Furness PathFix – just PathFix – is a volunteer group of outdoor folk who often use the rights of way in the Furness area and would like them much easier to use, by fixing some of the innumerable problems – broken stiles, overgrown or blocked paths, quagmires, poor waymarking etc.
Many of us are also involved in the Ulverston WalkFest annual festival of led walks, as walk leaders or organisers. And we formed Furness PathFix to help local councils, farmers and landowners to try to get the local rights of way network back into a good usable condition.
We launched in April 2025 and our volunteers have already surveyed many paths, fixed lots of stiles and installed hundreds of new waymarks. Our current priorities are detailed on the following tabs: –
See our Path Survey pages for details of problems on paths we have surveyed.
Our priority route is the Cumbria Way, which starts in Ulverston and goes to Carlisle, and includes many of the most used paths in our Furness area. We have now made several significant improvements, including: –
Multiple stiles fixed, including wooden step stiles and a dangerous high stone step stile completely rebuilt. And new waymark posts installed, to improve waymarking. See our Cumbria Way Fixes page.
A change to the route near the start in Ulverston, to avoid having to go through the farmyard of a busy working farm. The new route is safer, easier and more interesting. For details see our Cumbria Way Route Change page.
New waymarks designed and installed on large sections of the whole Cumbria Way. And new fingerposts ordered by the local council and to be installed later this year. See the new design on our Cumbria Way Route Change page.
On some paths, two of our path survey volunteers came across old Haematite Trail markers, marking an old but now neglected long distance trail, which passes many of the old iron ore mines that were part of the Furness iron industry that was very active in the late 19th century / early 20th century.
They decided to review, repair and work towards relaunching the trail, with new waymarks and leaflets. Many stiles on the route have now been fixed by PathFix teams and it now has its own Furness Haematite Trail Group page and maps & leaflets available. See the teams Haematite Trail page for details.
It is planned to relaunch the Haematite Trail in April 2026, with sections of it being included in three different Ulverston WalkFest walks (see walks 3, 29 & 32).
If you are interested in volunteering to help with PathFix, or for any feedback on path problems etc., please complete our PathFix Contact Form.
To contact our Haematite Trail team, see their Furness Haematite Trail Facebook Group page or complete the Contact Trail Team tab on their Haematite Trail page.
.