The worst bit so far!

We tackled the centre arch today, it was the thickest and most difficult up to now. However, there's a long stretch to go.
Marlane is usually helping but today we had Buddy and Hendrix from 7.30 to 11, and Ruby and Eric from about 9am to 3pm. 
You can see the mangled tangle of clematis wood on top of the arch and the long strips that I'd already pulled out. It's a quarter of it in this photo, I already had 2 double quilt covers and a king size sheet in the car, all crammed with garden waste from this, apparently, small section.
It was thick with Pyracantha as well as the Clematis.
Well, I may have said already, this is 25  years of growth, should have tackled it many years ago but we kept putting it off due to late nesting of Blackbirds mostly.
We saw some young blackbirds just last week so I hope they are finished before we get around to the thick ivy where they generally nest.