fits a new shower cubicle

Graham & Richard clean the kitchen

Laetitia cleans the bathroom floor to ceiling!