Path Work - June (Glencoe)

If the last three months have been a strange mix of sunny days and snowy day, June has been a month of sunny days and torrential rain.  Admittedly that's a little more normal for the west of Scotland, but it's still been particularly wet compared to normal and this definitely affected where we were able to do the work on any given day.  I'll only be writing about the first three weeks in June for this post as I have another post planned for next week, but the work will be very familiar throughout this month any way.  (I also didn't do a very good job at taking photos this month for some reason.)

This month has been all about the Coire nan Lochan path and carrying on with the maintenance work we had been doing before.  During the first week I was back at the section of path I was working at in May where I had been making the curve in the path more obvious to walkers.  What was needed this time was to use landscaping and stone work to block a couple of areas where landslides had made sections of the hill look like viable paths.  Not only were they not the route we wanted the public to take but they were not particularly safe to use and needed to be removed as a visible option.

This was followed by some packing and landscaping of some work carried out by a colleague last week.  And then it was time to do some winching to get the stones needed onto the path for a future build.  If you ever want a full body work out winching is the way to go.  It definitely gives all your muscles a good working.

The weather the next day meant we had to do some work a little further down the path than initially planned.  Here we completed the revetment we had been working on last month on the hill side of the path to help hold up a section of landslide from taking over the whole path.  It won't stop it completely, but it will ensure that the path remains mostly clear of stones and as a clear route to walkers.  Steps were also added to help hold the surfacing in place and add height to the path.

Then we were back further up the path again adding in some stone pitching to counteract some particularly bad erosion and to rebuild a waterbar that had stopped functioning.  It also needed additional steps added onto the other side of it to help with elevation and to reduce the path's surfacing just being washed down it.

The second week was when I had my little accident and crushed my right index finger between two stones.  Not the best move I've ever made and boy did it hurt, but these things happen.  Thankfully I didn't break it but it will still take a while to heal completely, as is usually the case with fingers.

Before that point I was getting to try my hand at carrying on the  stone pitching and revetment that was being worked on the week before.

After that point (and a day off to give my finger a rest and a check to make sure it wasn't broken) the work was a little bit more sedate based on what I could actually do and mainly consisted of packing stone work already carried out and landscaping.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish some of the work I had started but they were completed by the people I was working with.

By the end of the week I had healed enough to be able to extract some stones that would be needed for work later on and move them down to the path.

The last week was particularly damp and windy, and did mean that one day actually had to be turned into an administration day. A total blow to those of us who would always rather be outside.  The finger was also still a problem, especially as I had to carry on wearing the supportive plastic tube to help it heal straight, and it reduced the range of work I could actually carry out.

However, by the end of the week I was still able to do some stone work, including some step rises and revetments, as well as a whole lot of winching.  It turns out I actually quite enjoy winching, there's something weirdly satisfying about it.