Mend Our Mountains: meet ranger Caroline from Fix the Fells
![](https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/ca9ff6b7-0fc3-4b0d-a064-8b66d10b7ae7.jpg?crop=1050%3A590%3Anowe%3A0%3A109)
If you're a BMC member or if you have made a donation to the BMC Access & Conservation Trust (ACT), you are directly supporting our Mend Our Mountains campaign which is funding Fix the Fells again this year. Your contributions enable rangers like Caroline Mercer to consistently repair and manage the Lake District paths that we love to walk on. We caught up with Caroline on a path above Derwent Water, near Keswick, to find out about a typical day in her life - it's pretty hard work!
What does your typical day look like?
We start at 7:00 in the morning, so we're up early to get to base for that time. We have a weekly plan looking at where we're going to work and one of the first things we always do is check the weather forecast. If we're working somewhere quite remote or with lots of becks to cross, if we suddenly get a really heavy rainfall, there's always a risk we could get cut off. Or if wind speeds are too high, we really don't want to be blown around whilst we're trying to move rocks and stones.
If we're working on a long term project, we have all the tools on site, so it's a case of getting into the vehicle, driving where we're going, walking into that work site. We have a quick cup of tea first because sometimes it could take over an hour to walk in. And then we all have our own stretch of pitching or landscaping to do, and it'll be heads down and work followed by the very important lunch time. The length of the afternoon's continued work depends on where we are, our walk out time and travel time, but we aim to get back to base sort of about 4:30 - 4:45pm. Then it's wet gear in the drying room and we all head home for the day.
How hard is the work?
You have to be physically fit to be a ranger. The most extreme walks into a work site are probably for an hour, an hour and a half, carrying everything - your shovel, big digging bars and mattocks (and the bars themselves can sometimes weigh five kilograms), plus all your food and your water for the day. Particularly in hot weather, you may need to carry 2-3L of water. And when you get to wherever you're working, again, the work is very physical. We fill one tonne bags of stone to use for pitching. So if you can imagine emptying one of those out before starting work with it, then digging the ground to put the stones in place - it's all nicely physical, with a bit of strength as well.
What about the weather?
You have to be quite resilient to the weather particularly. I know the Lake District is famed for it. It is wet! Sometimes you can go out and there'll be water filling the holes that you've just dug, and you're trying to put the stone in and create a drain or pitching. Meanwhile, your hood's flying off and there's mud dripping everywhere. So that's one side of it. But then again, you end up with days where it's beautiful too, so that balances those out.
And you work as a team?
There's a strong element of teamwork as well. We're a very small team of five in the northern Lakes area and we really do all work together. We spend a lot of time together and we're always keen to help each other out and look at different ways of working as well. As a ranger you have to be quite adaptable.
Your current projects?
So right now we are on a section called Ashness to Falcon Crag. It's a bridleway and it was getting very eroded in terms of the width of it. It was probably up to five - ten metres wide with multiple lines. We were losing lots of vegetation and soil. So by funding our work as Fix the Fells fells, it has enabled us to come along and and stabilise it.
We've worked with the users to look at how they use it, so we don't destroy the pleasure that people have cycling or walking down it. But it enables us to make these paths more sustainable for the future. If this work didn't take place, then we'd probably take quite a number of years and steps backwards and end up with huge gullies in places, like we had here before the work. Some of them were as tall as I am - I'm five foot. You'd lose lots of soil which would then flow into the watercourses and the lakes.
We're also working up at Calf Cove to Esk Hause, re-stabilising the paths and hillside there. Again, a lot of that is about trying to contain the path - the path can be quite peaty and boggy. So we're looking at putting in sustainable path lines and drainage to take the water off and rewet and revegetate areas that have been eroded. So those are two of the projects that the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust Mend Our Mountains funding, thank you very much, is enabling us to continue with.
Your favourite project?
Projects like this [at Ashness] where you have suddenly got massive areas that are really eroded and wide, and within a year we've actually managed to revegetate and totally change the size of the path. I think for me, that's one of the things, regardless of what project I'm doing, is how quickly it all blends into the landscape - when you go back and it looks like it's been there for longer than 11 months. Rather than one single project, it's the overall work that we do and results like these.
Biggest challenge?
The most challenging aspect of the job is wanting to get it right; to make sure that the stone work is of high quality, to make the landscaping all blend in, make the paths sustainable and make them suit a variety of users, such as mountain biking communities, people with fell ponies, walkers and runners. So it's basically making the footpaths and bridleways as sustainable and as natural-looking as we can whilst providing a durable, enjoyable pathway for people.
Why is it important to fund Fix the Fells?
