Path Work - Cairn Lochan path, Fiacaill path, Windy Ridge, Beinn a'Bhúird, & Carn Crom

The start of the first week in July was spent on the Cairn Lochan path, which needs a lot of work done to it due to the level of erosion.  

Before

After

Before

After

On this path we added some double waterbar with additional steps above.  In the before picture I've kept in the stones that are going into the structure so that you can see the size of the size of the stones used to ensure their permeance.

We also added a few more step rises to help with the steepness of the path as well slowing the movement of the path surfacing.  As well as spreading surfacing along the path.

Before

After

The last day that week was spent on the Fiacaill path that takes you to the Fiacaill Ridge.  There was erosion along this path so it was needing step rises and surfacing added along the way.

The second week was spent completely on Windy Ridge on the CairnGorm Estate.  Even though we were low down on the path it still lived up to its name, apart from the Friday when there was hardly any wind and lots of midgies.

This is a very steep path with large steps and one of the most popular routes on this estate, so it needed a number of step rises added to the path a long most of the path to make the path easier to use and reduce the erosion on the path.  I didn't take any before pictures as the after are pretty self explanatory.

For the third week we were back on Mar Lodge Estate on the Beinn a'Bhúird path.

Before

After

After - ditching on the left

On a section that has suffered from particularly bad erosion we turned the waterbar into a double waterbar, added step rises, and a ditch along the side to reduce the amount of water actually hitting the path.

Further down the path step rises were added to a particularly steep section (I've only shown my work here).

Before

After

And more step rises in a section where there has been some signs of water erosion, moving the surfacing off the path.

The last week was spent on Carn Crom.  This path was interesting for me to go to as it is one of the path I did my training on last year.  We were lower down this time and in a section I used to walk by on a regular basis and is were the erosion had meant that the path is down to the base rock on one side and was we into the vegetation on the other.

Before

Before - where ditch will be

After

After - ditch

After - down hill

First was to add a much needed waterbar at the top of the steep section to reduce the amount of water rushing down the path.  We found a lovely but particularly large stone that took a little while to move, but which fitted perfectly and worth the effort of moving.

Further down I added a couple of steps to help with a section that was quite steep and should now help hold any surfacing in that area.  I'm really chuffed about this one as it looks like a very natural feature and you wouldn't necessarily know it's man made.

I also worked on a couple of step rises further down to, again, hold the surfacing in place as it's likely there will be water moving down the path just because of the base rock on one side.  As well as resurfacing the section.

Before

After

Then there was turning a waterbar into a double waterbar to hopefully reduce the amount of surfacing being lost here.  We had noticed that this was a particularly bad waterbar for surface loss and definitely needed some work.

And then more step rises and more surfacing, as always.  Working on this section was an interesting challenge as the stones had to be balanced against the base rock and placed to ensure they didn't slide down (which can be an issue when placing stones on base rock) but I think it worked out quite well all in all.

Unfortunately not a large amount of wildlife to be seen, but the weather was interesting with us back to the usual Scottish weather.  I don't think there was a day when we didn't spend time repeatedly taking off and putting on our waterproof jackets as the weather swung from cold, windy, and raining to hot, sunny and calm.  We also get midges this week, a rarity for us this summer.

Path Work - Ben Macdui path, Miadin Creag & Sneachda

This month has been quite a mixed month weather wise, from roaring hot and very sunny to then very soggy and quite windy.  I've decided to do this on a monthly basis, just so it doesn't become too path workie, in case you're not into that.  As that means that this could be a very long blog I decided to only take after photos, but I think it actually doesn't work as well so sorry for this blog but next time I will add the before and afters.

So, the first week in July I had come back from a holiday visiting family down south and we were at a new location.  This time we were at the CairnGorm Estate managed by Natural Retreats. The weather was absolutely scorching that week.  So, so hot and we had to take extra water as there was no shade anywhere to give us a break from the sun.

The work was those highlighted by one of the Estate's ranger as work they wanted done and were along the Ben Macdui path from the Ski car park.  They included putting in a waterbar (to remove the water off the path),

Step rises,

Stone pitching,

And more step rises to help hold the surfacing on the path and making the path more usable.

What a difference in the weather the second week in July, all fog and some (but thankfully not many) midges, but it was quite heavy and muggy.

Firstly we finished off doubling the waterbar and adding a step riser which we had started the week before.

We also blocked a braid that had been forming further along the path and removed the block that had caused the braid to form in the first place (you'll never know it was ever there).

The last work done was doubling up some other waterbars and adding step rises, still on the Ben Macdui path and

On the Sneachda where we actually worked above the fog.

The weather was pretty similar in the third week, but we were working higher up on the Miadin.  Thankfully there was a bit more of a breeze which made it much less midgie.

Damage done to one water bar had widened the path, meaning that the waterbar had to be extended.

Erosion done to the path also meant that it was necessary to add in a large waterbar and a double waterbar. 

This was quite an amazing week as we got to watch a female ptarmigan and nine chicks having a dust bath just meters away from where we were walking.  Apart from Friday of course, where it drizzled the whole day, was very midgie and muddy, and where I forgot to take a photo of the work we had done - doubling up a waterbar and adding a step riser.

The weather for the last week was much sunnier, but a lot windier as you would expect for this Estate.

We added a double waterbar on the Miadin Creag and blocked and landscaped a very long braid on the east side of the path (sorry no picture of this).  This day long landscaping of the braid was surprisingly more tiring then all the stone work I have done so far, probably due to the amount of walking involved.

We then went back into the Mar Lodge Estate to add some step rises to a particular warn are of the Ben Macdui path from this direction, with edging to help hold everything in place.

This area was particularly beautiful as it gave a new view of CairnGorm and had much more quartz stone then I have seen so far which made the whole area look shiny.

Friday we were back in the Sneachda adding more step rises to help with surfacing erosion on this section.

We are now half way through the path maintenance season and I am really beginning to feel that my body getting used to the work, becoming strong enough in the right ways to carry out my work safely.  Hopefully this will only increase.  Despite the sometimes bad weather and midges I have really enjoyed this work and getting to spend all my work time in such beautiful scenery.  It still, somehow, doesn't seem quite real.