Northern team
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by Paul Delaney
2009 year roundup
The 2009 season has been a challenging and interesting one in many ways. Our two main projects this year were different in location, style of work and levels of traffic.
First was of course the inevitable battle for stone sites (many people are surprised to discover that in certain areas in the lakes we are running out of usable stone)
Liaising with staff from Natural England we eventually agreed sites after many visits and the stone for the years' work was swiftly bagged, ready to be airlifted to the jobs.
The first project was the very busy path from Manesty to Hause Gate on the Catbells range. This path has suffered greatly over the years and is mostly used as a descent route by walkers doing the Catbells Round. There was a number of shortcut paths which had developed and were steadily eroding to form deep gulleys, so a major part of the project was the removal of these side paths and repair of the damaged areas. This type of work is very rewarding, not least because most people won’t realise it’s been done at all. In order to persuade walkers to avoid shortcuts the worst parts of the original path were improved, with care taken to blend the new work with the old.
A lot of time was spent on this project talking to the public. Due to the nature of this route it attracts more of a casual walker rather than a fell walker, so many were completely unaware of the erosion problems and the existence of path teams and the work they do. The team felt satisfied that having spoken to us people went away with a greater understanding of the issues and would take more care in future.
Next we were off to Scar Crags, a much more isolated and harsher environment. The work here was to stabilise a large erosion scar, some 28 feet in width, and to provide a sustainable path. Initially we were looking forward to a less busy path, but quite soon became aware of a completely different type of user than on the Catbells project. Folks we met on Scar Crags were generally more hardened fell walkers - much more experienced and with greater awareness of the issues. Unfortunately there were some who, despite listening to our views and the aims of the project and agreeing it was needed, simply refused to walk on a stone pitched path, preferring to walk on the grass edges or on the scree. These were in the minority though and the path went in well and appears to be used by the majority of walkers.
In between our project work we have been working with the Fix The Fells volunteers on our regular work parties. This has highlighted the usefulness of the project in being able to call on the services of a large group of dedicated people, which is a great advantage to our very small teams
We have also been working with other groups, most notably Ullswater Outward Bound. We spent two days with international students from the centre working on the paths from Grisedale to Dollywagon and a lot of good work was completed. We also ran training sessions for Outward Bound staff.
Unique, we think, to this footpath team, is our involvement with local primary schools. On two occasions this summer we ran successful education days, taking young school children from two local schools up a hill to study erosion and its causes and cures. We’ve had roughly 60 children on these days, and for us they are some of the most enjoyable day's work we do.
The children from Ennerdale School later wrote reports on their visit and these can be seen here along with some more photographs.
To find out more about the Northern team visit the diary archive
