Great Gable Path Repair
I got a message from The Beak to see him at 10 am Thursday. That sucks since I finish my O level exams on Wednesday and hoped to lie in until lunch time at least, then go for a swim with the lads in the Kent, just outside Kendal where it was less polluted.
I stood outside the headmaster’s office in full uniform, including a full tie, borrowed, since I had cut mine into pieces to mark the end of an era at school. I was about to enter the hallowed sixth form next year. The door creaked open and the Beak’s head appeared.
“Come in Mark and sit down. Don’t look so glum. It’s good news I am to impart not the usual dressing down. I have here a letter from the Lake District National Park plus an envelope of instructions for you. You may remember you applied for a course in dry wall building in Grasmere about Easter time. Well, it seems they have a vacancy for path repair in the Borrowdale valley. Here, open the envelope and let’s see what it says,” said the Head with a wistful smile.
“Thank you, Sir. It says that I have to report on Saturday at the Royal Hotel, Keswick at midday for lunch to meet the rest of the volunteers and then to a meeting to detail our duties. There’s a fiver to cover travel and any expenses. We will be staying at the youth hostel in the Borrowdale valley until the following Saturday.”
“Can I assume that you accept this assignment?” asked the Head, as Mark nodded. “Good. Don’t forget that you will be representing the school so best behaviour and don’t get into mischief. You are the only one chosen from this school so represent us with some dignity. Ok Have fun.”
“Thank you, Sir. I will be on my best behaviour,” answered Mark and retreated rapidly out of the office to avoid any further commands from the Beak.
Having borrowed his elder brothers ruck sack and a shoulder bag he set off to the outskirts of Kendal and soon managed to hitch a lift to Grasmere then another to Keswick. That saved him his bus fare. He was early for his assignment at the Royal, so he checked it out and went off to do some window shopping and buy some Mars bars as suggested by his brother who told him that food at the hostels was meagre and short at the best.
Miday arrived and at the Royal Hotel Mark was ushered into a dining room set out for fourteen people. Two other lads, Peter and Carl were already there. They introduced themselves and chatted waiting for the table to fill up. Eventually six lads and six girls arrived and the waitress handed out menus and directed them on which dishes they could order. It was a three-course sumptuous meal which they all ate greedily as if it was their last meal. There was little chatter other than polite introductions.
At the end of the meal, they were escorted by the waitress to an upstairs room set out with chairs facing a table piled high with boxes and dozens of wellingtons set out neatly against the wall. A young man in a sports jacket walked in and introduced himself.
“Good to see you all here. Hope you have had a good journey and meal. I’m Jake Thornbury in charge of ground maintenance in the National Park. The footpath up to Great Gable is in a bad shape and being widened by walkers as they avoid the worst patches leaving an unsightly mess. You are here to help three regular workmen repair this path from Stockley Bridge in the Seathwaite valley to the top of the mountain. Your main job will be to carry supplies for the men from the road up to the location where they are working. This will speed up the process. You will be staying at the Borrowdale youth hostel which will provide you with bed, breakfast, evening meal and packed lunch.”
“I will be there each morning to check on your well-being and give you your bus fare to get up to Seatoller and back. You will have to walk up the valley to Stockley Bridge. Breakfast at seven and the workmen will be there at eight thirty. Any questions so far? Ok Good. Now these boxes are full of coveralls or you might know as boiler suits. I would like the girls to choose their suits first. They can try them on for fit next door whilst the boys check out the wellies. You will be provided with two pairs of thick socks and a pair of sturdy gloves. Right get to it. I want to see you all in the right gear.”
Mark knew the ropes since he had worked in the maintenance department of the Kendal Council at Xmas and Easter break. He showed the girls that they should tuck the boiler suit trouser legs into their wellies and turn the wellies’ sides down to be more comfortable. There was a length of old hemp climbing rope in a box and Mark cut it up to suitable lengths as belts around the baggy suits. Jake went around everyone with a black marker and wrote their first name on the front of their boiler suit. He also answered many questions. Most were about the accommodation. Separate dorms and washing facilities for girls and boys. What a shame. They were given a black sack to carry their suits and wellies, others decided to wear them to the hostel.
The girls and three of the boys went off to the bus station whilst Mark with his two friends Carl and Pete trudged off to find the road to Borrowdale. They strung themselves out and started hitching. Within minutes Pete had got a lift and waved as he passed the others. Soon Carl got a lift and the car stopped for Mark. They were the first at the hostel and got the best beds as shown by the warden. Next to the warm radiators. At six-thirty they were summoned to the canteen and given half an hour of chores. Cleaning out the washrooms, sweeping and mopping the hallways and setting out the canteen for the evening meal. Mark noted that the meal was quite substantial, not meagre as told by his brother. There were even seconds. The canteen was quite crowded with lots of walkers so the evening was quite jolly with chatter and laughter.
Next morning a bell rang for breakfast which again was substantial. Jake arrived and handed out the bus fares for the day to get them to Seatoller. The girls opted for the bus and the boys for hitching. Mark and Carl were doubly fortunate in that their lift took them to Stockley Bridge, whilst the others had to walk from Seatoller. The three workmen were already there in their van, parked by the roadside. When all the gang had arrived, the men led them through a gate where there was a pile of sand and a stack of bags of cement, covered by a large tarpaulin. They explained that their initial job was to bag up the sand and carry them and the cement up to their workings. They suggested that they should initially walk up with them to find the spot where they were working. Mark countered that it would be a waste of their energy and it would be better for them to fill some sacks first and carry them up. They would surely find the workers along the well beaten path. All agreed. The men went off carrying their tools in an old tin bath.
