England’s highest and most iconic mountain is Fix the Fells’ number one priority for path repair due to worrying levels of erosion caused by the sheer numbers of people visiting each year.
The proposal involves stone pitching new sections of popular paths on Scafell Pike from Wasdale in the Brown Tongue and Lingmel Col area. The budget would enable the repair and restoration of approximately 50m of path. The paths are badly eroded and in dire need of repair. Some sections were originally stone-pitched in the early 1990s and these are now too narrow and rough to walk on. This means walkers leave the path and cause rapidly spreading erosion which creates deep gullies and ugly scars on the landscape, not what walkers, climbers and bikers want to see when visiting one of the most scenic and beautiful parts of the UK. The whole path is awkward in places and showing clear signs of wear and tear. The new path will be wider and easier to walk on.
The Update
The project was successfully completed in October 2019.
After preliminary survey work, specifications for the path repair were drawn up, and an appropriate source of local stone identified.
A total of 32 bags of stone were helicoptered into the site.
A small, dedicated team, carefully restored 50m of the main Scafell Pike path from Wasdale, in the Brown Tongue and Lingmell Col area. Whenever possible, existing stone was used in the path repair. The work of this dedicated team included: widening the path throughout the section; landscaping the edges; revetting collapsed banks; and, installing appropriate path drainage and incorporating it within the stonework and landscaping of the path.
Following completion of the path repair works, upland seed mixes were used to help re-establish vegetation.
All this hard work will help to encourage visitors to stay on the new path and protect the surrounding fragile mountain vegetation for years to come.
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