Footpath repairs at Bracken Hause

After finishing our work over on Loughrigg Fell for the year we started the job of bag filling ready for the helicopter lift at Bracken Hause. We filled around 150 bags that were flown to site in early July to go with the 40 bags that we had previously flown last year. 

Lower section before starting work

Once the bags were all in place, we began our work. It wasn't long before we discovered just how wet the path is, with the water funnelling down from higher ground and often sitting just below the path surface.

Wet

The water also seeped out of the banks on the side of the path. We added several stone drains to take the water off the path and into the stream below. 

 

Partly completed lower section

Where the footpath crossed the beck the path originally split in two with some people going up the beck and others crossing it and carrying on up above it. In the photo below the beck goes up to the left of the heli-bags and has been badly damaged through footfall causing it to become wider and lose much of the vegetation around its sides.

Beck crossing before starting work

To prevent future damage, our footpath crossed the beck and incorporated a stone wath (a stone ford), which would take more water than a conventional stone drain.

Completed beck crossing

The path then continued up the bank that had become badly eroded and widened where people had tried to find a way up or down a steep bank.

Steep bank out of river

Completed section out of river

Higher up the path the narrow track had also widened and although still mostly vegetated, it was showing clear signs of wear in a very short space of time.

Upper section before starting work

We decided to pitch this section too, as it would only be a matter of time before the grass was lost. By building a stone path the vegetation either side of the path would be protected.

Completed upper section

We again incorporated drains to take water away from the path and protect the stone work below.

Top drain from above

 

We've now completed just over half the work at Bracken Hause, so we will be back at a later date to resume the repairs.

Returning to Loughrigg

For the third consecutive year, we've been back repairing the path on Loughrigg Fell. Once again, we've been replacing sections of the original path and also adding some stonework to areas that have suffered from erosion damage, this time helped out by new team member Josh.

The following two photographs show a section of footpath immediately above where we finished last year. You can see that the path has eroded quite badly and has formed a sizeable gulley.

Lower section before work

Lower section after work

The next two photographs show the top of the lower section as it joins up to the section above.

Old section of risers

New section of path

The path had previously been worked on, but the steps were too high, which made it really uncomfortable to walk down. The new path has shallower steps set at different heights, making the descent a little easier.

The next bit of path that we replaced went through a narrow bedrock gulley. You can see the rock outcropping below-left and to the right of the original steps in the photo below. Again the steps were too high, so had to be replaced. 

Bedrock section (before)

As the bedrock was just below the original steps, a lot of it had to be broken out using crowbars and sledgehammers in order to set the new path in place. 

Much of these first two sections sat on bedrock that had to be chipped out. The rubble was then removed away from site using plastic trugs. If it had been left next to the path it would have constantly fallen back onto the new footpath and would also have proved difficult to landscape due to the lack of soil to cover it.

Bedrock section (after)

The next section was a steeply sloped bit of path that is extremely difficult to walk down. Here we're removing the old path, reusing any suitable stone and resetting it into low steps that are much easier to walk on.

Sloped section before

Sloped section after

The final bit of path that we worked on this year was slightly higher up the fell. Again bedrock was causing an issue (you can just make it out to the left of the black bags in the photograph below) by forcing people to find a route around it, causing the the path to widen.

Upper section (before)

We chose a line that meandered up through the bedrock and once the area has been fully landscaped and reseeded the new path should blend in well with its surroundings and prevent the path from over widening.

Upper section (after)

Winter estate work

After returning to work from our winter breaks, we set about a variety of estate work around the Grasmere area. Our first job was to repair some damage caused by Storm Arwen to a couple of dry stone walls at Hunting Stile. 

The walls had been knocked down by low hanging branches and possibly also disturbed by tree root-plates, when the trees were being buffeted about during the strong winds. We removed the offending branches to stop any future damage and set about putting up the walls. One of the collapsed walls contained a large slate that had been used for hanging the top pin of a gate (photo below). The slate had to be carefully lifted into place, utilising our full team of four people, so that the gate could be re-hung.

Repaired wall and gate

Once we'd completed the wall repairs we turned our attention to erecting some owl and bat boxes around High Close Estate. The boxes had been kindly donated by the local Age UK's Men in Sheds project which offers support for older men to share and learn new skills. We'll keep a check on them throughout the year and hopefully they'll provide some extra roosting/nesting places to the resident bat and Tawny Owl population. 

Owl and bat boxes

Our final job before resuming our work on the fells was a fencing job at Bracken Fell. Due to the difficult access to the site the materials could only be driven part way. Once everything was unloaded from the trailer we had to load up the power barrows to move the materials to the bottom of the fence line.

Fencing materials

We were repairing over 400 metres of the fence, although the full length was well in excess of 600 metres. The posts, rails and wire all had to be carried by hand through the rough terrain and all the old fence posts and wire that we were replacing had to be carried back out.

First section of fence

The majority of the fence consisted of short sections of strained wire stock fencing.

Wire stock fence

In some areas the underlying bedrock was too close to the ground's surface to dig in the straining post required for a wire fence, so here we put in sections of post and rail as they require less depth.

Post and rail fence

Once we'd completed the fence and carried all the excess materials and old fencing off the site we were straight up onto Loughrigg Fell, filling helicopter-bags ready for the start of another season of path repairs.