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