Volunteers who build steps out of stone

The points below about upland path repair are ordered by how much difference they make, not by how often they get repeated.

What the work involves

Stone pitching sets rocks on edge into the path surface, keyed together so that the surface acts as a single structure. Each stone is selected, shaped and placed by hand, and the fit determines whether it survives. A skilled worker may complete a few metres in a day.

Most of each stone is buried, since a pitched slab is set deep with only its top face showing, which is why the work goes so slowly and why a path that looks like scattered rock on the surface is a structure most of the way down.

Getting the stone there

Material is usually sourced locally where possible to match the geology and reduce transport. Where it cannot be, helicopter lifts deliver bags of stone to the work site, often at greater cost than the labour. A single weather window can determine whether a season's material arrives.

Matching the local geology matters beyond appearance, because imported stone weathers at a different rate and colour and stays conspicuous for decades, and on a designated site using non-local material generally needs consent of its own.

Drainage is half the job

Cross-drains, water bars and ditches move water off the path before it can accelerate along it. Most path failure is water rather than feet, so drainage does more for longevity than surfacing. This is the least visible part of the work and the part that determines whether the rest survives.

A drain also has to discharge somewhere that can take the water, because a cross-drain emptying onto a steep unvegetated slope simply moves the erosion off the path and starts a gully alongside it instead.

Volunteers do a great deal of it

Conservation charities, national park teams and volunteer path groups deliver a substantial share of upland repair. Work parties are physically demanding, weather-exposed and consistently over-subscribed by people who enjoy them. Training is provided on the day for most tasks.

The division of work is usually that volunteers move material, clear drains and turf the edges while the pitching itself is set by trained staff, because a badly keyed stone lifts in the first hard winter and takes its neighbours with it.

Why repaired paths look raw

New pitching is conspicuous and weathers in over several seasons. The alternative — a braided erosion scar widening across a slope — is far more damaging and permanent.

The detail that matters: the visual objection is understandable and is generally a comparison against an idealised past rather than the actual alternative. They also weather faster than people expect, since moss and lichen colonise new stone within a few seasons and the turf edges knit back over, so the raw look is a stage rather than a permanent condition.

That varies by region, and it is worth checking locally.

The technique has to match the ground

Stone pitching suits steep firm mineral ground; on deep peat a pitched path simply sinks into it, so the answer there is a floating path built on a geotextile raft or a length of boardwalk carried on piles. Aggregate paths are cheaper and faster over gentle ground but need a binding layer and a camber, without which the first heavy autumn washes the surface into the nearest burn. On lightly used ground the right decision is frequently to build nothing at all, because a constructed path attracts more feet and can generate exactly the pressure it was meant to relieve.

On the ground, the largest saving is in the alignment: a path set across the slope with a natural fall for drainage lasts decades, while one running straight down the fall line becomes a watercourse regardless of what it was built from.

Everything above, in order of what to do first

1. What the work involves. Stone pitching sets rocks on edge into the path surface, keyed together so that the surface acts as a single structure.
2. Getting the stone there. Material is usually sourced locally where possible to match the geology and reduce transport.
3. Drainage is half the job. Cross-drains, water bars and ditches move water off the path before it can accelerate along it.
4. Volunteers do a great deal of it. Conservation charities, national park teams and volunteer path groups deliver a substantial share of upland repair.
5. Why repaired paths look raw. New pitching is conspicuous and weathers in over several seasons.
6. The technique has to match the ground. Stone pitching suits steep firm mineral ground; on deep peat a pitched path simply sinks into it, so the answer there is a floating path built on a geotextile raft or a length of boardwalk carried on piles.

The takeaway

The stone was flown in and set by hand. Walk on it rather than beside it.

The route rewards patience more than equipment.