New footpath and shuttle-bus route opens on flood-hit Lake District road

Pupils from Keswick School braved wind, rain and darkness to cross Dunmail Raise on the A591 near Grasmere using a new footpath and shuttle-bus service.

The temporary scheme has been put in place by Cumbria County Council following the collapse of a section of the road - on one of the main routes through the Lake District - during Storm Desmond.

This morning seven pupils travelled from south to north being picked up in Rydal and Grasmere and transported to the top of Dunmail Raise. From there they got off the bus and walked, supervised, down the road and along the newly created footpath which bypasses where the road has been washed away.

At the end of the path they were then picked up by a second bus and continued their journey to Keswick using the western shore road around Thirlmere Reservoir.

Work to put the new footpath in place was completed over a weekend after the original plan to walk pupils down the remaining road was made impossible due to further erosion by floodwater in late December.

The footpath connection will remain in place until a new temporary road has been built on the opposite, eastern, side of Dunmail Raise along existing forest roads. Cumbria County Council say the aim is to have this ready towards the start of February.