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TECHNIQUES FOR RESTORATION
Re-alignment
Work is concentrated on the moorland areas of Kinder Scout Bleaklow, Black Hill and Saddleworth Moor. This stretch of the Way, measuring about 40 miles, consists of severely eroded blanket peat scarred slopes and worn gritstone edges.
Where possible, the route has been re-aligned onto the naturally more durable terrain, such as stream channels, known as groughs, which criss-cross the deep peat. Here natural erosion has removed the peat down to rock. Small-scale repair works, such as drainage and landscaping have been carried out wherever necessary - for example at Hern Clough a narrow track has been handworked and repaired using locally derived stone to provide a durable path.
For long stretches of the high moors however, there is no alternative but to cross areas of deep peat. Peat has always posed a problem for builders of roads or tracks because of its peculiar nature of expanding and liquefying when wet, hardening and shrinking when dry.
Long trains of packhorses used to cross what is now the Peak Park carrying goods across the Pennines. The ancient way of building a firm path across the peat was to float a base of twigs in the peat bog and to lay large stones over this sub-base. Recent work on the Pennine Way copied this traditional method and involved floating a raft made from substances varying from polystyrene blocks to wool clippings with the aggregate path laid on top of the raft.
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helicopter lift
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laying slabs
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In one summer 750 tonnes of recycled Pennine sandstone flags were airlifted in by helicopter to provide the surface material for new stretches of path.
On firmer ground the stones can be laid direct, but on the very boggy areas a membrane has to be laid down first to stop the stones sinking. These stones provide a hard surface over the worst stretches of the route; Featherbed Moss (near the Snake Pass), Alport Low and Torside Clough on Bleaklow and Wessenden Head Moor near Holmfirth. Such a path is hard wearing, long lasting and blends well with the landscape.
Stone Pitching
On the steeper slopes on mineral (non-peat) ground, large stones are dug in to form irregular steps - a technique known as pitching. Here again, ancient techniques are being rediscovered as best suited to this type of terrain. The slopes at Ashop Head and Torside have been repaired successfully using this technique. The result is a well crafted path of natural appearance using local materials, which will last for many years.
Machine-built paths
Work has also been carried out on Devil’s Dyke, a ditch of about a kilometre long - thought to have been an ancient boundary. The banks of this deep ditch had collapsed and the sides had become badly eroded due to trampling. A contractor was hired with a large excavator to excavate and restore the sides of the ditch. He then created a sandstone path along the base of the dyke using the excavated material and providing a drainage ditch at the side of the path to take the flow of water. The result was a hard wearing path of natural appearance produced without importing any materials.
Revegetation
Once the trampling pressure has been confined to these hard surfaces, attempts can then begin to revegetate the surrounding bare ground. Lime and fertiliser (applied from the air by helicopter) act to neutralise the effects of years of acid rain and to encourage regrowth.
Reseeding with a first or nurse crop of grasses such as Rye-grass Bents and Fescues should establish conditions suitable for other native species to start to re-colonise the bare areas. In some places it is necessary to fence off small areas from sheep and people to give the best possible conditions for regrowth.
In many places it is hoped that the relief of pressure from walkers (who will be using the flagged paths) will be enough to encourage regrowth to take place.
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after restoration
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Throughout the whole length of the Pennine Way work is now being co-ordinated to achieve the aim of restoration. The technique of stone slab laying is being used on a large scale in Calderdale and Northumberland on deep peat. Other areas such as the Yorkshire Dales are using refined machine-built paths and aggregates. Techniques depend on the individual characteristics of each place concerned and the problems found there.
The Future ......
Erosion on the Pennine Way will continue to be a problem as long as walking remains a popular pastime. However there is a strong commitment by all those involved in the management of the path, to aim for a solution to this problem in keeping with the nature of the Pennine Way.
The result in the end, it is hoped, will be a Pennine Way that is a pleasure not an eyesore. It will be however, a far cry from the vision of Tom Stephenson of an undefined route, which needed a compass to navigate.
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