Jobs finished, mountains climbed and holes in the ground.

It was a busy week at work last week.  I spent one day with my team of local volunteers.  We managed to finish off a job that had been started by the Yorkshire volunteers but couldn’t be completed at the time because the lake level was too high.  We have now completed the removal of some old, redundant fencing on the lake shore.  This job has also removed one unnecessary gate and the path around the lake now feels more open – it also looks better.

Another day was spent going to the top of Great Gable to photograph a war memorial.  This is part of a project that the Trust is carrying out for 2014 which marks 100 years since the outbreak of World War 1.  A photographic record of all war memorials and commemorative donations of land on Trust properties is being created.  It is important that we keep these in good order.

Daisy came with me.  I chose a route from Honister and up Gillercombe because there is a stream for part of the way for her to have a drink.  

I also filled up some water bottles to take on up to the summit.  She is quite a big dog now but, despite her irritation, I did carry her on a couple of particularly steep sections so that she did not overtire.  I needn’t have worried.  When I sat down at the top, she was orbiting me like a little comet.

Then one evening Jamie Lund (archaeologist), John Malley  (water adviser) and I had a little excursion into the coffin levels of an Elizabethan mine.

  Jamie has been researching the old mines on Trust land and wanted to see this one.  John made a photographic record. 

It is amazing to enter these coffin levels and to think that they were hand cut into solid rock. The pick marks can be seen in the rock. 

To minimise the amount of rock that had to be removed they are narrow at the bottom, widen for the shoulders and then become narrow again.  This gives them their coffin shape.  We three were not able to walk through with our shoulders square on.  Those miners must have been strong and fit but much smaller than we are.

Daisy here:

I’ve been up a big mountain.  Roy still carried me a little bit.  What’s that all about?  I showed him.  I had energy to spare running round and round. It was great. 

And I’ve been down a hole in the ground.  Not sure what that was about but it seemed to be fun.  Everybody went in.

Our holiday in the Lakes.

I have just taken a break from work catching up with time on lieu of worked weekends.  I spent the time having a holiday in the Lake District!  We decided that we would stay and enjoy what millions of others see as a fantastic place to have a holiday.

We stayed on Derwent Island for a few nights looking after it for the tenants as they had a short break.  Daisy had a great time playing with Ted, the island dog.  They had a lot of fun racing around the south lawn and swimming.  Daisy was much faster than Ted running around but he was definitely a stronger swimmer.

We then met up with Canadian friends Kirk and Jo Mauthner.  Kirk was running courses for mountain rescue teams on rope-work and rigging techniques.  Between these they stayed a few days with us.  We spent some time canoeing on Derwentwater and also made a visit to Grizedale Forest to walk the sculpture trail there.  It was good to catch up with them. 

And we also had a walk with Ellie (from the Rescue Team) and her collies.  Daisy was able to show off her swimming skills.  She was obviously much more enthusiastic about the water than the collies were – a big difference between labradors (gundogs) and collies.

I know I’ve said this before but it can’t be said too often.  When you are out walking, look at the mountains, the lakes and the sky but don’t forget what is close by you and your feet.  We walked one day through the Ings which is a wetland area quite near Keswick and we saw lots of tadpoles, a dragon-fly larva and a water snail. 

On another walk in the Falcon Crag area we saw peregrines, a roe deer that Daisy ‘pointed’ out to us and also red deer slots (footprints).  On the return along the lake shore, we found otter spraints (poo) left by otters to mark their territory.  I’m still not convinced that spraints smell like jasmine tea!

Daisy here:

I’ve got loads of friends.  It’s great.  Ted on Derwent Island is a brilliant swimmer.  And I’ve been canoeing.   Canoeing is great.  You can look at the splashes that come off the paddles from side to side and side to side.  Roy doesn’t think that’s very good.

50 things for you to do (& some for Daisy).

The Mountain Festival is now over for another year.  It did become rather damp eventually but was still very successful.  The Trust was on hand to organise a number of activities within the theme “50 things to do before you are 11¾”.  This is one of the Trust’s national campaigns this year.   (It’s half-term so go to the link and you might be able to tick off a few from the list.) 

I worked mainly at the amphitheatre beside the Trust shop.  From there I could advise or help with the navigation trail which had been set out.  I could also continue with the work to install riven oak posts and hand-rail.  And of course it was an ideal opportunity to talk to a lot of people about the area and our work.

As usual for such events, they were long days with the final Sunday being very long.  By then the field was quite muddy and the Trust’s four-wheel drive vehicles were in action to tow off a few that were having problems.

During the week I had another session at Watendlath with pupils from Borrowdale School.  This time we did some map-reading and navigation work. 

They did some work on pacing and timing plus a little on compasses and bearings.  They then followed a short orienteering course.  I stood on a little knoll where I could see them and it was good to see just how much they were enjoying themselves.  It is such a brilliant place for them to be running around on the hills whilst they are also learning.

Hi, it’s Daisy here.

Have you tried swimming?

On-lookers!

It’s great.  I’m a natural.

A tale of a log and a hammock.

This last week, I’ve been working with more of our fantastic volunteers.  This time it was a local Cumbrian group who come and work with me twice a year.  We worked on the open-air site (the amphitheatre) beside the shop.

They made serious inroads into some time-consuming tasks.  The section of tree trunk that is being used in the amphitheatre has some fire damage and that needs to be cleared off so that it can be used as seating.  We’ve tried a few methods to do that and it seems that a good old chisel might be the best answer because we do want the trunk to retain its natural appearance.

