A Ditch in Time

Scottish mountain country gets a lot of rain: in the western Highlands for example, average annual rainfall is generally over 2500mm. The contractor has to find some way of getting all this water from one side of the path to the other.

The best and easiest to maintain feature is the open cross drain. Built of large boulders they need to be big enough to handle storm flows as it only takes one period of sustained rainfall to completely wash out a section of path.

Waterbars catch water running down the path with an outflow ditch taking the water well away from the path line.

Good stonework will be a permanent monument to its builders.

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