Open all hours? Well not really,but the shop at Wordsworth House and Gardens is doing a good few extra hours. It has been policy to open (Tuesday to Saturday)up to Christmas and into the new year. The shop's poition in the centre of the town is useful for attracting passing custom and also volunteers - although shop manager, Sian Lawson has only two in the shop perhaps because the till is a worry to people. (I can sympathise with this, having had experience of a till in another place I volunteer!) However Sian does have the distinction of an impressively young volunteer. Tom is now sixteen but started at fifteen. The shop sells plenty of National Trust products but also tries to stock locally produced items. A special features has been the Christams hampers created to be s old in the shop. They have been a great success - but if you want one you will have to be quick as they have been selling very well! Ros Earthy.

Behind you!

Beware of witches, ghosts, boggerts and other nasties in Ennerdale! On Halloween three plucky staff and two volunteers braved the weather and anything else that might be about to attack them to undertake a spooky story walk in Wild Ennerdale.

Thirty adults and children made witches' broomsticks, (thanks to the rangers' team for providing the necessary birch brash) carved pumpkins and heard stories about the supernatural happenings of the area. Despite the seasonal weather with a special Halloween severe weather warning, everyone enjoyed themselves and rated the event a great success.

Earlier in the year I had  attended a story-telling workshop. (See my post for 3rd of April)  I was therefore really pleased to get a chance to try my new skills out on some people other than the family! This was my first attempt to 'perform' to an audience of strangers but I found it very enjoyable. I used one well known story (the Claife Crier) , one which I had develped myself from a reference in a  Lake District guide book to a ghostly pony with a coffin tied to its back which can be seen on one of the coffin paths, and one which I cheekily re-located from Cornwall.

Joint Effort - National Trust - Fix the Fells and Newlands Adventure Centre

There are a lot of paths to maintain and repair in and around the North Lakes Property and Lake District in general. Whilst the NT has Upland Footpath Rangers and now is the main partner in the Fix the Fells programme we sometimes have help from the public as well as the busy Fix the Fells volunteers. For public on this day read Newlands Adventure Centre Stair. For the second year the staff at the adventure centre wanted to help maintain the paths they use for their core business - out door adventure.

A joint work party was organised and led by the NT Rangers Joe, Dan and Jack together with staff from Newlands and Fix the Fells volunteers.

Start of the day a mixture of staff, FtFells volunteers and NT staff ready for the off.

The aim of the day was to complete the circuit of three nearby routes on Cat Bells and clean out 60 stone lined drains, sweep 400 metres of pitching (stone built steps) over a distance of 9 kilometres. The weather was kind to us, warm and sunny with a slight breeze.

Hard at it Brushes, spades and mattocks on Skelgill Bank

As usual on Cat Bells it was busy with walkers and families taking on what Alfred Wainright described as a family fell. There was a lot of engagement with the public about what we were up to with many comments of  "I thought the path had been swept and now I know who by thank you!"

The view from Skelgill Bank back towards Keswick

After a short break for tea and or coffee we continued on upwards to the summit where we stopped for lunch in an area out of the by now not forecast and picking up wind. The statutory picture was taken of the combined group of Fell Fixers.

Smiles all round, NT Rangers FtFells volunteers and Newlands staff with Newlands Valley in the back ground

Suitably refreshed we set off with another task in mind. We had been asked to take down the unofficial and not mapped cairns that had been built up by passing walkers over the years. No problem we thought. We had forgotten how large they had become by taking stone from the path to build them.

Cairn, what cairn - this one was huge and on a clearly defined path. It took over an hour to recycle it back to the path.

The footprint of the former cairn can clearly be seen to the right of the picture. Some upland seed mix will be applied to help the area return to grass. Interestingly apart from the usual hidden bags of dog poo and litter at the bottom of the cairn was a drinks can with an expiry date of November 1999 perhaps the start of the cairn?

A good day was had by all with many thanks going to Newlands Adventure Centre Stair for gifting a days hard graft by some of their staff for the benefit of all who use the paths on and around Cat Bells.

The best 4 x 4 by far - perhaps not?

