Mend The Lake District!

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By helping repair the most popular path to the top of England's highest mountain you're also helping the Lake District recover from floods.

The Brown Tongue path is the most direct route to the summit of Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain.

As a result it has a very high usage with about 100,000 people walking it every year, including a tremendous number of people taking part in the national Three Peaks Challenge, many of whom use the path by night.

The problem

The current path is too narrow and too rough. Where the path is particularly bad, it can be hard to walk on, so folk leave it and cause rapidy spreading erosion along its sides. 

Nearby, the Brown Tongue nose path has also experienced damage. Once the right of way, this path was badly eroded and unsustainable. The path was re-directed onto its current line many years ago, but some folk still use the old route and it is beginning to show signs of wear. 

The task of keeping the Lake District’s paths in good shape falls to footpath repair partnership Fix the Fells. They rely on grants and donations to do their work, but their job has just been made a lot harder by the devastating floods which hit the Lake District over the winter.

As their practical coordinator Richard Fox explains: “It costs about half a million pounds a year just to look after the Lake District fells properly in a normal year. But the damage to Fix the Fells work from the floods alone was probably in the order of half a million pounds. It might end up being more than that. So effectively we’ve had a whole year’s worth of work in one night.”

The solution

Maintaining the Brown Tongue route is an ongoing battle, but in time the whole path needs improving and widening. The plan for 2016 is to improve another section of the path above that done in 2015, widening the route and making it easier to walk on. 

The total cost of the work on the Brown Tongue, including ranger costs, helicopter lifts and volunteer expenses, is £30,000.

What your donation will achieve

Your pledge will directly help to repair England's highest mountain. It will also help Fix the Fells cope with their huge workload in the rest of the Lake District and so help the region get back on its feet after that devastating deluge.

 - Lake District National Park

Please note that should the required target not be met to deliver this project, any monies raised may be rolled over to other projects within the Mend Our Mountains campaign.

Rewards will be continually added to projects over the two month course of this campaign - keep an eye on the BMC's Twitter Feed for updates and announcements. 

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