Adventures of the Swampmen

So there we were on the path leading up from Hawes End landing stage towards Catbells. All we had to do was take out the remains of an old stone bridge and replace it with a shiny new one. No problems eh? Until.....we took the first bucketful from the gutter. Within half an hour the place transformed into a welly-eating swamp.
Anybody who works on paths will tell you that the thing that does the most damage is uncontrolled water. If you don't sort the drainage, you can forget the rest of the job. So what started as a straightforward job quickly became far more complicated.
Temporary drains were dug at first which diverted water coming down the steep bank. So the swamp turned into a pile of mud. Then we scraped this back and barrowed in washed gravel which raised the path above the worst of the water.
We used the old stone bridge to build the new abutments then brought in the frame of the new bridge which we had built in the workshop. See what a simple job this was?
Incidently the bridge is actually made from recycled plastic. We had some left over from the boardwalks at the Manesty end of the lake. It is twice as expensive as wood but lasts four times longer. The plastic is mainly made from recycled plastic milk bottles, so your 4 pinter may have contributed to our new bridge!
The final job was to surface the new section of path installing some angled waterbreaks to shed surface water. Next time you are near the landing stage at Hawes End on Derwentwater take a look and see what you think. Don't step off the path though...that could be a big mistake!