Cairn Liath 2.
Continuing on from where we left off last year.
It was very interesting to see how the path had bedded in over the last winter and to actually see improvements in vegetation recovery this quickly.
The new small experimental sections of the work over the Fenland had started to settle in too, and were already drawing some walkers on the way down into the areas we wished them to use.
More air lifts were required still using shist type rock but towards the end of this section there was a gradual change to the geology towards quartzite with some granite so this was reflected in the materials lifted at that point.
In addition to materials being lifted up, we lifted around 30 tonnes of material we collected off the quartzite scree plumes. This is the material that was washed down in flood events and was the main reason for the high visibility of the scarring, the material was covering the vegetation, killing it off and so further destabilising the fragile soils.
We proposed collecting this and flying it off the hill down to the area where the dyke had been dismantled down to just above ground level, here there was now a very rough but firm base and by using the stone that was left here and wasn't suitable for the path, we created a raised edge on both sides and were able to make a robust tray. Into this we laid the scree material as infill to create a base onto which a path could be built.
Once this has a top coat of fines to help bind it in it would hopefully create a hardwearing robust path using the line of the old wall through the boggy and peaty sections for walkers to access the mountain. This also had the added benefit as to almost picking our route over the base rich Fen as we now proposed the route should take, and although there was a significant section (the wettest and most avoided) near the start of the path we also suggested here we could replicate the broken down but still visible sections of the wall to create small islands of raised stone path that would be robust enough to withstand being flooded periodically but that matched the existing land scape.
There were a few benefits to this solution, namely, material was recovered that was highly visible, but more importantly, it was killing the vegetation underneath. The material was then recycled, just as the dyke was for the main pitched path, and it provided a solid path base without the need for disposing of it in heaps that would of required a huge amount of landscaping to disguise. Using it a base material would also negate the need to possibly import from a quarry suitable material with all the added environmental and financial costs.
It was very interesting to see how the path had bedded in over the last winter and to actually see improvements in vegetation recovery this quickly.
The new small experimental sections of the work over the Fenland had started to settle in too, and were already drawing some walkers on the way down into the areas we wished them to use.
More air lifts were required still using shist type rock but towards the end of this section there was a gradual change to the geology towards quartzite with some granite so this was reflected in the materials lifted at that point.
In addition to materials being lifted up, we lifted around 30 tonnes of material we collected off the quartzite scree plumes. This is the material that was washed down in flood events and was the main reason for the high visibility of the scarring, the material was covering the vegetation, killing it off and so further destabilising the fragile soils.
We proposed collecting this and flying it off the hill down to the area where the dyke had been dismantled down to just above ground level, here there was now a very rough but firm base and by using the stone that was left here and wasn't suitable for the path, we created a raised edge on both sides and were able to make a robust tray. Into this we laid the scree material as infill to create a base onto which a path could be built.
Once this has a top coat of fines to help bind it in it would hopefully create a hardwearing robust path using the line of the old wall through the boggy and peaty sections for walkers to access the mountain. This also had the added benefit as to almost picking our route over the base rich Fen as we now proposed the route should take, and although there was a significant section (the wettest and most avoided) near the start of the path we also suggested here we could replicate the broken down but still visible sections of the wall to create small islands of raised stone path that would be robust enough to withstand being flooded periodically but that matched the existing land scape.
There were a few benefits to this solution, namely, material was recovered that was highly visible, but more importantly, it was killing the vegetation underneath. The material was then recycled, just as the dyke was for the main pitched path, and it provided a solid path base without the need for disposing of it in heaps that would of required a huge amount of landscaping to disguise. Using it a base material would also negate the need to possibly import from a quarry suitable material with all the added environmental and financial costs.