It was a great day, weather was going to be kind to us as the intrepid four volunteers Phil, David, Jim and supervisor Mr T aka Theo the collie set off to Dunthwaite Estate nr Cockermouth to repair and refurbish stiles for the fishermen by the river Cocker - what could possibly go wrong! We took with us the countryside team Land Rover and trailer with sufficient supplies to see us through our proposed work.

Well it`s like this!

We may have a little problem?

Having repaired and built some new stiles it was time to leave. Sadly our transport and trailer had other ideas. So it was unhitch the trailer and extracate the Landy from the mud.

Trailer off but still stuck!

Fortunately we had some wood left plus shovels to assist in getting us out of the mud. We were not going to be beaten by the mud as the Rangers had done on several occasions previously and call upon the services of the nearby NT tenant farmer and his tractor.

Getting there.

Apart from repairing an building stiles we ended up landscaping as well to remove the evidence of us being stuck. Don`t worry we subsequently found a use for the lifesaving timber we had used to free ourselves.

A strategically place branch hides the identity of Phil as we set about landscaping the ruts!

To be perfectly fair to the Land Rover the previous week the Nissan off roader had also been stuck on an incline nearby on solid ground - it could not pull itself and a trailer up a small wet incline. Wagon first then tow the trailer on a rope - just a normal day volunteering?

Mind you it would have helped if the land Rover was equipped with mud tyres and not road ones -  countryside vehicle road tyres - now where is my volunteer manager!

Just to show we could get anything stuck - Nissan defeated by solid wet ground and a trailer!

Will we come back for more - of course we will. Positive feedback from the fishermen that pay a hefty premium to the NT who own the fishing rights on that stretch of the river were good. Sort of made it worthwhile. (the fees for fishing rights go back into the North Lakes property towards the cost of all the conservation works we undertake)

Bringing in the (under-age) punters!

On Sunday 2nd of September I joined John at Loweswater Show on the National Trust stand. This was a new experience for me because although I have visited the show before it has always been as an exhibitor.
This time we were offering activities for children - badge making and 'angry birds'.  Badge making is self-expanatory; 'angry birds' consisted of four toy birds (owl, blackbird, blue tit and robin) and nest boxes of the type which the actual birds would use.

Great fun, and some frustration, was obtained by trying to throw the correct bird into their appropriate nest box. As well as an educational benefit success generated the prize of a lollypop!
We also had some adults attempting the 'angry birds' challenge and some enquiries about the Wild Ennerdale project and the extent of National Trust ownership in the National Park.

Ros Earthy

Dry Stone Walling in Seathwaite - I Don`t Think So!

Recently the Buttermere four volunteers, Phil, Jim David and Theo (the dog) were asked if we would come across to Borrowdale to help out Ranger Jack and fellow volunteer Robert with some dry stone walling. Seemed a fair offer which the four duly accepted. Off to Borrowdale Seathwaite we went. "Don`t worry said Jack", the work was not to far from the road. As it turns out, just across some muddy fields, a swollen Black Sike Beck which we had to ford and then through a wood. It sounded perfect. What we had all forgotten was the the Seathwaite Weather.

So the job was to repair a breach in the dry stone wall.

The Wall adjacent to the Allerdale Ramble - Jack and Phil at work

As you may guess from the photo`s the weather in "wet" Seathwaite was being unkind to us - more to the point the rain was heavy enough to get us wet but not keep down the large local population of midges and other wee biting mini beasts. Were we going to be beaten by then, no just eaten by them!

The repair was soon under way despite what the weather was throwing at us.

Fortunately Phil had his big hat with him stopping the water dripping down his neck. We cracked on at a good pace only stopping for a quick fag. (well at least Jim did)

Comfort break for Jim - good for midge management

Phil going great guns and with a dry neck!

Robert, Phil and Jack step back to admire the work - nearly there.

Nearly there soaking wet, tired and wanting to escape. 

A good day was had by all. Did the weather dampen our enthusiasm - not a bit, still smiling at the end of the day. What harm could a little mud and rain do to us?

Jack and Phil still smiling after a hard muddy days work - as you can see we really got stuck into the work with little fear for our own appearance!

By Way Of a Change - Path Work!

