(This is Eric’s work – Ange was at work, and so hubby has done most of the hard work on the steps in the past few months!)

After a recent walk around the steps in the Moulin Huet area, I decided that although we had already cleaned them up once, they badly needed doing again.Like the Forth Railway Bridge, at this time of the year, you almost have to start again immediately due to the growth in vegetation that takes place.

To make matters worse the growth encroaches on the steps and makes it difficult for regular walkers to use them and some of the gorse bushes and thistles that grow very strongly can easily catch a passer by with their needles. Fortunately I was able to take my cordless hedge cutters with me to attack the overgrown areas as well as the usual other implements I would normally take with me.

On Saturday I tackled the steps coming up from Moulin Huet which to be quite honest were nearly at the stage of being impassable with a numbers of areas where the overgrowth was encroaching extensively across the concrete steps. Eventually I had cleared all the path steps leading up past the garden area of the Moulin Huet café and onto the plateau above.

The next job was to have a go at the next set of steps that lead up to the halfway point of the climb out of the bay. Unfortunately these were just as bad in terms of being over grown, the majority of the overgrowth being bracken. Despite the thickness the electric cutter was most helpful in cutting the vegetation. I eventually finished off my days work with clearing the steps at the top of the halfway point.

Sunday morning I set aside to clean the length of the cliff path steps that lead onto the path that takes you up to the now empty Bon Port Hotel. It was hard work throughout the morning but I was delighted with the finished product, which numbered some 70 odd steps in total. Despite being a steep set of steps I find it is very popular walking for both tourists and locals alike.

I also took the opportunity to sweep the path steps that lead through the centre of the valley, fortunately these were not necessarily overgrown, but just full of dead leaves and accumulated dirt which were a lot easier to sweep off.

Overall we have now not only cleaned all of the steps around Moulin Huet twice but have also done a lot of work on the steps at Saints Bay, which I must say, look much the better for having a makeover.