Fell Care Day

Wednesday the 6th of July 2016 saw the 13th annual Fell Care Day take place in Glenridding. These events have been taking place throughout the Lake District since 20011

They are run and organised by Friends of the Lake District (https://www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/fell-care-days). They are ‘Mass volunteering practical conservation and learning events which bring together local communities, school and volunteers from many different walks of life.’

On the day there was numerous different activities run throughout the valley, from repairing the Gough monument on Helvellyn to dry stone walling at Hartsop.

Our task was to resurface and maintain the stretch of path from Glencoyne Bay to Glenridding.

Over time the path has started to grow in and the surface has become less attractive to walk on, which has led to people walking around the worst sections.

Earlier in the week we had organised our forestry team to drop off a couple of trailer loads of gravel along the path.

A daunting site for our 8 volunteers.

The plan was to dig a small trench along the current path to widen it to an appropriate width and then fill with gravel.

The volunteers soon settled into their roles and the gravel mountain started to disappear.

I’m always amazed at how much work can get done when there are lots of people helping, and this job was no exception.

The new path beginning to take shape.

By the end of the day the volunteers had managed to re-lay almost 150m of path

A huge thank you has to go to our hard working group, for a fantastic days work.

As well as our group of volunteers there were a further 15 groups in and around Glenridding completing various tasks.

Below is a list of work completed on the day.

•             123 volunteers, 15 volunteer leaders and 10 FLD staff.

•             2000 non-native invasive balsam plants pulled at Patterdale.

•             75m of drainage work completed on Tailings Dam, Greenside.

•             25m of drain clearance at Tailings Dam, Greenside.

•             200sqm of grass seeding completed at Greenside.

•             150 tree guards cleared of bracken to support native tree growth.

•             Gough Monument on Helvellyn fully renovated and restored.

•             150 m of the Ullswater Way path at Glencoyne upgraded with 15 tonnes of aggregate.

•             2,500 sqm of invasive Rhododendron cleared at Aira Force.

•             25km of upland paths cleared and maintained at Howtown, Place Fell and Mires Beck.

•             7.5 tonnes of rock cleared from the beck at Horseman’s Bridge, Hartsop.

•             25m of dry stone wall rebuilt at Cow Bridge, Hartsop

•             821 hours of work completed = 117 days

•             More than 300 pieces of cake eaten!

If you require further information, or just want to take part on a future Fell Care Day take a look at their website (link above).