Path Work - Coire Etchachan & Lairig Ghru

For these last two weeks we have mainly been working on Coire Etchachan, a beautiful but steep path up from the Hutchison Memorial Hut to Loch Etchachan which is just over 2 hour walk from Derry Lodge.

In the first week we started work about three quarters up the path by adding some step rises and some stone pitching.  We didn't get to finish the work that week, but did finish it this week.  I worked on the step rises, which was put in to help reduce the steepness of the path and hold the surfacing in place.

The next day we went back to the work we started on the Lairig Ghru and finished removing the stones which was causing people to walk around increasing the size of the path.  As well as adding the additional step rises there and tidying up the area (I've added the before photo here as well).  After this we cleaned out the rest of the drainage features on this path.

The last day of that week was spent on the path that goes through Robbers Copse.  The major work was done on a large stone that was causing people to walk off the path and erode the vegetation on the side.  The path had also been eroded enough that the roots were showing.  We moved the stone and added some surfacing so help protect the roots.

Next week was pretty much spent on Coire Etchachan.  We cleared the drainage features on this path and did some additional work to help make the path more stable and walkable.  This included adding some additional treads to a waterbar to hold back the surfacing that was running into the bar with the water.

There were also some steps where the erosion of the path below the stone had made these particular high and difficult to use.  We reduced the height be adding an additional step rise infront of the previous stone and adding additional surfacing, as wellness landscaping the area.

On the last day we did some work on one of the paths through Glen Derry.  I completely forgot to take my phone and so I have no actual photos (complete fail there, total fail George).  Some of the drains beside the paths had become blocked which was causing the water to run onto the path, even in this weather.  So the day was spent digging out the ditches so that they were functioning again.

And that's it.  Definitely a lot of walking this week and another two weeks of beautiful blue skies and lots of sun.  We tried to take one of our breaks at the Hutchison Memorial Hut to get us out of the sun for a least a short period of time and it was definitely a welcome break.