Quick Fix at Armboth

looking back down and across Thirlmere towards Great How

I only had a bit of time to play this morning. I posted on the fix the fells calendar that I would need to be back by 1pm. Ian emailed me and suggested we tackle Armboth to High Tove, a short section of path from the quiet side of Thirlmere up towards High Tove.

It sounded ideal, especially as I am getting over a bout of man flu.

Ian said that the path was 'Amber' which meant that it is supposed to be done every six months. It had been a year since the path was last done so we were expecting a bit of work.

As it turned out, the path was really clear. There were a few drains to scrape out but nothing arduous. Ian said he would suggest it was downgraded to a 'Green' status (once a year).

looking around the side of Cockrigg Crags over to the Dodds, Raise and Helvellyn.  I tried to run along that route (which is part of the Bob Graham Round) once but changed my route due to low cloud.

There are different levels of organisation for fix the fells. Work parties can be very organised with National Trust Rangers and special equipment, or they can be a group of volunteers tasked with completing specific jobs such as putting pitched steps in or repairing walls.

Watson's Dodd and Stybarrow Dodd.

Drain runs are supposed to be a walk and check over of an existing path, clearing drains and making minor repairs. The volunteers may report work that needs doing that is outside of the scope of a drain run, such as chopping down a tree, or repairing a collapsed drain to the full time staff. Sometimes on drain runs, people do get a bit 'ambitious' and, on quite a few occasions, a minor repair has turned into some fairly major path reconstruction.

Great How and the Dodds to Helvellyn route again, this time down at the waterfront

Today's drain run, being short and simple, was one of the more informal drain runs. Ian had picked up some tools from Grasmere and we just headed up the path. This would be a good path to do as a solo drain run. I probably need a bit more experience before doing a solo drain run but the idea is that you head along an easy path on your own, clearing drains and doing what is needed as long as it is within the scope of one person.

Back down at the carpark, I went to take a few pitcures of Thirlmere.

When I first got my wetsuit, I had thought that Thirlmere would be ideal for a swim.  I had done a bit of online research and quickly realised that swimming is a big no-no.

I had some thoughts of scaling Helvellyn via the Whythburn car park but decided to head home instead and hang out with the family.

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