Well,

Where have we been since May? We have had a busy time working in the countryside at Buttermere, Crummock, Borrowdale and Dunthwaite alongside and in support of the National Trust Rangers.

We started off helping Rangers Paul and Dan divert a path from the edge of Crummock Water due to erosion by wave action, yes wave action that had undercut the old path.

 Ranger Paul warns volunteer Jim just how big the spider was he had just seen on the work site. Well if you have to work and or volunteer, what a location to do it. High Park looking up Crummock Water towards Rannerdale Knotts

                                                                                                                                                                       

By the shore of Crummock Water Ranger Paul part way through digging the new path.

Paul is joined again by Jim whilst watched over by site supervisor Theo. Turf stripped from the new path is used to fill in the old line.

Ranger Dan brings in the shillie to surface the new path. Theo makes sure he puts it in the correct place.

Paul adds the finishing touches, turf replaced and gently eased into place by a size 9!

Just to finish the job we cut back the brash to entice walkers to use the new path.

Volunteer site visit to Whitehaven Coast

In March, we asked countryside volunteers how they’d like to get more information from us, and they said “site visits where we can chat informally to staff” (see notes from the March meeting on My Volunteering online area)

So, in June we held our first Site Visit – a guided walk along NT-managed land on the Whitehaven Coast with Chris Gomersall, the ranger for Whitehaven & Ennerdale.

Chris showed us the land cared for by the National Trust, the work we do to improve access and conservation and the challenges posed by this recently-industrial landscape.


Grass Vetchling flowers beside Haig Colliery Museum



Then we drove in convoy to Kinniside Common where our task was to chop up and burn an ash tree which had been felled because it was damaging the archaeology of the Monk’s Bridge – a 600yr old packhorse bridge in a very dramatic location.

A well-earned break

The volunteers had brought their own sausages to put on the BBQ, and a very hot & enjoyable afternoon was had by all, with volunteers from opposite corners of the North Lakes patch able to meet each other for the first time and get to explore a new area.

Chris provided a cracking day out, volunteer Dounia provided luscious lemon & poppy seed cake, volunteer John provided tea & coffee for everyone, and we all agreed it was a good idea and worth repeating.

If you volunteer in the North Lakes, keep your eyes peeled for a follow-up date with Woodlands Ranger Maurice Pankhurst in September.

Who Pays the Ferry Man?

Well it`s like this, the blog title is a story related to us by the master of story telling Ranger Supervisor Paul. More of this later.

It started as the normal Thursday volunteer day for David, Christine, Phil, Jim and Theo. The task was to put the NT boats back onto Crummock Water, Loweswater and Buttermere lakes. It should have been a straight forward task but as with some things today was not going to go smoothly!

The theme of this post is best described as a story of sorts. It started well with us getting one boat onto Buttermere but the lake level was so low we could not get it off the trailer without seeming to drive the length of the lake in the Trust Land Rover!

Ranger Dan and volunteer Jim at the ready to row the boat off the trailer if we could get it in deep enough!

Volunteer Christine watches over them quietly laughing to herself!











Not working lets go a little deeper. No that`s not working either.

So, it was down to the good old fashioned time honoured method, we man handled the boat off the trailer into the water.

Just in case the health and safety people are watching we did have life jackets as seen in the next photo.








Life jackets on Dan rows the boat across to Hassness where we had to put in a new mooring for it.

Ranger Dan still dressed for safety knocks in one of the four new mooring posts. This was the second mell used on the day the first one`s shaft split on the very same post.












 Once we had the new mell the posts split and we had to get some more!

Volunteer Christine drew the short straw.

Now how the title of the blog arrived.

It was whilst we were waiting for the new posts to arrive Ranger Paul was left guarding the boat to ensure no one rowed off in it. During this time the title of the blog was arrived at.

Paul explained that whilst we were away two elderly walkers came by and quizzed him, "Don`t you respond to a wave then?" A quizzical Paul responded in line with his training, "I am sorry I don`t understand!" The question was repeated by the walkers who then went on to explain they had seen him from the other side of the lake and thought he was the ferryman who could row them across the lake!

You can understand how from a distance they could have thought he looked like a ferryman. 