Mark appointed himself as foreman and organised their tasks since he had previous experience of such work. The girls were assigned to filling the bags with cement since the sacks were too heavy to carry up the hill. The boys were to bag up the sand. Mark warned them not to overload the bags. He set about to show the girls how transfer the cement from the full bag. He pulled out a cement bag so that it hung well over the stack and got April and Maggie to fit the empty bag around the nose of the cement bag. With his sheath knife he stabbed the side of the bag until they broke open. He then started stabbing the top front of the bag. Halfway along he handed the knife to Lorraine to finish the job. The flap opened and some cement spiled out but most was still hardened in the bag. He told Lorraine to find a stick and loosen the cement and scrape it into the bag held by April and Maggie. He then started the other three girls on another bag warning them all to be careful not to get the dust on their skin or into their eyes.
The boys were filling one sandbag with the one shovel that they had. Mark organised them to fill bags with their hands. The enterprising ones opened a bag and just scooped the sand in with their arms. Mark told them that they would carry three bags of cement to nine bags of sand. That was the ratio for the mix. The three largest boys, Steve, Carl and Roger were assigned to carry the cement bags since they were the heaviest, the rest of them would carry the sand. Off they trudged up through the fields then up the path, stopping for a breather regularly. Eventually they reached the workmen some mile up the path. They rested for a while watching the men move stones into place. Carl was sent down to the stream with a bucket and told to bring back half gravel and fill of water. We then watched them mix the concrete in the tin bath, which they used sparingly to set the outer boulders on the edge of the path. Carl and Tony stayed behind as we trudged back to bring some more bags up. It was hard work and everybody learned not to fill the bags too much. In fact, we split the cement sacks into three. That way we could easily do three trips a day and still have time for other work on the paths.
At the end of the day, the workmen stopped just after four and came down and told us we could go. We were tired and walked back to Seatoller. The girls waited for the bus and this time all the lads hitched. The lads got back quickly, did the allocated jobs, even for the girls and went back to their dorms for a shower and change. Socks were washed and hung with the towels over the radiators and pipes to dry. At dinner Mark managed to persuade all the lads but none of the girls to go to the inn at the Stonethwaite valley some two miles away. Underage drinking bans were unknown up in the valleys, so the lads got their jars of cider, persuaded the barman to find a pop music station and pranced around to the music to the amusement of the local shepherds who were too shy to join in but kept the young incomers well-oiled with cider. After a good night they strolled back to the hostel singing away merrily only to find the doors locked and barred. They managed to prise open a window.
The next day, bleary eyed, Jake met them at breakfast, handing them their daily bus fares and asking them all kinds of questions. Mark and told him they were fine but needed more shovels, buckets, a large hammer and chisel. He told Jake that they were well ahead of the workmen with the supplies and could do some remedial work on some of the boggy paths. Jake approved and would bring them equipment straight away.
“Oh, can you also bring some dubbin and colourless boot polish,” asked Mark.
“Why would you want dubbin?” asked Jake looking quite puzzled.
“The weather is going to change and I need to waterproof the shoulders of our boiler suits otherwise we will get soaked,” answered Mark with a smile.
“Where did you learn that?”
“I worked for the Kendal council in their maintenance department. They used to put grease on their shoulders. The lads can use dubbin. The girls would hate the dubbin. Boot polish has a nicer smell.”
“Very clever.”
All six boys chose to hitch whilst the girls waited for the bus. Three of the lads were ferried direct to Stockley Bridge, the rest of the party had to walk the last bit. The three workmen were already there and had set off before everybody arrived. They started on loading bags with sand and cement as before and soon after Jake arrived.
“OK, I want to see you plaster yourselves with the dubbin,” smiled Jake, as Mark explained why and what they needed to do. Just on queue, the drizzle started. Mark demonstrated with rubbing the dubbin on Carl’s shoulders and suggested they clean the excess off their hands on their bum so they wouldn’t get too wet if they sat down. Jake handed two tins of boot polish to the girls who were a little diffident about the process but soon changed their minds as the rain increased and they saw the water flowing off the shoulders of the boys. Mark and Carl helped the girls to smear the boot polish onto their shoulders but rightly refrained from the other use. Jake left and the group filled a few bags and set off up the hill. The girls carried the tools and the buckets.
When they reached the first level boggy path Mark stopped with the girls whilst the boys carried on with their loads up the hill. Mark told the girls that they would dig a couple of French drains so the water would flow away. He sent three girls with buckets down to the stream to collect gravel and round boulders the size of a fist. Using a pick Mark gouged out three long trenches across the path and immediately the water started to flow and drain the path. He asked the girls with the shovels to widen the trench to about the width of the shovel and he would find some slate slabs to bridge the gap. The boulders and gravel were spread along the trenches to slow the water flow and minimise the erosion of the path. Mark had learned this method at the Council when they were stopping flooding on the roads. Having finished they trudged uphill to the next boggy stretch of path and did the same.
That night the lads managed to persuade Alice to come with them to the inn and they had a great time, even getting the young shepherds to join in the dancing and gyrating to the music. The following nights, the other girls decided that they were not going to miss the fun and joined in the fun at the inn, remembering to leave an unlocked window to their dorm.
The week passed quickly with lots of path work completed. The girls were complemented by the workmen on constructing the French drains. On the last Friday the workmen finished at lunch time and the gang decided to climb to the top of Great Gable and return via Honister pass and down to the hostel. Lots of bonding took place with addresses being exchanged. The debrief took place at the Royal with a lunch or the last supper as they named it. Mark was commended for his leadership and skills he had demonstrated. They parted company at the Keswick bus station with the girls’ catching busses and the lads hitching home to various parts of Cumber and Westmoreland.
