Gowbarrow helicopter lift and a return to Hole in the Wall

After all our work bagging the rock and aggregate for the footpath repairs on Gowbarrow, it was time to get everything flown over to site.

 Looking down on Ullswater from the helicopter

A quick flight over gave us the opportunity to look down on some of the previous repair work. The path line is through some really boggy areas and was getting rapidly wider as people tried to avoid the worst areas. After the addition of aggregate and some stone drains, the path has narrowed considerably and the erosion has been completely stopped. The vegetation is now slowly returning to areas that had once just been bare peat.

 Gowbarrow summit from the air

The lower sections on the Dockray side of the path are being repaired using the aggregate and we're using the rock on the steeper section of the path, which had previously been pitched. This section of the path is also going to be re-aligned to avoid a section of bedrock that's proving awkward for some people to walk on.

Flying in aggregate to Gowbarrow

Either side of the helicopter lifts, we've been working on the footpath near Hole in the Wall. We're continuing the upper section of footpath that we originally started in 2017.

 Start of this years work before landscaping

Although considerably wider than the usual footpaths that we build, due to the number of walkers using it, the new path is still much narrower than the eroded path was and is more contained.

 Start of this years work after landscaping

As usual, we're removing any turf before it's covered with spoil and then using it to line the stone path. Re-turfing like this tends to work really well. Where we've worked on the path lower down, areas of Heather have already began growing in the turf as well as other species of flower such as Bedstraws, Eyebrights and Tormentil.

 Middle section completed

We still liberally apply grass seed, but it tends to struggle to germinate at these higher elevations. However, the low levels of grazing up here means that grass is more likely to grow longer, flower and set-seed. So hopefully over time the area will self-seed itself, although we'll still give it a helping hand with the addition of extra grass seed if needed.

Upper section completed

Revisiting Boredale Hause

We recently had a site visit over to the bridleway coming down from Boredale Hause to check how things were looking and catch up with the South Lakes team, who are still working up there.

Bottom section before starting work

 Bottom section (after)

This series of photographs shows how the path looked either prior to commencing work, or just after landscaping, and one month after the landscaping once the grass seed has started to grow.

 Lower section (before)

 Lower section (after)

You can immediately see the difference now the grass has started to grow, as the eroded area has been considerably narrowed. The erosion is wider in many places than can be seen in the photographs, as much of it is hidden by the piles of rock.

 Lower Section 2 (before)

  Lower Section 2 (after)

It's still early days for the grass growth, as the banks are still very mobile and it can easily be set-back by sheep, dogs, or people walking over it. If the grass can be left undisturbed for a year, it is much more likely to withstand walking on.

Sheep also have a tendency to be attracted to this fresh growth, but as it is just developing the sheep tend to pull the seedlings out by the roots as they are unable to cut through the grass with their teeth. This uprooted grass, of course, perishes.

 Middle section (immediately after landscaping)

  Middle section (one month later)

Most of the turf that was placed alongside the path, which had originally struggled due to the very dry summer, has now started to grow. This will help keep much of the soil off the path if disturbed by sheep wandering over the banks.

 Upper middle section (immediately after landscaping)

 Upper middle section (one month later)

It can take time for everything to properly settle down and it's also likely that some of the grass will die off during the winter, so we'll keep a close eye on things and carry some more bags of grass seed up when required.

Bedrock section (immediately after landscaping)

Bedrock section (one month later)

Continuing our path repairs at Helm Crag

Since our last update the rain has continued to fall but with the mild temperatures and occasional glimpse of sunshine it's been great weather for our grass seed to grow.

The recently landscaped area has already turned a lush green colour and combined with the low level of grazing in the area it's also reached a good length. Sheep love it when we put down grass seed but when they graze freshly sown seed they tend to pull it out of the ground as the root system is not strong enough to hold it in place. So hopefully it will continue to grow, and strengthen, before the sheep notice we've put it down.

 

The grass seed beginning to grow

Over the last couple of weeks as we've completed a few more sections of footpath we've been landscaping the path along the way.

Landscaping is an essential part of the job as it helps the path to blend in with it's surroundings and also helps stop people wandering off the path and causing further erosion damage.

When we repair a path we often generate large amounts of rubble and soil and this is used to create banks, fill in eroded areas near to the path and also fill gaps between the pitching. Nothing goes to waste.

During landscaping work

You can see in the photograph above a bank of soil to the right of the path. This soil has been used to cover over rubble (which takes a long time to weather and blend in) and also to create a bank and drain to the left of the path. The soil has been shaped to create a natural looking mound and rock is dug into it at strategic points where people may wander off the path. Digging in weathered stone also helps create a more natural looking bank.

