It was an early, wet start for Mike, his dog Froddo, and I and off to Loch Ness to choose some Ash trunks for the coracle laths. We were looking for good straight trunks with no knots and twists. This was fairly easy, however, finding such a tree in a good position for falling was a little harder.Most of the trees had forks further up the trunkc, which meant that they fell akwardly, becoming stuck on the bracnches of other trees. As the wood was not managed, Mike was forced to cut some smaller trees around the chosen trunks so that we could remove the wood.
Our chosen Ash, stuck at an angle...
Fortunately we had some extra hands, and with a bit of brute force, the trunk was freed.
This is the second Ash we chose.
It came down with relative ease. I was surpised by how light the Ash trunks were...all good news as I'll be bearing the best part of tree on my back in a few weeks time...with any luck!
