Western Valleys team
Corridor Route
February 2008
Iain Gray:
"What do path workers get up to? Usually somewhere over 2,000 feet.
Some of us have been around long enough to remember path work that-nearly twenty years later-is in need of repair. Hardly surprising given the continuous barrage of feet and natural wear which erodes the surfaces either side of the path leaving what looks like a raised stone causeway.
In 1989 the legendary Ray McHaffie and his team had to gather all the stone required by hand from immediately adjacent scree slopes along the corridor route. In the 2008 version a helicopter drops a bundle of bags immediately alongside a convenient oasis of stone, which when loaded up in one-ton units, can be flown effortlessly to where they are required.
Unfortunately this luxury afforded to rocks is not extended to Footpath Workers themselves who have to make their own way to the site, based on the flimsy excuse that personalised helicopter taxi services are not cost-effective."
Jon Metcalfe:
"Spending the last three days bag filling on the corridor route has acted as a quiet but not so gentle reminder that estate work is definitely a lowland job and that I’ll need to adjust myself into Footpath Worker mode again.
Losing the bags that the helicopter dropped off for us was a good laugh as the day after we had to carry 50 up ourselves, with the help of the estate team, only to find the bundle later that day!
Previous to this we have spent pretty much the whole winter walling around the Duddon valley. Our biggest job has been repairing of a sheepfold at Dalehead where it never stops raining."
Corridor Route in the mist during winter 07/08
Western Valleys: Wet Side Edge April 2008.
Picture before:
The team has been doing some stone pitching over the last three weeks.
Picture after:
This eroded gully just above the summit of Wrynose pass leading to Wet side edge has been replaced with a stone pitched path in just two weeks. This is mainly due to the fact that the walking time from vehicle to worksite of barely five minutes is the shortest the team have ever experienced.
