Holiday in the Hills

This week the blog comes from the South Lakes Upland Ranger team.
A Holiday in the Hills probably sounds like a lovely idea, however it is worth noting that this holiday involved 5 days of Upland Footpath work. (Perhaps not everyone's idea of lovely.)
The first working day was a Sunday, the participants having arrived the day before and settled into the bunkhouse at High Wray.  As an introduction to footpath work we took the group on a "drain run". This involves checking an existing footpath route emptying the drains and clearing loose stone from any "stone pitched" sections of path.
The group, including one from Australia and one from Belgium, got stuck into this task and did a thorough job. Unfortunately it was quite a harsh introdution as the weather was not kind with wind and icy rain throughout the day. Although it was a good time to see how the drainage was working.

Grim introduction: A drain run on a cold wet & windy day

After a grim first day we wondered if everyone would return on the Monday as very occasionally participants make an early exit. We needn't have worried as everyone was back bright and early to meet us at the Three Shires Stone on the Wrynose Pass. The group also brought with them much nicer weather.

Early morning warm up by the Three Shires Stone
(Much nicer weather too)

The work for the next two days was on one of the team's main projects for the year, the footpath from Red Tarn to Crinkle Crags.  The group worked on a part where people were spreading out and a widening erosion scar was developing. The plan was to use landscaping techniques to remove any side routes and create a tighter more manageable path line.

Before: Path widening and erosion scar developing 

The landscaping approach used is sometime referred to as "hump & hollow". It involves stripping turf and re-shaping the ground next to the path into humps and hollows.  The idea is to make this area unattractive to walk on so that people don't want to spread out. Once we are happy that the shapes of the humps and hollows are fairly natural looking the turf that was stripped off is re-laid. In addition grass seed (specially mixed for the fells) is used on any bare patches so the landscaping will green over and blend into the fellside.

During: Group working to remove side routes

After: Section of "hump & hollow" landscaping complete  

After a well earned rest day it was a time for a change of scenery and also a change of task. The location was the Tongue Gill path, part of the very popular Coast to Coast route. The work was to build a section of stone path using large rocks that had been lifted to site by helicopter. This type of stone stepped path is known as "stone pitching".
The rock used has an interesting background as it came out of the ground lower down Tongue Gill during excavations for a  hydroelectric power scheme completed this year. The owner of the scheme generously donated the rock to Fix the Fells .

Group get cracking building "Stone Pitching" on the Tongue Gill path

Eight happy volunteers with their completed sections of Stone Pitching

It was a very enjoyable and productive working holiday with lots of good quality work completed !

The National Trust runs a range of Working Holidays all around the country.  An opportunity for like minded people to meet, have a holiday and carry out conservation work with experienced staff.  The costs are fairly modest and cover accommodation in a bunkhouse, food during the holiday and transport between the bunkhouse and work site.  More information on working holidays can be found using the following link: Working Holidays

If you would like to know more about the daily work of the South Lakes Upland Ranger team they can be found on Twitter @NTLakesFells.

Posted by: Nick, Upland Ranger