Erosion is being sped up by footfall and climate change. If we leave some areas totally untouched, then we end up with great, big, unsightly scars meters deep, meters wide, which then become exacerbated. Once you lose this soil it's not replaceable - you're down to to bare rock. Whereas if we can step in and control that erosion and help it heal by revegetating it, that's what's important about the work of Fix the Fells - it's stopping that erosion getting to the point of no return.
How can we help?
You can help Fix the Fells out by, wherever possible, using the paths and keeping to them; not dropping any litter and taking any you find home with you, and just getting out enjoying the fells. I would encourage anybody to try volunteering for the BMC Get Stuck In projects in the Lake District or come out on one of the Friends of the Lake District days, where members of the public can sign up for path maintenance days to see what we do. Volunteering in those ways is open to everybody. When we're out in the mountains we get a lot of inquiries about what we're doing and that is absolutely brilliant because we can talk to people about what we do and make the work more widely known. So if you're interested just say, "Hello," and ask us what we're up to.
WATCH: Fix the Fells ranger Caroline shows us the Mend Our Mountains successes in the Lake District
Support the BMC ACT Mend Our Mountains campaign
Path repair is a surprisingly costly business. Working in remote locations with complex equipment and adverse weather conditions makes rebuilding trails an enormous and expensive challenge.
Every £1 helps and no donation is too small:
£5 buys a pair of work gloves
£10 buys a replacement handle for a mattock
£25 buys a shovel or sun cream & midge repellent for a ranger team
£50 buys five garden skips for moving soil
£150 buys protective clothing for path repairers
£250 fixes approximately one metre of footpath
£1000 flies ten bags of stone to an inaccessible mountain location
Support the Mend Our Mountains campaign to help Fix the Fells rangers like Liam repair and maintain the Lake District fells.
Related Content
Mynediad Newyddion
The BMC volunteers have been super busy this summer, with the latest Get Stuck In project seeing 12 of them create a 50m length of stepping stone path to make a more sustainable way through the bog below Tryfan, Eryri (Snowdonia), North Wales.
News
The BMC is pleased to announce our membership of Sports for Nature (S4N) - the first mountaineering organisation to do so. S4N enables and encourages sporting bodies to champion nature and contribute to its protection and restoration, an initiative that aligns completely with the BMC’s values, including our ongoing access and conservation work, aims for net-zero emissions by 2040 and new Climate & Sustainability Action Plan.
Mynediad Newyddion
This August, 14 BMC volunteers spent two days on The Band in Langdale, Lake District, making repairs to a 100m stretch of footpath in the latest Get Stuck In event, funded by the Mend Our Mountains campaign from the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust.
Mynediad Newyddion
BMC member Roy Hammond from Congleton, Cheshire, has now volunteered seven times for Get Stuck In events, funded by the Mend Our Mountains 2024 campaign from the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust (ACT). This summer he stepped it up a notch and led the Get Stuck In Eryri event this June, coordinating a dozen volunteers who stayed in the Lincoln Mountaineering Hut in Deiniolen, North Wales. The group worked for 6 hours during both days, including a hike up to 750m on Glyder Fach on day one. We asked Roy what he gets out of volunteering on the Get Stuck In events for the BMC, and what it's like to start organising them himself.
Mynediad Newyddion
The BMC’s Access & Conservation Trust (ACT) is pleased to announce a seventh project within the Mend Our Mountains campaign for 2024.
News
The sphagnum season is upon us again! Now that the ground-nesting birds have stopped ground-nesting, it’s time for BMC volunteers to start planting this incredible, carbon-sequestering moss at strategic locations across the Peak District moorland. Can you help us?
Olympics
With four GB Climbing athletes heading across the channel for the Olympic boulder and lead competitions starting Monday 5 August, not only are they bringing their A-game in terms of performance but, as part of the BMC, the whole team is supporting Paris 2024 in its bid to be the ‘greenest ever Games’.
Mynediad Newyddion
Proposals to make ordinary trespass a criminal offence have alarmed outdoor groups, including the BMC. Ahead of a debate in Parliament on the issue and the possibility of Government publishing the Police Powers and Protections Bill, Ed Douglas calls for the Government to think again.
Mynediad Newyddion
There are concerns that government are considering moves to turn trespass from a civil offence to a criminal one. In a public consultation that is currently out for comment, it has been suggested that police powers could be strengthened to force people to move on from unauthorised encampments. The BMC is concerned however, that there could be unintentional consequences of the proposals around issues such as wild camping.
Rock Climbing Articles
In this booklet for managers and landowners, the aim has been to address a range of common questions and concerns about rock climbing in disused quarries. Covering all aspects of access and liability, through a selection of case studies, it showcases the benefits not just for climbers, but for the wider public and land managers themselves. Benefits which can be realised with assistance from climbers and the BMC, through the repurposing of disused quarries as rock climbing destinations.
