Fell care volunteers at the Friends' stand at the festival

Volunteers faced wild weather as they battled to maintain the fells as part of Keswick Mountain Festival.

The festival village had to be closed on its final day as gale-force winds followed torrential rain, but 32 volunteers and their leaders soldiered on to complete works as part of a fell care day.

The Friends of the Lake District said its workforce needed industrial strength waterproofs on Saturday to complete conservation tasks.

Among the work completed were the clearing of 17km (10½ miles) of upland paths around Cat Bells and Ashness Bridge; the rebuilding of 8m of drystone wall at Crow Park, Keswick; and five helicopter dump-bags filled with non-native invasive species crassula cleared from Derwent Water.

The rain-sodden volunteers completed the equivalent of 19 days’ work.

Volunteer wallers work during the downpour

Ruth Kirk fell care project officer said: “With torrential rain on Saturday and gale-force winds on Sunday which forced the KMF organisers to close the festival village on Crow Park to everyone, visitors and exhibitors alike, we faced some ‘challenging’ conditions, which makes the superb efforts of our hardy and committed volunteers and task leaders all the more impressive.”

Further fell care days are planned for 2 September at Grasmere and 8 November in Eskdale. More details are on the Friends of the Lake District website.