It was inevitable really that we would have
to spend a lot of time in planning the project to lay pipes across to Derwent
Island. There will be three pipes on the lake bed. One will supply fresh water;
a second will supply LPG gas and the third will remove waste water. Now that
the work is underway, there are clear stages to tackle and we can have a sense
of achievement as each is completed.
Last week we had reached the stage where
the three lengths of piping had to be rolled out and hauled across from the
lake shore to the island. These are long, heavy and cumbersome to manoeuvre so
I was concerned that this was going to be a very difficult stage to complete.
In fact, the combined efforts of Trust Rangers from a number of areas and the
contractor’s dive team ensured that it all went smoothly. It was a lot of hard
work of course but there were no unexpected problems.
A rope was attached to one end of a pipe
and the dive team took the rope across to the island. The dive team positioned
a boat about half way across and from then on it was a case of hard graft just
hauling and dragging the pipes. It all went incredibly well and definitely
proved that many hands do make light work.
The other big project which has been
started by the fell ranger footpath guys is on Castle Crag. They are going to
be building a new stretch of stone-built pitch path. This will enable us to
take out an old ladder stile that is definitely on its ‘last legs’. It will
make it much easier and safer for people to access the area. It will also mean
that long-term maintenance should be easier to carry out.
That’s another job
that’s going to require a lot of hard physical work but it is a beautiful place
to be working if the weather is good. They’ve been a bit unlucky so far with
the weather and have been working through some pretty cold, wintry showers. But,
hats off to them, they have carried on regardless.
Daisy here:
We’ve been up Castle Crag. It was great. I could hear peregrines. I
didn’t know what they were but Roy said they were peregrines.
