Haughtongreen work party

Six days at Haughtongreen bothy for a work party. We’ve been looking after the bothy officially for maybe 2 years now, and our work has been confined to keeping the paintwork up on exterior surfaces, and a bit of light work replacing roofing slates — but the bothy was in sore need of love, especially after someone stole pretty much every part of the stove that wasn’t bolted down, and at least one part that was.The work party itself was weeks and weeks in the planning — most of it undertaken by Sam, who moved basically the whole firmament to make sure that everything needed was in place when the first volunteers arrived.I feel a little bit out of place when we get started: I hadn’t been much involved in the planning due to a frustratingly difficult last few months at work, and I find myself now among folks I don’t know well, out in the middle of nowhere, in a steady drizzle. Morale is low to start with, but as soon as the tools come out and the work gets started it makes a leap…