Fire, fences & stone circle

Over the weekend I took my bike for an outing – part of my keep fit efforts.  Returned to find there was a report of a fell fire on Skiddaw.  We have had a long dry spell of weather and there is a lot of old, dry vegetation that will burn easily.  Trust rangers and the mountain rescue team often join the fire service to deal with these.  This time it was close to a road so the fire service could use tenders and hoses to quench it but sometimes the only way is for as many people as possible to tackle the fire with beaters.

Fire fighting close to a road.

Library picture:  Fire on upper slopes that was much more difficult to extinguish.

Monday was spent working with volunteers at Friars Crag repairing a fence that had been damaged by winter storms.   It’s lambing time and a farmer is planning to do his lambing in that field so needed a stock-proof fence.  The early lambs, the catkins and the daffodils mean that the Lakes are looking at their spring-time best.



Lamb-proofing a fence



During the week we had a day of planning meetings and a day of taking delivery and storing wood for future projects.  We use a lot of wood.  Then it was back to outdoor projects like repairing the jetty on the island, making an early start to complete a car-park job before visitors started arriving and then on to hanging new gates at Castlerigg Stone Circle.



Repairing jetty



New gate to stone circle



Those who know Castlerigg will know that it is in a magnificent location.  It is about 5000 years old and is one of the most visited of the stone circles.  It was acquired in 1913 by a group including Canon Rawnsley who was a co-founder of the Trust.  The Trust has recently been working to improve visitor access whilst protecting the site.  New information boards have also been installed.  If you have not seen it before, it is well worth a visit.

http://www.visitcumbria.com/kes/castlerigg-stone-circle.htm has some good pictures but you really need to visit to feel its true glory.