Cerdded Bryniau Dysgwch Sgiliau
Camping ‘wild’ is a different way of spending the night outdoors but it isn't allowed everywhere - with a responsible approach however, there are many remote areas where you can still rest your weary head under a star-filled sky.
Dringo Creigiau Newyddion
The stats are in from the Bangor University Mountaineering Society's (BUMS, excellent acronym) crag clean up at Penmaen Head, a limestone sport climbing venue in North Wales, near Colwyn Bay.
Climate Articles
Want to know more about how you can reduce your own personal carbon footprint and lessen your impact on the environment? We’ve tried to make it simple for you by producing three separate checklists – for yourself, your workplace and for any events you might be arranging.
Hill Walking Articles
One of the biggest projects ever supported by Mend Our Mountains has hit its huge fundraising target, enabling repairs to be made to badly damaged sections along the South Downs Way.
Hill Walking Articles
The dramatic skyline of the Great Ridge walk connects the summits of Lose Hill and Mam Tor in Derbyshire’s Hope Valley. Heavy footfall left the path in a badly eroded state and work to repair the damage to the path started in March this year, and has seen 500 metres of the most serious damage along the path repaired to protect the surrounding landscape and bordering habitat.
Hill Walking Articles
A kilometre-long stretch of one most heavily eroded footpaths in the heart of Bannau Brycheiniog (The Brecon Beacons) has been fixed, thanks to £12,100 of funding from the BMC’s Mend Our Mountains crowdfunding campaign.
Hill Walking Articles
England’s highest mountain has been a constant headache for its custodians, the National Trust and Fix the Fells, as ever-increasing numbers seek to top England’s highest summit. Yet a poignant anniversary has highlighted the continuing need for large-scale projects to repair and revamp its slopes and pathways.
Hill Walking Articles
In the last three years Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park Authority have been very active in working on a number of lower level bridleways around Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) and more recently started work on the bridleway connecting Capel Curig to Crafnant. While some of these trails have given opportunities to link communities and provide access to lesser-abled users, the scale and nature of the works on some of the routes that pass through some wild and remote areas has also surprised many users.
Hill Walking Articles
The money raised through the Mend Our Mountains: Make One Million appeal has started going into work on the ground, after a dramatic helicopter airlift helped path repair work to get underway on Yorkshire’s highest peak.
Mynediad Dysgwch
Commuting with crampons, hard outdoor labour, and spending 120 hours a week with your colleagues - we speak to a mountain path repairer to find out more about the highs and lows involved in this vital job.
Mynediad Dysgwch
Mend Our Mountains: Make One Million has helped leave a lasting legacy on some of the highest peaks not only in Scotland, but in the whole of the British Isles.
Climate Articles
The BMC has welcomed another conservation project into The Climate Project portfolio, planting seagrass with Seagrass Ocean Rescue in conjunction with the North Wales Wildlife Trust. This is in addition to the current sphagnum moss planting and peatland restoration with Moors for the Future in the Peak District that you can also get involved with here.
Hill Walking Articles
The Nuns Cross Path is used by more than 30,000 walkers and 10,000 mountain bikers, as well as horse riders, disabled ‘trampers’ and many others each year - it is a shining example of the accessible but wild landscape Dartmoor can be. But a combination of extreme weather, like the storms of winter 2014, and erosion damage had taken its toll over the years. In stepped the BMC's Mend Our Mountains campaign.
Mynediad & Chadwraeth
This April saw the BMC’s first volunteer day in Pwllheli, North Wales, partnering with the Seagrass Ocean Rescue project and the North Wales Wildlife Trust as part of the BMC’s The Climate Project. Two more dates are planned for May and August, read on for dates and how to get involved.
Mynediad & Chadwraeth
With the general election announced for Thursday 4 July 2024, get behind the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) as we lobby for more access to nature, outdoor education and more protection for the places we love to walk and climb in. Pick one (or all!) of the below and ask your election candidates if they will back it and why it’s important to them.
Mynediad & Chadwraeth
Seven things you always wanted to know about path repair (but were too afraid to ask)
Mynediad Dysgwch
If you're a BMC member or if you have made a donation to the BMC Access & Conservation Trust (ACT), you are directly supporting our Mend Our Mountains campaign which is funding Fix the Fells again this year. Your contributions enable rangers like Liam Prior to consistently repair and manage the Lake District paths that we love to walk on. We caught up with Liam on the very popular path up Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head to find out what a typical day in his life is like - it's quite demanding!
Mynediad & Chadwraeth
As the general election date draws nearer, the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) have reviewed the manifestos from each party to help you make a more informed choice when it comes to protecting the landscapes and crags that we love to walk in and climb on.
News
As the world’s garment manufacturing industry moves to a more sustainable business model, what we’re wearing in the hills in three years time will be very different to today’s unsustainable, un-recyclable, polluting garments, predicts Mike Parsons from the Outdoor Gear Coach. But why is change needed? And what is going to happen? Mike explains in this article.
