We were prepared for showers today, but apart from one brief one, the day got warmer and sunnier as time went on, and towards 3 o'clock the jackets came off, and some of us were in our shirtsleeves!

I'm buttering a brick, buttering a brick...

Bob made a great start by putting on two courses of blues on the newly set out section, the 80m stretch. Here he is on his hands and knees, you really have to get down into the dirt here. Next to him a stretch of water, and that is after we bucketed out the worst of it. At least this new stretch is likely to be the last of the wet ones, as the terrain slowly rises towards the signal box, and there is less standing water around.

Tony is back!

A welcome sight back today was Tony B, after what seems like an eternity circling the globe. The apogee of the trip seems to have been Christchurch, New Zealand, where the effects of the earthquake were still plain to see. But Tony brought the sunshine with him, for which we were very grateful. We had a record day, with 800 bricks laid, and 50 blocks on the new 80m section.

Bucket of muck? Try this one for size!

A common theme today was lifting and shifting. It's impossible to pass a wheelbarrow along the rear of the wall, there is just too much stuff and people working around, not to mention the ankle deep mud. So to get anything to a works site - there were 4 today, along the 50m, 60m, 70m and 80m stretches, you have to wheel your barrow along the track, and then lift over the rising wall whatever the brickies want at the rear. Mortar, more reds please, these blues are now surplus to requirements, move those scaffolding boards, you name it.

Shovel full of muck? Have this one!

Pete D was backing up a section that just had the first row of corbelling added by John C, but the wall is now too high to throw any muck over to his spot. A shovel full of it was carefully negotiated each time, to keep him supplied. The vertical bricks act as counterweights to hold in place the heavy corbelling bricks that are sitting in wet mortar.

Bob and John struggle with a barrowfull on the wrong side of the rail.

You can get so far with a wheelbarrow of mortar, but then it has to be lifted over the rail for the last 50yds... it weighs - what? - 100Kg and it's very wobbly to boot. Don't spill any, and mind your back.

John O makes a stunning revelation to the Gloucester group - your muck is not strong enough, it has to go all the way back to the mixer - nooooooooo !

To our delight a sizeable group from Gloucester College turned up and attacked the 70m section with vigour. They put on 2 courses of reds, and then moved on to the 80m section and laid another 50 blocks. A real boost to our spirits.

Back in the mixer it goes...

Two loads of mortar with insufficient cement content were intercepted, and sent back to the mixer for more cement to be added. Tony, Keith and John helped the lads out and explained about the recipe for a good mix. It's not only the ratio of sand to cement that matters, but also the relative size of the shovelfulls. All good training for them. Luckily the old hands can spot a 'wrong'un a mile off.

All the lads muck in

Six lads from GC and their tutor laid an impressive wall of reds today. They only stopped laying blocks because we ran out of supplies. Some of them are getting quite good at this now; on the left is one showing another what a good smear of mortar looks like. Yep, that's a brick !

Finally, an overview of the site mid-way through the day. You can see backing up to corbelling on the left (Pete), the last row of blues going in (John C), the GC site with reds going in (they are at lunch at this point) and Bob W laying the first two courses of blues on the new 80m stretch at the front. Also noticeable are the copious quantities of polythene sheeting, required time after time to keep both the works site and the supplies dry from the heavy rain we have been having.