Filling in the gaps with soil

The photo above shows another bank of soil. Much of this was dragged to site using old heli-bags from a section being worked on where there was a surplus of soil. The soil here has been used to cover over, and stabilise, a patch of rubble that was dug out while repairing the path. It's also being used to fill in gaps between the pitching prior to seeding. 

Once these newly landscaped areas are covered with grass seed it hopefully won't take too long until they too green up and blend in nicely with their surroundings.

A wet start to summer on the Helm Crag path

Over the past few weeks we've been steadily getting further up the path at Helm Crag. It's been fairly wet over this time and we've had some really torential downpours, but at least they give us a break from the midges!

Pitching in the rain...again

With our type of work we carry on regardless of what the weather's chucking at us. Unless it reaches a point where it really is starting to get unsafe we'll just keep plodding on with our work.

One such instance of the weather being too unsafe to work in was when we were caught out in a recent thunderstorm while out on a drain run near Harrison Stickle. The storm suddenly appeared from nowhere right over head and we noticed lightning strike the ground just a few hundred metres away. We quickly downed tools and crouched down next to a nearby crag so that if the lighning was to strike it would (in theory) hit the higher ground rather than us.

The storm stayed for a good fifteen minutes with the lighning hitting the ground all around us. When it appeared that there was a bit of a break we quickly headed off down the hill via Stickle Ghyll.

Finishing off the first section of path

Back to Helm Crag...since the last blog update we've all almost finished the sections that we started. Once we finish a section we join up to the person working infront and then leapfrog to the top of the path. We carry on like this until the path is finished. Working like this means you're not usually too far from another Fell Ranger so if you need a hand at any point there's somebody close by.

Putting down some grass seed

With the first section of path completed the area to the sides of the path was landscaped and grass seed was put down. Hopefully with all the warm and wet weather we've been having it shouldn't take too long to start growing.

Moving materials to site

After all our exertions filling bags with rock over the last few weeks, we were ready for the arrival of the helicopter to move them. Usually as soon as the helicopter is booked you can guarantee that it'll rain, the cloud will drop or the wind will really pick up or even a combination of these things. This time we were lucky, we were forecast a whole week of settled weather and there was hardly a cloud in the sky all week.

Our first helicopter lift involved moving fencing materials over to Stickle Ghyll. As we are due to replace the fencing around the plantation on the left hand side of the ghyll, and since the helicopter was available we thought we'd take advantage. All the materials were carefully bundled together and flown up and we also had a few 20kg bags of grass seed flown up for re-seeding bare areas around the path.

Preparing the fencing materials

The next lift took place in Easedale, flying the bags of rock that we had previously filled over to the path at Helm Crag. The drop site was a tricky one as it is fringed by trees which means an extra long sling had to be used so that the helicopter had plenty of clearance while placing the bags in position.  Using a longer sling makes it more difficult for the pilot to drop the bags as accurately, and also increases the likelihood of getting tangled up in the trees.

The lift went on well into the evening but we managed to move everything to site and given the awkwardness of the drop site the pilot was spot on with where he put the bags.

Moving rock at Helm Crag

Our final lift was at Aira Force, where we flew in bags of slate for a section of stone footpath that we'll be working on later in the year and also several bags of gravel for resurfacing works.

Once again although there's a lot of tree coverage in the area the lift went extremely well and the materials were all moved to site in just a few hours.

Finishing off the top Section of path at Mickleden

Over the last couple of weeks we've been finishing off replacing the old and steep section of path at Mickleden, and landscaping the newly built path to help it blend in with it's surroundings.

With all the pitching now completed and the drains in place, we got on with roughing up the edges of the path with left over stone to make things look a bit more natural and also to encourage people not to wander off the path and create another erosion problem.

Moving a stone into position to help reduce corner cutting

Flat sections off the path were also made less attractive to walk on by digging holes and putting in smaller stones, that had been dug out while replacing the path. These stones were covered over with the soil that had been removed from the hole and the turf placed back on top, to create bumpy areas. This also helps to tidy up the area, rather than leaving a lot of left-over waste material around the worksite.

Once this was done we put down some grass seed and fertilizer. Though it's a little late in the season there's still a good chance that much of the seed will lay dormant over winter and sprout next spring. We'll come back and check it's progress in 2012 and if required put more seed down over the next couple of years.

