Brown Tongue, Scafell Pike

Before (1989) & After (2019), original work completed 1994

Location

Runs north east from the top of Wastwater

Legal status

Public Right of Way footpath

Path use

This path forms part of the shortest route up Scafell Pike, making it the most popular choice for people doing the Three Peaks Challenge.

Historic interest

Originally a route used by climbers to reach Scafell crag rather than the summit.

The problem

Scafell Pike receives a vast number of users every year, all year, at all times of the day and night. Group sizes can be very big, as such a high proportion of users are charity groups. As a result, paths are rapidly damaged and widened, particularly as many of the users will be inexperienced and trying to find soft vegetation to use. Maintenance and minor project work is endless to try to hold surfaces together, reduce the spread of random cairns and to limit erosion where possible. The thin soil and vegetation on Brown Tongue just could not cope with the traffic, as can be seen in the above photo from 1989.

Repair techniques

It was decided that the path should be diverted off the Tongue, which is extremely vulnerable to erosion. A more sustainable line was identified off to the right (as shown by the red arrow in the photo opposite) and the path was pitched with stone to make a hard wearing and sustainable surface. Work started in 1990 and was completed in 1994. Landscaping of the original scar on the Tongue finished in September 1994 with the help of an army volunteer group.

The path was moved onto a more sustainable line shown in red

Ranger Iain hard at work on an unusually nice day in 2019

Experience shows that erosion rapidly gets out of hand on the whole of this path up to Lingmell Col if nothing is done. A widening and levelling programme has continued almost every year since 2009. Old, narrow, substandard pitching is being replaced with new pitching, more drainage, wider, and to a modern standard. Over the last 5 years, 1,448 ranger days have been spent repairing and improving this path, at a cost of around £290k, together with 93 volunteer days.

In 2021, a digger was flown in a little higher up to reprofile a section of the path which had been worked on by machine in 2005. It had served very well but had become considerably worn and ran with water after rain. It had been maintained as far as was reasonable by hand but had reached a stage whereby it needed a re-work to deepen the side drainage channels, recreate a camber and to block side paths. This machine work cost £39k.

The digger hard at work on another unusually nice day in 2021

Further work was done to try to stabilize the soil and vegetation on the Tongue in 2021. You can see from the photo below taken in 2019 that there has been a considerable improvement since 1982 but there were still some bare patches. A product called seed aid and grass seed were sprinkled on the bare patches to help to bind the soil together until the vegetation grows sufficiently to hold it all together. As ever, our work continues and hopefully, at some point in the future, people will wonder why it was ever called Brown Tongue.