Cat Bells, which sits on the western shore of Derwentwater and can be clearly seen from the Camping and Caravanning Club’s Keswick site, suffered extensive damage to its paths when Storm Desmond Struck the Lake District last December.

The Keswick Mountain Festival and National Trust are raising £25,000 for the work, which has already seen the planting of trees on Cat Bells’ steep flank to stabilise the ground and slow down the flow of rainwater to reduce the risk of landslide.

Joe Cornforth, Upland Path Supervisor for the National Trust in the North Lakes, said: “Storm Desmond caused a landslide on Cat Bells, ripping straight through the well-known lower terrace path and making existing erosion scars on the summit path so much worse that they almost became unwalkable.

“We carried out emergency repairs to keep the paths open for Christmas. However, we need them to withstand the next storm that comes along, so we’ve got to make the paths and the fells a lot more resilient to the extreme weather events we’ve seen in recent years in the Lakes.”

Among those to help has been Steve Birkinshaw, the Cumbrian fell runner who holds the record for completing all of Alfred Wainwright’s 214 peaks in six days and 13 hours. He’s pictured here with the National Trust’s Jessie Binns helping to repair Cat Bells’ paths, with Keswick in the background.

Steve will be working with outdoor clothing and equipment company Berghaus at this year’s
Keswick Mountain Festival, which runs from 19-22 May, by leading trail runs and speaking in the Adventure Talks Tipi. Club President Julia Bradbury is among the line-up of speakers at this year’s event, which is sponsored by Hi-Tec.

Keswick Club Site also suffered considerable flood damage in the recent storms but reopened earlier this year on schedule.

Click here to support the National Trust’s flood recovery work.