DRAINAGE work and repairs have been carried out along stretches of Alfred Wain-wright’s coast-to-coast walk to mark the 40th anniversary of his guide book publication.

Teams of trained volunteers joined Fix the Fell rangers to go on drainage runs from Grasmere, Patterdale and Stonethwaite.

They also used a technique known as ‘stone-pitching’ to make improvements. This involves interlocking large stones with the flattest side up to create small, irregular steps that blend into the landscape.

The rangers and volunteers look after around 16 miles of path on the coast to coast route and are to receive £4,000 for materials and protective clothing over the next three years from the Linley Shaw Foundation.

Tanya Oliver, Fix the Fells programme manager, said: “It is wonderful that Wainwright’s Coast to Coast book has encouraged thousands of people to follow the route each year, and now rangers and volunteers are working hard to ensure the path is kept in a good state of repair.

“Our sincere thanks go to the Linley Shaw Foundation for their contribution to sup-port this work and to the volunteers who are out in all weathers fixing the fells.”

The Coast to Coast route was devised in Wainwright’s 1973 guidebook and is said to be 192 miles – though recent remeasuring suggests the actual distance is 220 miles.

In 2004 the walk was named as the second best walk in the world according to a survey of experts.

A second edition of A Coast to Coast Walk was published in June 2010 by Frances Lincoln. The book was completely revised and updated by Chris Jesty, who had previously revised the seven Wainwright Pictorial Guides and The Outlying Fells.

Repairs on the Coast to Coast are just a fraction of the work of Fix the Fells – a partnership of the National Trust, Lake District National Park Authority, Nurture Lakeland, Natural England, Friends of the Lake District and Cumbria County Council.

It aims to protect the Lakeland fells from erosion by maintaining and repairing paths, and in the last 10 years has worked on more than 200 paths.

It needs to raise £5 million to be able to continue its work through to 2023.