Three Lake District footpaths have been repaired by Fix the Fells.
The repairs up to Glenridding Dodd, Gowbarrow Fell and Loughrigg Fell were completed over the winter, thanks to £88,000 from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which was administered by Westmorland and Furness Council, along with £15,000 raised by the National Trust.
Fix the Fells restored 1,750m of path across the three routes.
The low-level walking routes in Ullswater and Ambleside provide easy access to three of the most popular Wainwright walks.
As a result, a combination of thousands of feet and extreme Lakeland weather had begun to take its toll, blighting these routes with severe erosion.
To minimise damage from heavy rainfall, work included improving the drainage to prevent further erosion, re-establishing the stonework of the path itself and then landscaping around it. This makes the path more distinct, encouraging walkers to stick to it and in turn allow surrounding grasses and flowers to regrow.
The path to Glenridding Dodd is also the way to Sheffield Pike, and both are popular Wainwright walks in Ullswater.
This had caused the route to be severely eroded, especially as it is also incredibly steep.
Stone-pitched steps were installed and the surrounding damaged vegetation landscaped to make the path obvious.
The area had been needing work for many years, and it was only due to the Shared Prosperity Fund that the challenges of the location could be overcome, such as funding for a heli-lift to drop stones off to site.
The route to Gowbarrow Fell is accessed from Aira Force and is part of the Ullswater Way: a 26-mile walk around the lake. Its popularity has also increased recently due to the Ullswater Steamer drop-off service.
On this route, the team focused on creating a durable surface to protect the surrounding peat-rich soils.
Work at Loughrigg Fell has made the path clearer and easier to follow for walkers. Work included sections of stone pitching to help walkers stay on track across increasingly indistinct rocky sections, which improved the loose surface and will divert rainwater across the path rather than directly down the fell, reducing erosion.
These completed projects are among the 26 in total carried out by Fix the Fells during 2024.
Fix the Fells is a partnership programme between the National Trust, the Lake District National Park, Natural England, Friends of the Lake District and the Lake District Foundation.
It has 21 members of staff and 140 volunteers who spent over 3,000 days in 2024 working, unpaid, on path restorations.
For more information, visit https://www.fixthefells.co.uk/
