Story of a Shed

Perhaps you have unexpectedly seen a shed somewhere in the Lake District fells?
This blog, from the South Lakes Upland Ranger team, explains why you might see one and outlines the story so far of one such shed.

As an Upland Ranger team we spend much of the year up in the fells working on footpaths to protect them from erosion as part of Fix the Fells. This can mean working on the same path for several months in all weathers and some shelter and storage space comes in very handy.
A shed has become the shelter of choice for this upland footpath team.

This year we have had a shed on the Red Tarn to Crinkle Crags footpath, a joint project with the West Lakes Upland Ranger team. It is fair to say that this shed has been around the block a bit having been previously used in a few locations. It started out life lower down on this path and before returning has been to other locations including Pike o' Blisco and Crinkle Crags.

(Fred the) Shed in an earlier location: on Pike o' Blisco

The sheds we use are (usually) moved between sites by helicopter.  The shed is flat packed and flown to location at the same time as rock for the year's projects is moved.
This year it didn't go smoothly and due to weather conditions and priorities we didn't actually get a shed in place during the main helicopter lifts. However a few months into the project a helicopter was in the area for another job and we jumped at the chance to finally get it moved.

"The Shed has Landed"
(Not a bad backdrop too !)

Once the shed was in place the next job was to re-assemble it. There were some concerns that this shed had seen better days and may be partly rotten having spent three years on Crinkle Crags since its last use. We also had some fun trying to find suitable bolts and screws to fix it together and selecting the correct size nuts for the bolts!

Construction in progress.
Weather holding up nicely.

Finishing touches, tethering the shed down.
Weather has taken a turn for the worse.

We needn't have worried about the condition of the shed and it went together nicely.
The weather was also kind to us and held out for almost all of the construction process.

"Bijou": First lunch inside

The shed was built in time for a three day party on this project with the Fix the Fells volunteer lengthsmen.  It proved worthwhile too as we had some poor weather, consistent with our previous work parties. Some volunteers however seemed reluctant to use it as it would have been difficult to fit everyone in and instead sheltered in front of it.

Some volunteers were too polite to use the shed at lunch time

"Supervisor" Hamish was less reluctant to use the shed

We have almost finished work for this year on the the Red Tarn to Crinkle Crags path and very soon it will be time to take the shed down and flat pack it. We have more work on this project next year and plan to construct it again next spring.
Perhaps this shed will makes its home in a new location in 2016 or will it be time to retire it from active service..... ?

If you would like to know more about the daily work of the South Lakes Upland Ranger team they can be found on Twitter @NTLakesFells.

Posted by: Nick, Upland Ranger