A return to Gowbarrow Fell

In previous years working on Gowbarrow, we mostly constructed an aggregate path with the Fix the Fells volunteers, but we returned this year to complete the stone work. The two sections that we worked on had both been repaired some time ago, but now due to the increase in visitor numbers the pathway was too narrow and becoming eroded as people walked off the path.

The old pitching before being replaced

The rock had been previously flown onto site, but we had to roll it through the bracken to where it was needed on the line of the new footpath. The rock from the old path was also removed and rolled across the slope to give us some extra pitching stone.

Rock in position

The lower sections of the path were fairly straightforward, but as we gained height we started encountering large boulders and bedrock.

A boulder, right in the way

In this situation there's not really much you can do except work with what you've got, so we incorporated any suitable boulders and chipped our way through the bedrock.

Excavated boulder

You can see the large boulder in the photograph above built into the footpath in the photo below (towards the front of the image, across the full width of the path). Much of this section used rock that was pulled out of the ground.

Boulder in position

With the main part of the pitching completed, we gravelled up to the new path (once again with the help from the Fix the Fells volunteers). In the photo below you can see the old path line, which has now been covered over with soil and crosses the new gravelled path. 

Approaching the new section of path

The new section of path takes a slightly new line and meanders to its destination, so some of the gradient has been removed, which means we could build it with much shallower steps.

Lower section of path after landscaping

The second section to be worked on was lower down the path and ascended straight through a bedrock outcrop.

Before starting work

We had to break our way through the bedrock again, before we could build the path. You can see some of the rubble that was produced in the photo below. In total, four sledgehammers were broken working on the Gowbarrow path, usually we're unlucky to break one in a year. The crowbars were also looking decidedly more blunt by the end of the season.

The path progresses

All the hard work was rewarded though, as we managed to complete the path on our last couple of days on the fell.

Completed lower section

Completed mid section

Completed top section

We'll be back working on Gowbarrow again next year, gravelling and drain building with the Fix the Fells volunteers. We'll also scatter plenty of grass seed around to help recover the fellside, as it was getting too late in the year to put it down this year.

Working back on Loughrigg Fell

Our return to upland work this spring meant a return to the footpath on Loughrigg Fell. We started the season by gathering some more stone for the repairs, which was flown on to site.

Flying stone on to Loughrigg

For this section of path we've decided to change the line to add more bends in the path and remove some of the gradient. You can see in the following two photos where the path has been moved to the right of the original footpath. 

Original path and new line

You can also see that the old style of pitching is put in at the same angle as the slope, which makes it difficult to walk down, particularly when wet.

 

Lower section of path before landscaping

Lower section of path after landscaping

The old path line was landscaped by covering it with soil and turf that had been removed while building the new path. We left a section of temporary fence in to discourage people from walking in the area while the seed is beginning to grow. Once it's had time to bed in we'll remove the fence.

Middle section of path after landscaping

You can see in the following photo a section higher up the path where large stone steps had been used. The height of the steps were difficult to walk down and you can see to the left of the image where people have been walking around them.

Old stone risers

The following two photographs show the same section during repair work and after landscaping.

Upper section after removal of the old stone risers

Putting down grass seed on the upper section 

The final section that we worked on this year was just above the previous two images and was another bad mixture of angled path and more high steps.

The old section of path was built on top of bedrock. We had to remove the old path and chip out the bedrock before the new path could be built. The following two photos show the old path and the new path after landscaping.

Old path in bedrock section

Replaced path

We'll be back working on Loughrigg again next year, continuing up through the bedrock and a few more repairs higher up the path.

Continuing our work on Loughrigg Fell

As we mentioned on our previous post, during late summer/autumn last year we also worked on replacing a section of footpath a little higher up the path on Loughrigg Fell. The section worked on was towards the top of the photograph below.  

The section of path being worked on

Much of the path is in good condition, with decent sized steps, so was not a priority to replace. Towards the very top of the path the gradient became much steeper and the steps weren't quite deep enough to compensate for it. We therefore took out the old pitching and reset it with slightly larger steps and added a bend in the path to remove some of the gradient. 

Path before landscaping

Once again we hit bedrock, making it more challenging to lay the path and all the rubble that was chipped out had to be landscaped. As there was so little soil the only option was to cover it over with turf. We dug sections of turf from the surrounding fell side, which we then reseeded, and put the turf down over the piles of rubble.

Path after landscaping

A little further up the path was an older section that was sloped, steep and extremely difficult to descend.

Section of path to be replaced

We re-routed the path, again to add some more bends and reduce the gradient. The new section has larger steps and is less steep, so is now much easier to walk down.

New route

We continued replacing some of the older path as it levelled off. As we were running a little short of pitching stone, a large boulder that was next to the path proved to be quite handy and was incorporated into the path saving us around 6 or 8 standard sized stones.

Upper section of path before repairs

Boulders like this can also be used for landscaping, but since we weren't short of rubble and soil and the boulder had such a good flat top, it made sense to use it in the path.

Large boulder incorporated into the new path

On our final day we had just enough time to finish off the landscaping with some more turfing and seeding as the sun started to set behind the hills.

The sun starts to set on our final day

We'll be back working on Loughrigg again this spring a little further up the path, where we had additional bags of rock flown in last year.