More footpath repairs on Gowbarrow

After a years break we have again recommenced our work up on Gowbarrow Fell. During the helicopter lifts we had a few extra bags of gravel flown to site and with help from the Fix the Fells volunteers we've started some more path improvements.

The photo below shows a section that we'd previously worked on but now, with hindsight, we've decided that part of the path was just too steep. If left this way the gravel would be unlikely to stay in place resulting in people walking off the path and causing damage to the vegetation.

 Old section of path

We decided to reroute the path to avoid the steepest area and thereby make it more sustainable. The first job was to remove gravel from the original path and dig off the turf where the new path would go.

 Removing the gravel

The line of the new path went through a deep ditch so much of the soil that was excavated was used to help fill it in. A trench was dug across the original path to drain water away, this also produced plenty of soil and helped form a barrier to discourage people from wandering up the old path.

 Preparing the new path

Once the new path had been levelled we covered the old path with the turf that had been dug off and gravelled the new path. In just a day the whole area had been transformed.

 Newly aligned path

On our next volunteer work party we tackled a section a little further down the path. This included lengthening and widening the path and removing a large depression in the path that had been formed by water runoff causing the the path to start washing away.

Turf was first removed from the upper side and the path was widened into the bank. Next, the lower side of the path was built up, using stone, soil and the turf that had been generated while digging out the bank.

 Starting work to remove the dip

Once the artificial bank on the lower side was completed the whole area was filled in with gravel to form a level path.

Newly levelled path