News
The first of four films in The Landscape Project has just been released on BMCTV, a fascinating new series that brings climbing and natural history together. Starting with the Lake District, presenter Nathan Chrismas, a biologist and ecologist, shares his deep knowledge and passion for the geological and ecological highlights of four hugely popular climbing and walking areas.
News
As part of Volunteers Week 3 - 9 June we have Cotswold Voluntary Warden Walk Leader Margaret Reid sharing her inspiring experience. Margaret organises and leads walks in the Cotswolds National Landscape for people from the Friendship Cafe in Gloucester. Activities like this are made possible with funding from the BMC Mend Our Mountains project from the BMC Access & Conservation Trust (ACT) charity.
News
This week is Volunteering Week 3 - 9 June so why not get involved with one of the many BMC volunteering opportunities? There are loads to choose from, including helping out at climbing competitions, leading hill walks at events and litter picking nationwide, planting seagrass in Wales, repairing footpaths in the Lake District and restoring peat bogs in the Peak District.
News
BMC volunteers from the Get Stuck In programme joined Fix the Fells last month in Wasdale on Lingmell Breast, one of the main routes up to Scafell Pike. They spent the day helping to maintain part of this hugely popular footpath up to England’s highest mountain.
News
Right now, this May, it’s National Hill Walking month, but not everyone finds it easy to access this hills, whether that’s due to physical, financial or knowledge-based barriers. That’s where the BMC’s Mend Our Mountains charity campaign comes in - this year funding a new Grants & Access officer for the Cotswolds Natural Landscape (formerly known as Cotswolds AONB). The newly appointed Nina Stubbington is now leading the ‘Access for All; Removing Barriers’ programme, improving access to the area for people of all ages, abilities and from all backgrounds.
News
Worryingly, small adder populations could be extinct by 2032 unless we act now to help conserve them. The North Pennines National Landscape are asking BMC members to help them record sightings these native UK snakes to better understand their distribution and improve conservation efforts. Their Adders Up project started in February 2024 and will run for three years, hoping to achieve positive outcomes for the conservation of this enigmatic and threatened reptile.
News
The Watkin Path up Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) and the peat hags on neighbouring mountain Glyder Fach have benefitted from BMC volunteer improvement work on the latest Get Stuck In event, 15-16 April 2024. This was organised by Hill Walking Rep Steve Charles and Access & Conservation Officer (Wales) Tom Carrick as part of the Mend Our Mountains project, funded by the BMC Access & Conservation Trust.
News
Grabbing your attention with this beautiful picture of a Kestrel (Cudull Coch)! Now that the rain has subsided a little, it's a good time to remind everyone that we share our crags with many other creatures, notably our feathered friends who like to nest where we like to climb.
News
The BMC’s volunteering arm, Get Stuck In, donated £1,500 to Fix the Fells this week to buy footpath repair tools to enable our teams to quite literally get stuck in to fixing the mountain footpaths in the Lake District.
News
The sphagnum-planting season has come to an end to allow the ground-nesting birds to, well, ground nest! Thank you to all the volunteers that have helped the BMC to plant over 16,000 plugs of this super soggy, carbon-locking moss this winter, helping to restore the Peak District peat bog.
News
Mend Our Mountains is back for 2024 with six incredible access and conservation projects across England and Wales. This project is funded by the BMC’s Access and Conservation Trust charity (ACT) and we would like to thank all our members, supporters and volunteers for making vital work like this possible. Here’s what is happening this year as a result of your funding, including volunteering events you can get involved with.
News
Did you know that we have a BMC Community Liftshare site? The Liftshare site is also able to connect you with others going to the same BMC event or Mountain Training course. The beauty of a community like the hillwalking/climbing/mountaineering BMC community is that many of us are often moving in the same direction. This lends itself to the Liftshare infrastructure which can allow us to move in the same direction – together. Greener, and cheaper!
News
On the 16 April we have the last opportunity to lobby for the 2024 ban on the sale of peat in bagged compost for horticultural use by supporting a Ten Minute Rule Bill speech by England in Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet Theresa Villiers.
News
The BMC have been hard at work presenting the Outdoors For All Manifesto to parliament, kick-starting a new addition to The Climate Project, arranging re-bolting, cleaning up crags and consulting on access across England and Wales. Here are the highlights as we swing into spring.
Mynediad Newyddion
The BMC supports Dartmoor National Park Authority in its appeal against a ban on wild camping.
Mynediad Newyddion
The recent advertisement offering Kilnsey Crag for sale at a price of £150k presents an opportunity to remind members about how the BMC approaches potential land acquisitions. We're also on the lookout for specialist volunteers to support our land management work.