Keswick Mountain Festival 2010 are supporting Fix the Fells

 The Lake District is one of the most beautiful places in the world. However, our high level paths are surprisingly fragile. With millions of visitors each year, grass is compacted by feet and worn away by wind, rain and ice. Millions of people enjoy the fells each year, but increasing recreational use and high visitor numbers mean that many ancient high mountain paths and lakeshore walks are suffering from too much love.

 Since 2002 skilled footpath repair teams, specialist local contractors and hundreds of volunteers, have been using both traditional and cutting edge techniques to maintain and repair the Lake District’s upland footpaths. With generous funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the support of our fantastic partners, and the public, we’ve fixed more than 160 Lake District paths, but at least 60 are still in desperate need of some tender loving care.

Out in all weathers 

In recent years walkers have become better equipped with all-weather gear to tackle the higher peaks during the winter months. Unfortunately winter is when paths are at their most vulnerable. Left unchecked, erosion can cause serious problems for walkers, damage to the surrounding environment and huge scars on the fells.

How bad can it get?

You may remember the erosion on popular peaks like Skiddaw. At one point the Jenkins Hill path was 22 metres wide and growing at over two metres a year. We estimate thousands of tonnes of soil were lost into Bassenthwaite Lake and the river Derwent over the years. This causes problems for wildlife in the rivers and lakes, and can impact on flooding downstream. The Fix the Fells project has repaired the damaged path, and dozens of other major erosion scars in the area.

What’s the solution?

Our high level paths are surprisingly fragile, and with millions of visitors each year, grass is compacted by feet, and worn away.  Fix the Fells works to repair damaged paths, and where possible, catch problems before they become serious and more costly to deal with. They do this by improving drainage, re-vegetating and landscaping to protect the soil, using local stone to pitch steep and remote paths, or using the subsoil to create a firm durable surface.

Everyone can help by treading more carefully:

• Steep paths ‘zig zag’ because it’s easier walking across a slope than straight up. Avoid take shortcuts. Water will soon follow your tracks and an erosion scar will form.
• Keep to the path surface. Walking along the side of worn paths will just widen them faster, and slow-growing mountain plants are particularly vulnerable to trampling.
• Avoid building new cairns.  Stones on the paths protect the soil underneath, and paths need stones more than cairns do.

Remember, there may be only one of you, but millions more pairs of feet tread the paths each year in the Lake District.

You can help…
It costs £100 to build a metre of stone pitched footpath; £10 for reseeding and landscaping alongside a metre of footpath and £25 for a ton of stone.

Please support the path workers and help Fix the Fells by donating via our website www.fixthefells.co.uk

or Text ‘FIX’ to 81400.
Texts cost £1.50 plus your standard network rate, of which approximately £1.00 goes towards Fix The Fells.

Fix the Fells is being supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund until 2011. They ‘match’ fund every £1 donation with £2. Therefore, you can triple your donation by supporting this project and continue to enjoy the Fells and footpaths around Keswick and the Lake District for years to come.

Thank you for your support

Note

Fix the Fells is a five-year partnership project run by the Lake District National Park Authority, the National Trust and Natural England. Support and funding is provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Friends of the Lake District, The Ramblers Association and The Tourism and Conservation Partnership.

For further details and to see how you can help visit www.fixthefells.co.uk