An away-day.

Last week saw the day when rangers and volunteers gathered for a start-the-season meeting to catch up with news about what we have all been doing.  We all live and work in a large area of the country and it would be easy to become immersed in our work and never see one another unless we plan to meet up.  There is a lot to learn by sharing experiences so it’s important that we create the opportunities to do so.

This time we met in Ennerdale where an innovative project known as Wild Ennerdale is being developed.  You can read a lot about that at the dedicated website here.

During the morning we had presentations about a range of projects.  In the afternoon, the weather allowed us to have a walk along the lake shore to see some of the work that has already been done in the re-wilding of the valley.  This is a project that will be ongoing for many years but already the amount that has been achieved is impressive.  I still like to think of Borrowdale as the best valley but I do like to visit the others to see what’s new elsewhere.

Another project I’ve been involved with has been the collaboration of the National Trust with the Fell & Rock Climbing Club (FRCC), the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), the National Park Authority and Natural England to draw up a code of conduct for winter climbing.  The outcome is a newly-published voluntary code that will encourage winter mountaineers to make ethical ascents that have minimal impact on rock climbs, on the natural cliff environment and on the future of the sport.  You can find out more about the details including a summary version of the code at this site.  This is big step towards minimising environmental damage whilst allowing shared use of the Lake District.  There has been extensive consultation and agreement with user groups so we hope everyone will be happy to observe the code.

Hi, Daisy here,

Che’s come to stay. He’s my best friend now.