Once a path is built, what does it take to keep it in good condition?
The challenge facing many of our upland paths is how to keep people on the path … and water off it! The more people on the path and the steeper the terrain, the more both of these problems become difficult to manage.
In October, Rozanne visited the Great Sugarloaf path in North Wicklow to see how regular path maintenance is crucial to the aftercare of any path project. For anyone living in South Dublin or North County Wicklow, the Great Sugarloaf, although not high, is an iconic landmark. It’s accessibility, good car park and the fact that the path itself is less than 2km in length makes it a firm favourite with locals and tourists alike. Successive years of heavy footfall and rainwater running off the steep sides resulted in a serious case of upland path erosion.
After several years of planning, path design and ecological surveys, the construction phase of the project started in 2024 and lasted several months. The driving force at the centre of the project from planning to completion was protection of the mountain itself. The premise was to design and construct a carefully considered path, providing a safe and robust route up the mountain, which fitted in with the surrounding environment and kept walkers to a more defined route, allowing surrounding habitat to grow back over previously bare soil. The result is a path, packed with features to manage the flow of water and assist the walker up and down the mountain.
Completed in early 2025, the path has been very well accepted … but not many visitors realise what it takes to keep the path in good condition. County Wicklow is fortunate in having a dedicated Trail Maintenance Officer who looks after the Wicklow Way and also spends one day a week on the Great Sugarloaf path. Typical tasks include clearing cross drains and surfaces, cutting back vegetation and filling in surface holes and depressions. Armed with a leaf-blower backpack for removing small stones and debris from drains and the path surface, Trail Maintenance Officer Bernie Bryne knows the path like the back of her hand. On arriving at the site on a Monday morning, she can tell if it’s been a busy weekend by the condition of the path surface. She maintains that she has to play catch up even if she misses a couple of maintenance visits. With such a heavily used with various surfaces ranging from grass and soil to stone pitching, it wouldn’t take long for more serious problems to appear. However, with regular visits, preventative maintenance tasks keep problems manageable for longer. Bernie has also noticed the impact of prolonged dry and wet weather, in recent years, on the path itself and on her maintenance schedule. County Wicklow Partnership produced a fantastic video about the path project – click here to watch it.