Central Team
by Rob Clarke, sponsored by Heart of the Lakes Cottages
September 2009 - Breaking new ground!
In the spirit of co-operation we’ve spent a large part of the ‘summer’ months on Bowfell, working with the Western team.
The work has all been at an altitude of around 2400 to 2800 feet, a record for our team and some of the highest work that’s been undertaken. Unfortunately for both of our teams this high level work has coincided with some truly dreadful wet and windy weather, making it a real test of endurance for all concerned.
It’s been an interesting job though, broken into two distinct parts. Firstly, we re-instated the third of the ‘Three Tarns’ mentioned on the map which had been drained due to erosion of the surrounding ground, then reduced the number of routes in the area over the vulnerable peat. Secondly we defined a route through the vast scree gulley heading to the summit, trying to avoid stone pitching where possible which may have looked too structured for such a remote location. Both these sections have certainly not been your usual upland path work jobs, for more details see the ‘Western Valleys’ team page.
After finishing this job we’ve returned to Martcrag Moor to continue with the job we started earlier in the year. If the work on Bowfell was unusual then this job has been almost revolutionary! The path here had become very vague and people were wandering all over the large peat bog. This was starting to damage the fragile ecology, not to mention causing plenty of unpleasant moments for innocent walkers sinking leg deep in the soft ground.
With the ground being so soft and peaty any path across ran the danger of itself sinking. The solution has come in the form of local sheep, or more accurately their fleeces.
Digging the path tray in wet weather>
Just about as wet as it gets – digging the path tray
A tray was dug out for the path and filled with rolled up sheep fleeces, laid two deep to overlap each other. Once trampled on they squash down to leave enough depth for a path surface to be laid over the top. The fleeces act as a permeable layer between the path surface and the peat below. Without them the path would act almost as a pump and draw peat up to the surface, meaning eventually we’d be back to square one.
Sheep fleeces in the path tray>
A long way to go – that’s a lot of sheep fleeces!
Progress has been slow but steady with just our small team, the path creeps forward a few metres every day but everyone seems keen to use the bits that are completed – we have to rely on people noticing when they get to the end of the surfaced section …..
Walkers on the finished part of the path>
Let’s hope they’re looking where they’re going …..
A job like this is really moved along by a few days with a big group of people and we were eagerly anticipating the help of a working holiday when we heard the bad news that it had been cancelled. Luckily the ever helpful voluntary lengthsmen stepped in at short notice and worked with us for a couple of days, keeping the project moving forward nicely.
Lengthsmen working on the path>
The lengthsmen step into the breach!
Once again we’d like to say a big thank you to the lengthsmen for their help. It’s always a pleasure to work with them. Find out more about volunteering here.