Path Work - Glen Luibeg

So my life as an Upland Path Worker has finally begun and I've decided I wanted to keep a record of the work I do as a reminder when I'm older.  To begin with I'm going to start with just a basic overview of the work being carried out, but will probably get more in-depth as I get back into it again and feel comfortable. 

I was meant to start a few weeks earlier but the weather, namely the Beast from the East, meant that we weren't able to get out until the 10th April, but what a difference it feels like being outside rather then being stuck in an office.  The company I am working for predominantly works on carrying out path maintenance rather then actual path building, which still entails building stone structures, but these are just incorporated into the existing path as sort of upgrades.

For these two weeks we were working on a path located in Glen Luibeg on the Mar Lodge Estate (a National Trust for Scotland estate) which leads to Sròn Riach.  To get to this path we walked from Derry Lodge over the footbridge and then turned left, following the path (ish) through a boggy area and then along the main route.  The path then splits and we carried on following the Luibeg Burn.

Before

After

Our main aim here was to clean the existing drainage features that might be full up with debris, and therefore not working properly, and add in extra features to help maintain the surfacing of the path.  This work mainly entailed adding step rises to sections to act as an anchor, holding the surfacing on the path, and slightly reducing the steepness of the path making it a much more walkable footpath.  Additional waterbars were also needed in some locations to help cancel the water coming from the hill off the path.

Before

After

Drainage to keep water off this section (can you see it)

There was also a section where the path was so boggy this needed to be removed and resurfaced, along with a very simple feature added to drain the water away from that location in the future.

Before

After

Another major work (which I only really helped with at the end) was to help sure up an existing crossdrain where the water had worn away the earth on the exiting section.  Whilst this wasn't an issue right now it would mean that the end of the crossdrain could collapse in the future, ruining it's effectiveness.

Before

After

There wasn't a lot of rock that was easily accessible in this area, but thankfully some stone had already been airlifted the year before.  We still needed to work on collecting the cobble and grit needed to secure the stone structures and improve the path surface.  The grit did turn out to be relatively easy to find, though very hard graft with a number of burrow pits being dug and filled up again.  Nothing like a good bit of digging in a hole.  The grit looks quite obvious now but after a good bit of rain (thankfully something that happens regularly here) itlli then looks more in keeping with the rest of the path.

As always the hard work is more then compensated with the chance to see and be surrounded by wildlife on a daily basis.  Like the little fellow i almost stood on pictured above whose species I have not been able to find - if you know please let me know below.  I also got to see what I am guessing is a Common Lizard, a number of Black and Red Grouse (tis the season for lekking), and some geese flying over though I didn't get the opportunity to actually identify them. So this is the start, I hope to write about it more in-depth in the future but I just wanted to start with a very quick post about it.

I hope this will be something enjoyable to read.