The next problem was knocking in the deeper of the posts. The water was too deep to stand in and get any good swing at the posts so the only way was to stand in the boat to do so - yes about as daft as it sounds.

Don`t worry it was not as bad as it looks and Dan did not put the post through the bottom of the boat as the picture might show!

The task was eventually completed on what must be one of the funniest days we have had as National Trust volunteers.

A great day out volunteering in such a special place.

Very relaxing. Why not come out with us and have a go?

Countryside Update May 2012 Part One!

It has been another busy month for us with some extra special guests. Upland Footpath supervisor Joe was joined by the organisers of the Keswick Mountain Festival Lucy and Amy plus volunteers John and David for a bit of path maintenance nr to Ashness Bridge. We undertook some landscaping and built a drain in weather that could only be described as changeable!

Amy and Lucy admire the hole they have dug for the foundations of a stone drain across the path. Had it of rained much harder it would have been taken over by some amphibians as a home!

Most of the day seemed to be taken up by changes of clothes, waterproofs on, waterproofs off.

Still the sun did put in an appearance and dried out the ground quite quickly.




It was not all rain as the photo below shows. Amy hard at work whilst ranger Joe moves a la`al stone for landscaping purposes.

Amy took note of how Joe moved the stone and decided if he could do it so could she!













Volunteer John looks on as Amy moves not quite such a small stone down the hill also to be used for landscaping. Anything you can do?

Amy soon mastered the technique. She made it look far too easy.














Amy takes a photo of her hard work. Stone drain nearly finished, just a bit of tidying up to be done.

It was not just all about Amy, Lucy was also hard at work landscaping with Joe. They were busy making three paths into one with a good result.











Lucy below hard at work as well. Inn the background Ashness Bridge.

Even though it was a weekend, lead Ranger Penny found time to come out and see the good work put in by Joe and four volunteers.

It allowed Lucy and Amy to find out the hard way about all the effort staff and volunteers  put into maintaining the paths and landscape for ever for everyone! Now where have I heard that saying before?

The end of the day, Penny chats to Lucy and Amy about the day whilst John and Joe get ready to leave. A grand day out on the fell in good company. Who knows Lucy and Amy may even come back for another go?

Countryside Update April 2012

It has been a while since the last countryside update. We have been busy, perhaps to busy to blog! Apart from the usual dry stone walling, laying slate chippings on paths, a snap shot of what we have been up too is below.

Volunteers Clare and Robert get to grips with a post knocker whilst fencing at Dunthwaite House nr Cockermouth.

We were joined by Lead Ranger Operations Geoff. We also met the regional director John Darlington who was on a visit to the nearby house.

We were supervised by Ranger Paul with Rangers Jack and Dan hiding in the background. Also present Clare, Jim and Robert and most importantly Theo, bottom left corner of photo. 120 metres of fencing removed and replaced. Not bad for a days work. We only stopped when we ran out of fencing wire.

What else had we been up to apart from litter picking Buttermere and Crummock? Well the seasonal hedgelaying at Loweswater.

Rangers Dan and Paul are joined by Volunteer Jim - we think we had a record day with three teams of 3  one chain sawing, one laying and the other weaving in and tidying up. A good mixture of Rangers and volunteers laid 130 metres of hedge in one day.

Getting there, time for a lunch break, forestry helmets lined up on the fence.

We have also found time to give the National Trust rowing boats at Loweswater and Buttermere their annual spring clean and paint. It was a tiring day for some!

Spectacular location to work, boats on their winter stands at Crummock Water. Rangers Dan and Jack in the nearest with Ranger Andy and volunteer Christine behind. In the background is volunteer Robert tinkering with another boat. Sanded, painted and keels repaired.

A lucky escape for Ranger Andy from a mischevious Volunteer Christine having been presented with an easy target!

It was a long but rewarding day with a mixture or rain and sunshine - rain, just what you need when painting outside!

We worked that hard we need a new wire brush?

The effort was too much for one of our Rangers - bless!

It would be unkind to name him as he had been rugby league training the night before. If anyone does think they recognise the sleeping beauty please contact Ranger Jack to confirm!

Finally, we think may have seen the last of this brush unless Ranger Mark insists it is cleaned for future use?