NATIONAL Park Authority rangers and their field teams will be clearing up after the recent floods for months to come, as news of damage to paths, walls and bridges trickles slowly in.

Southern area Ranger Phil Clague's patch' in Coniston was no exception, and his immediate problem is to prioritise the extra work while keeping up with all the regular tasks.

Bridleway surfaces took a hammering from the water, while floods also washed away a section of the newly-created footpath for wheelchair users by the lakeshore at Monk Coniston. High water levels on Coniston in winter often damage the shoreline, so the need to replace this particular section of path came as little surprise.

However, swift flowing floods can also do unpredictable things, as demonstrated further up the lakeshore at Torver, where a footbridge on the Cumbria Way was floated off its moorings by the force of the floodwater and ended up on the shore. The field team hope to lift it back on its moorings, re-set the foundations and put the bridge back, if at all possible.

Phil is dealing with the aftermath of the floods at the same time as planning boat patrols on Coniston for the year ahead, on board the Authority's 17ft Dory. Thousands take to the waters of the Lake District each year and NPA ranger patrols on Coniston, Ullswater, Windermere, Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite are an important service, upholding the lakes' bye-laws, promoting safety, helping to rescue those in difficulty and protecting and encouraging wildlife.

Although each lake has its unique characteristics, many lake management issues are common to all, so Lake Rangers are working together closely to share expertise and develop an all-lakes approach to patrol work.

Among future path repair projects to be tackled by NPA contractors will be a 1km section of the summit path up Coniston Old Man by Goat's Hawse, where erosion has broadened the track to 20m wide in places. The plan to narrow it using hand work only, avoiding the need for pitching or a mechanical digger. Instead, new drainage channels will be dug to redirect rainwater, followed by re-seeding and re-turfing to reduce the width of the old path and redefine the narrowed track.

Walkers looking for new challenges know that the best people to ask are the locals and they will not be short of ideas in the Duddon Valley, thanks to new leaflets being funded by the NPA's Sustainable Development Fund.

Each parish has money from the fund available to spend on a local project, and the Dunnerdale and Seathwaite ward of Duddon Parish Council decided to produce some local walks leaflets, in conjunction with the Duddon Valley Accommodation Initiative.

Duddon Ranger Chris Berry is co-ordinating the project with the NPA, which will fund printing costs for the leaflets over the next two years.

JANE RENOUF