Eastern Team
January 2010 by Ade Mills
Heavy snow at the start of the month limited our opportunities for getting out on to the fell after returning back to work from our well earned Christmas and New Year breaks. Usually we would be out and about clearing drains and assessing the high level footpaths for future work, but we had to pospone our “drain runs” firstly due to the snow, which is still hanging around at the end of the month on the tops, and also because of the icy conditions, which make clearing the paths pretty much impossible. The wintry weather also meant we were unable to carry out the planned helicopter lift that was due to take place over the first few weeks of January. So we’ll have to wait until later on in the year to get the rock moved to site ready for this year’s footpath work. But the snow did make everything look pretty….
Since much of the estate work also had to be put on hold until the snow cleared, we spent much of our time sorting through all the workshops and outbuildings at our base at High Close, near Grasmere. With all the staff sharing the same workshops it’s easy for things to go “missing” in the back of someone’s Landrover, or left somewhere where it shouldn’t be. So we took advantage of the bad weather and got things a bit more organised.
Once the snow cleared and the ice began to thaw, we got back to the work we had started just before Christmas, fencing at Low Fold, Grasmere. Low Fold is an old farmhouse that is now owned by the National Trust and is soon to be re-let. Extensive work has been carried out on the house and it was decided that before the new tenants move in the fence around the garden should be replaced. The original fence is being replaced with a new higher fence to help keep the local deer population at bay.
Above: Fencing at Low Fold
Once the fencing at Low Fold was completed, our next job was in Langdale, near Old Dungeon Ghyll, repairing sections of drystone wall and erecting a new kissing gate and field gate on the public footpath running from The Old to the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel.
