Holding back the years (of soil and junk)

One poorly child on the sofa, and one home for half the day, but we still managed to achieve lots. Several more metres of chain link removed, and a plan formulated. Hoorah for a plan!
Money is a stranger to this project, so everything we do has to be a homemade fix. Today when we hit the real change of heights between the gardens and it became apparent that we had to find a way to retain the soil, we had to box clever. After a great deal of teeth sucking and pondering, we decided that some of the chain link would have to stay because it is holding back soil and hardcore and cement and possibly even an ex builder - I found the fingertips of a glove sticking out from the neighbour's garden in a very macabre way. See the photos below to view the full horror...

It isn't all bad, though, because of the plan. The plan is to sink some stakes about a foot from the fence and pile long logs behind them to both retain the soil (in the shallower parts) and to hide the fencing that will remain where stronger retention is needed.
By happy coincidence, there is plenty of growth that needs thinning out, so we should be able to complete the  work with what we have in the garden. The stretch that needs the retention is only about 8 metres, thankfully, and then we can go back to removing fencing without (as many) complications.
The picture below shows where we got the idea, although we hope to do it a little more stylishly...or tidily, at least...and mostly on this side of the fencing, although some of the logs pictured below will have to stay as they are holding the world up.

Where possible, we will then backfill behind the logs and plant something. If you can't picture it, we're hoping to have some of it done by the end of tomorrow. See the picture below: we hope to get up to that tree on the right, which we will thin out first.
Mark enjoyed the thinning out today - axes and multitools galore. Tomorrow, we're getting out the big guns - the chainsaw.