Repairing the path at Mires Beck, Ullswater

We've recently been working on realigning a section of path at Mires Beck in Ullswater. The job was relatively short and only took a couple of weeks to complete, but was essential nonetheless.

You can see in the following photograph the secton of path that was in need of repair. A landslip had caused the edge of the path to fall away into the beck below. If left unattended it is highly likely that more of the path would have fallen out over the next few years.

 Landslip

To avoid the most unstable area we decided to divert the path higher up the bank and rejoin it again above the landslip. We'd already flown a few bags of rock to site by helicopter earlier on in the year, but additional rock from the old path and the surrounding area was also utilised.

 Before starting work

The next photograph shows the path shortly after work began. The old section of path has been blocked off with large boulders and the new route curves around to the left.

 Starting work on the new path

The area where we were building the new path had a lot of water running along and just under the surface. To help remove this water we incorporated several drains into the path. Removing the water at regular intervals should also help prevent another future landslide.

 Drain building

With much of the pitching stone removed from the old path, and with all of the rubble and soil that we generated from the new path also being used to cover over it, it wasn't too long until the original path line was indiscernible.

 Making progress

While building the new path we removed all the turf that was dug off and put it to one side. This was later used to cover over the soil that we generated. This will help blend the path back in with it's surroundings and reduce potential erosion.

 The completed path

The old path line was also blocked off at the top, meaning our new section of path blends in seamlessly with the original.

Looking down the new path