Читать книгу The Pennine Way - the Path, the People, the Journey онлайн
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By the mid 1980s, it was clear that sections of the Pennine Way were in serious trouble, principally where the heavily used path crossed fragile, peat-based moorland, and especially in the Peak District and South Pennines. After years of official inaction, the case for some sort of intervention was now irrefutable.
In 1987, the Peak District National Park Authority and the Countryside Commission established a three-year management project to examine ways to repair the worst-eroded sections. They had found that, since a survey in 1971, the width of the path had widened dramatically in certain places as successive walkers tried to avoid the exposed and glutinous peat, which of course only made the erosion worse. What was once a 6ft-wide path on Black Hill had increased to 71ft across, while between Slippery Moss and Redmires to Blackstone Edge the width of bare path had grown by a staggering 900 per cent!
In the first phase of the project, led by Molly Porter, various techniques were trialled, some with more success than others. Since digging out the peat to the bedrock was not a realistic option, most techniques involved floating an artificial path on top of the soft surface. There were wooden duckboards, strips of black plastic matting anchored to the ground, elaborate raft paths that floated on geotextiles, and even sheep’s wool. Chestnut fence palings, wood chippings and brash were laid in long lines to try to provide a firm walkway across the peat. Most succumbed to the harsh Pennine weather and actually became eyesores and tripping hazards, so were later removed, but it was valuable experience and lessons were learnt. Some techniques were truly experimental, such as the construction of a short path on Snake summit consisting of expanded polystyrene blocks covered with loose stone. It was based on road construction methods over deep peat sites in southern Norway, which effectively allowed the highway to float. Initially the results were very encouraging, but heavy downpours and poor drainage made the blocks too buoyant and caused them to split, so that the path began to wobble alarmingly, much to the consternation of passing walkers.