Mend Our Mountains: BMC volunteers make repairs to 100m of Lake District footpath
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.
The volunteers worked in pairs and small teams, with Fix the Fells rangers advising, teaching and helping with the hard graft. Drainage ditches were created and restored, braided and eroded paths were narrowed and blocked off, and stone stairways were painstakingly dug into place.
If you are a member of the BMC or if you have supported the Mend Our Mountain campaign from the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust, this is what your generous donations are enabling us to do.
Leading our Get Stuck In events is BMC Hill Walking Rep volunteer extraordinaire, Steve Charles. "Today we're working on an area called The Band, which leads up to Bowfell," he says. "It's a very heavily used path so there's lots of erosion. What we're doing as volunteers, with help and guidance from the Fix the Fells rangers, is trying to make the path more sustainable. Where there's water running down the track and eroding it, we're creating drainage gullies which help direct water off the path. There's also one team making a section of resilient rock steps, and more teams landscaping - making humps and hollows to keep people on to the path without walking off to the side and widening it, causing more erosion."
BMC volunteers give back
Steve continues, "Since the Get Stuck In projects started a couple of years ago, BMC volunteers have done well over 500 hours of work in the hills. That's a huge impact on the mountain environment. We hope that, over time, this is going to be a movement that grows, and we can provide more and more events. Then more and more people can 'Get Stuck In' and do more and more work to help 'Mend Our Mountains'.
"Many people in this group will regularly be going into the mountains, either walking, scrambling or climbing, and I myself have been going into the mountains for quite a long time. So, it's great to be able to give back and to feel that you are helping to preserve this environment for future generations, because it is under threat. You need to give it tender loving care. It needs to be nurtured because if we don't do anything, then it's going to be in a much poorer state when we hand it on."
We need your help!
This vital footpath repair work wouldn't be possible without volunteers and funding according to Volunteer Development Ranger Matt Tweed from Fix the Fells. "The BMC volunteers are absolutely invaluable in helping us to look after the Lake District," he says. "We've got a good, big team here so we're going to get a huge chunk of work done over the next two days. Imagine if there were only us four rangers toiling away at this - it would take much, much longer. Having the help of the BMC volunteers coming along and really knocking off a good stretch of repair work, it helps us move the project on and to look after the paths now and for the future.
"Before Fix the Fells was formed in 2001, the paths across the Lake District were were getting in a pretty bad shape. There were erosion scars 20-30m wide and five metres deep in places. All that material was getting washed into the rivers and down into the lakes. So without the work that we've been doing over the past 20 years or so, that erosion, combined with the increased number of visitors and more extreme weather events, that erosion would be getting worse and worse. The work that we are doing to stabilise and slow down those rates of erosion are absolutely crucial."
"The best way to help Fix the Fells look after the Lake District paths is to either volunteer with the BMC's Lake District Get Stuck In events and/or donate. We have no statutory funding at all - we rely on public support. So if you like walking in the fells; if you love this landscape, donations are absolutely key."
It's hard work, but fun
BMC volunteers come from all walks of life, but one thing you can guarantee is that they are all absolutely brilliant, lovely and hard-working people.
This was Mike Borne's first experience volunteering for the BMC. He says, "I read about the Get Stuck In events in Summit magazine and thought 'Why wouldn't you want to spend two days out in the hills, meeting some like-minded people in the sun and fresh air - what's not to like?' All you need is a pair of gardening gloves, a pair of steel-toed safety boots [which you can borrow from Fix the Fells]. I'm loving the work. I definitely, 100% will be back to do this again."
Beth Craigen does a lot of volunteer work introducing newcomers to the outdoors, but this is her first time repairing footpaths as a BMC member. "I get volunteering leave from work and I wanted to do something to make a difference in the outdoors," she says. "It's nice to give back to the paths because we do bring groups up and do lots of walking. It's nice to feel useful and it's good getting away from a computer and being sat at a desk all day. The work is hard because it's muscles you don't use very often, but it's actually really good, and it's nice working in a team - we're all taking it in turn to do different things. It's just a different type of hard work I think! It's great fun, I'm meeting loads of people I would never normally have met, which is really cool."
BMC member David Delahunty has previously volunteered to plant sphagnum moss and clear invasive rhododendrons from the Peak District on the single-day Get Stuck In events and this is his first time on these two-day work parties. "As somebody who has been going to the Lake District for many years, I jumped at the chance to give a bit back to an environment that's given me so much pleasure, for over 40 years. I enjoy volunteering because you're in a beautiful environment, getting a lot of exercise, you're outside, you're learning new skills, you meet great people who have all got different and interesting backgrounds, and through volunteering I've made some very good friends. It ticks a lot of boxes for me and I would encourage anyone who's thinking about it to give it a go because I'm sure you'll really enjoy it."
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.
- £5 buys a pair of work gloves
- £10 buys a replacement handle for a mattock
- £25 buys a shovel or suncream & 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 BMC's Access & Conservation Trust Mend Our Mountains campaign to help projects like Get Stuck In repair and maintain the landscapes you love to walk and climb in.
Related Content
Access News
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.
Access News
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’.
Hillwalking Skills
How to choose an ice axe for your next winter adventure
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
Each year there are reports of people who have been attacked, or even trampled to death, by cows whilst out walking or approaching crags. BMC member Simon Coldrick was badly injured after a cow attacked him as he led a fell race on the edge of Sheffield.
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.
Access Articles
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.
Access Articles
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.
Mountaineering Destinations
If you’re looking for an unforgettable, high altitude trekking holiday this year we’ve got some great ideas for you here in Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and India from climbing mountaineering expedition operator Jagged Globe.
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.
Access & Conservation
Seven things you always wanted to know about path repair (but were too afraid to ask)
Access Articles
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!
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.
Article
In National Walking month this May we’ve teamed up with BMC Official Retail Partner Cotswold Outdoor to bring you all the info and advice you need to care for and repair your favourite pair of walking boots. Not only does this save you money, it also saves the environment - the less we consume and throw away, the better.
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
BMC member Madalin Cristea, known as Cris, from Romania, has become the first person to summit both Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro from sea level and back again. He is currently attempting to be the first person ever to climb up and down each of the world’s seven summits (the highest mountain on each continent) from sea level - climbing every metre of the mountains up and down.
News
BMC member Wayne Andrews from Bettws, South Wales has started a hill walking group for people who suffer with their mental health or an addiction, called Forever In The Hills.
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
This May is National Walking month, so to celebrate the power of a good old stomp around the UK’s countryside, nine of the BMC staff have shared their favourite hike. From fossil-hunting in the Peak District and airy Scottish scrambling to the Via Alpina in Switzerland, one of these is bound to tickle your fancy this spring or summer. Better still, with the BMC collaborations with Komoot and HotelPlanner, you can plan and navigate your route and find your accommodation for your trip for less!
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.
We interview one of the most popular takeovers of the BMC's Instagram, Amira the Wanderlust.
Why do we need groups like Black Girls Hike? London regional leader of the group Oge Ejizu explains her love of the outdoors and why she joined. Article from Summit Magazine Autumn 2020.