This little area is rapidly becoming an informal multi-purpose area.  It was used as an outdoor office one fine day recently when I met with one of my volunteers to discuss a project.  We usually have those meetings in our Trust offices in Borrowdale but the amphitheatre was a very agreeable alternative.  And I could carry on chiselling the tree trunk!

Later in the week, I went over to the Buttermere area to help out a fellow ranger Mark with a new walk.  He was taking out a school group that included a wheel-chair user.  I was able to borrow a wheel-chair from the Calvert Trust which specialises in providing outdoor experiences to those with impaired mobility.

In this case, the user was an inspiring young woman who was determined to walk if she possibly could.  She used the wheelchair only over particularly rough ground or on steep slopes.  Where necessary the chair was roped up and members of her group hauled it.  It was a good day.  Good to see different ways that my colleagues work and good to see how the group worked together so that everyone could have a great day enjoying the outdoors.

It’s Daisy:

I like hammocks.  You jump in and out and in and out and in and out ...!   Roy doesn’t like hammocks when I’m jumping in and out. 

Mountain Festival preparations

This weekend throughout Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Keswick Mountain Festival is taking place and there will be many activities at Crow Park (opposite Theatre by the Lake beside Derwentwater).  The park is managed by the National Trust so we will be heavily involved.  If you visit, you will be able to choose from “Fifty Things to Do” including tree-climbing, wild art and making mud pies.  You will also find other contributors to the festival who will be organising different activities.

My contribution will be to offer an introductory level navigation activity.  With the help of Rebecca, who is a Trust intern, I have set out a course for a stand-alone trail from the park to Friars Crag and back through Cockshott Woods.  Becky took on the task of producing the trail leaflets and signs.  You can just pick up one of those trail leaflets and head off or I will be on hand if you want some help or advice.

By the time you have completed the trail, you will have gained some experience in the two key areas of navigation – in which direction and how far do you need to walk?  You will learn something about compass work, hand-railing (following a natural feature in the landscape) plus the timing and pacing of fifty metres.  These will be fun to learn now and might be very useful in future.

Hi, it’s Daisy here.

I’m losing my teeth.  I’ve got two sets of canines at the moment.  Is this normal?  Roy seems to think it is.

The return of the Yorkshire team.

Last week saw the annual visit of a group of regional volunteers from Yorkshire.  I’ve now been working with this group for 15 years.  Some of them have been coming for several years now and it’s great to see them again and also to welcome new faces.  These are people who are experienced team-workers with a wide range of skills that they have developed working in different Trust properties.  Add some time from my local experienced volunteers and a huge amount of work is completed in a couple of days.

On Day 1 we worked on the eastern shores of the lake clearing the pathway of debris left behind as the higher water levels of winter begin to fall. We also did a bit of dry-stone walling either side of a gap in a wall that allows us access with machinery when we need it.

 On Day 2 we moved into Cockshott Wood and continued with the clearing of the pathway there.  If we don’t do this maintenance regularly, the pathway will quickly become overgrown and all the hard work to make it accessible for all will be wasted.  If you walk a well-maintained National Trust path, there’s a good chance that volunteers play a big part in keeping it in good condition.  They really do deserve huge thanks from us all – they do sterling work.

Elsewhere in the week, the Mountain Rescue team has been very busy with call-outs to several incidents.  Overall, these have involved working with two air-ambulances, two Sea-King helicopters and another rescue team.

It’s Daisy again.

If I sleep on his jacket, he won’t forget me.

A path for everyone.

Regular readers of the blog will know about the ongoing project to create an access-for-all path along the western shore of Derwentwater.  I’ve been working on this piece by piece for at least 20 years now.

Last week I made a visit with a group of people whose concern is accessibility for those with disabilities.   John Crosbie, who for many years was Centre Director of the Lake District Calvert Trust (experts in the provision of outdoor activities for people with disabilities), was keen for them to see the latest developments on the path.

This is a project where everyone wins.  What was once a 20 metre wide and often muddy path now has a good surface and is little more than a metre wide.  This encourages walkers to stay on the path and protects the surrounding vegetation.  It also allows wheelchair-users, pram-pushers and other limited mobility users to enjoy a beautiful lakeside location.

In order to make part of the path accessible to all, we had to construct a board-walk.  I’ve mentioned before that we used recycled plastic ‘boards’ for this.  They have a textured, non-slip surface and should last longer than the wooden boards we recently replaced.  For anyone who might be concerned about using plastic in a landscape like this, when we were installing the board-walk, a frequent question from passing walkers was, “What do you use to treat the wood?”  The longest stretch we have installed is about 300 metres across wet-land.  If you visit, you will see that it is much less visually intrusive than a spreading path.

This was one of those occasions where there was an opportunity to step back from the details of a project and see the overall achievement to date.  We know that the Calvert Trust and similar users can now access an increasing amount of the lake shore.  Not only is that very satisfying but it motivates us to continue the work along the opposite shore of the lake.  And it reflects a founding principle of the National Trust that it will act for ever, for everybody – we do need to look after the landscape but also make it as accessible as possible to as many as possible.

Hi, it's Daisy here.

 I've had lots of friends to stay and I've learned all about lambs and sheep. You are allowed to look at them from a distance.  But you must not try and play with them.  I don't want to play with them anyway.

Pictures of two of my friends