FOUR Army helicopters have lifted around 400 giant bags of stone up the Lake District fells to help in the repair of popular eroded paths.

As well as being an essential part of the National Trust and Lake District National Park Authority's ten-year upland path repair project, the airlift also provides vital "real-life" training for the Army's Six Flight Air Corps, based at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire.

Each year about 10 million visitors walk in the Lake District National Park - many on the upland paths.

And after years of such heavy pressure the paths are becoming badly eroded, said the park authority. "It is essential that action is taken now to conserve the beauty, cultural and natural heritage of England's finest landscape," said Richard Fox, the authority's upland paths adviser.

"Some 145 upland paths across the National Park have been targeted for vital repair work, at a cost of more than £5 million - and we couldn't afford to repair all of these paths without the Army's invaluable help."

The helicopter lift took all week, taking stones to the popular Ambleside to Wansfell path, and the path from Styhead to Wasdale Head where teams from the National Trust and a local contractor will start repair work.

The upland path project is funded by the Lake District National Park Authority, the National Trust, English Nature, Friends of the Lake District and the Heritage Lottery Fund.