Footpath Patrol for Wild Ennerdale

Yesterday we were over at Ennerdale carrying out a patrol of a footpath on behalf of Wild Ennerdale. The path was damaged in the November storms & we had to document & photograph the damage with a view to some of our future work parties being to repair the problems. We parked at Bowness Knott & had a little over two mile walk to the start of the path. Crag has developed a new habit of scrunching up his nose when he is waiting for the stick to be thrown, it isn't very attractive!

Bess has a new lease of life now and likes to compete to race for a stick. The road is very muddy due to the timber wagons using it.

Some waterfalls on the River Liza

The River Liza has changed its course twice since we have lived up here after storms & here you can see the dry old river bed at the back & the new grassy river bed it has taken over.

Continuing along the path which is about two miles long

You can see where the river changed course here. The policy in Ennerdale is to let nature take its course & only if it was stopping access down the valley will they interfere & change the river course back again.

The river has eroded the bank right upto the footpath here.

And a little further up the river has taken the footpath for about 200m

When we first lived up here the river flowed behind that fallen tress and was nowhere near this footpath

It was a grey day, but as it progressed slowly Pillar came out of the mist

The abutments of this bridge have been washed away on the right hand side

Mist swirls around Pillar

This will need cutting back

And this section has been eroded by the water

Middle bridge comes into view & it is the end of the path

Lunch for us & when we have finished a chance to play in the river (for the dogs)

The Galloway cattle are grazing on the forest tracks as we walk back