The completed path, with freshly seeded areas

With the main section of path now finished we've moved on to some work lower down the path. We're mostly replacing sections where the steps are a bit too high, either because of the way the path was built, or because the ground has now eroded away since they were put in. Once we've finished these last few sections it should make for a far more pleasant walk down.

Replacing one of the short sections of path

Footpath repair at Stickle Ghyll and Mickleden

Last week we returned up the fell for the start of a new season of upland footpath work.We started off the week by erecting our sheds up at Stickle Ghyll  and Mickleden which will provide us with a base to keep a few tools, and give us somewhere to shelter while we are having our lunch.
Since we had some good weather, we took the opportunity to put some grass seed down around the paths and in the plantations (on the left hand side of Stickle Ghyll). Grass seeding is an ongoing task, as it can often take several years for the grass to become properly established, and is very dependent on the weather during the growing season, the level of grazing, and also the amount of any trampling.

The shed site at Stickle Ghyll

During the week we also had a Fix the Fells volunteer group who came and helped us out at Mickleden. We started work on pitching a section just after the bridge and also landscaping with some large boulders to help narrow down the path. Unfortunately the weather deteriorated for the day but we still managed to get a decent amount of work completed.

The Fix the Fells volunteers hard at work

Pete and Leo narrowing the path

Towards the end of the week we were back up Stickle Ghyll starting work on repairing the stepping stones at the top of the ghyll. Before starting on the main stepping stones we had to create a safe crossing area that we can use as a temporary diversion. So we winched a couple of stones into place across the beck so that people can safely cross while we fix the main crossing, higher up the path.

Building the diversion

With the upcoming bank holidays the team are all taking a few days holiday to get some well earned rest.  So it will probably be a couple of weeks before the next update, hopefully this good weather will stay with us for a while longer!

Preparations for the Helicopter Lift

After a couple of weeks of rock collection the helicopter lifts are now nearly upon us. So we’ve turned our attention to getting everything in place ready for the lifts.

First of all, we went to collect sixteen 25kg bags of grass seed that will be used to revegetate around the footpaths; this helps slow down any erosion and also helps the path to blend in with it’s surroundings a little more quickly. The seed, and a few bags of fertiliser, will be flown up to this years work sites, and also to a few other sites where we have worked in the past that still require a bit more greening up.

Our stockpile of grass seed in the seed store

When we’re working up on the fells, we can often be an hours walk from our vehicle, so it is really useful to have somewhere near to the work site to store any equipment, tools and grass seed that we may need. So at each work site we generally have a shed flown in. Our shed also provides us with somewhere that we can retreat to for our lunch when the weather is particularly bad, or on rare occasions it provides us with shelter from the midday sun in the summertime.

Usually each shed lasts for many years, just requiring a little strengthening or minor repairs from time to time if it has suffered any damage during strong winds. When we’ve finished work at a site we dismantle the shed and flat pack it, secure it with tension straps and weigh it down with rocks (just in case of any gales) so that it’s all ready to be flown to the next site. Unfortunately, somebody had decided they wanted to take the tension straps we’d used to secure the shed next to the path above Stickle Tarn. So when we went to check that everything was ok with it, we discovered that the shed had been ripped to bits by the strong winter winds.

So last week we went to pick up a new shed. The shed is 7' x 7' and custom built so that it can be made with thicker wood than your standard garden shed which in theory should help it last that bit longer. But when we came to unpack the shed we quickly realised that whoever had ordered it had forgotten to ask for any windows in it, so our shed was more like a (very dark) box. Luckily we had some clear perspex so we cut it to size and set about putting a window in .

Glazing the shed

The next job was to strengthen it a little. We did this by securing each corner with three heavy duty bolts, and in addition the floor was attatched to the sides of the shed with coach screws. This tends to hold everything together much more strongly than if it is all just held in place with wood screws.

Drilling the bolt holes

Finally, work began on felting the roof. Although the rain always manages to find it’s way into the shed, and you can pretty much guarantee that at some point, late on in the year, at least one member of the team will be sat having their lunch whilst trying to avoid drips from the roof, you’ve at least got to make the effort. So a thick layer of waterproofing was painted on to the roof and the felt tacked on over it, so fingers crossed and we’ll see how it lasts.

Felting the roof

So now all that’s left is to put out a few signs on the paths where the stone is being moved. These help to inform everybody about the helicopter operations, so that people know what’s going on and that there’s likely to be delays and possibly diversions. Hopefully we’ll get some decent weather on the days of our lifts, though at the moment the forecast isn’t looking great.