Yorkshire Dales National Park rangers have upgraded a section of the “Coast to Coast” path to National Trail quality standard.
A three-kilometre-long stone-flagged surface has been laid over a notoriously treacherous peat bog in Birkdale, part of the Kirkby Stephen to Keld section of the trail.
Local MP Rishi Sunak campaigned successfully for the Coast to Coast path to become a National Trail.
“The scale of the project is very impressive. Getting the flagstones up to one of the most remote parts of the park and then laying them across almost two miles of moorland has been a massive task,” Sunak said.
“The work protects the landscape and will improve the experience for the growing number of walkers who will be attracted to tackle it when it becomes a National Trail next year. The National Park team has done a fantastic job. The park was among the first organisations to back my Coast to Coast – Make It National campaign when we launched in 2016 and it has now completed the most demanding task in the work to bring Alf Wainwright’s celebrated walk up to National Trail standard.”
Completion of the work paves the way for Natural England to formally open the Coast to Coast National Trail in spring next year.
Area Ranger for Swaledale Michael Briggs has been part of the team on the ground, engaging with walkers on the trail while marshalling two teams each comprised of three staff including a digger driver.
After a two-month stint on White Mossy Hill, he said: “For me one of the best parts of the job has been chatting to people walking by. They all love the path we’ve made. There’s been so many international walkers and some were dreading this section because they’d been told how boggy it can be. People could not have been more appreciative.”
A coast to coast route from the Irish Sea at St Bee’s in Cumberland to the North Sea at Robin Hood’s Bay was originally described by Alfred Wainwright in 1973. Over time, three pathways emerged to navigate the peatland at White Mossy Hill in Birkdale. The newly-surfaced route uses the most popular of the three ways and has become a public right of way in agreement with the local estate.
Rangers began work in August last year with a planned pause for the delivery of more materials and ground nesting bird season. Work resumed in August this year for 10 weeks.
Member champion for recreation management at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Lizzie Bushby, said: “The funding we have received from Natural England to enhance the Coast to Coast route in Birkdale has proved to be a win-win. We have been able to protect important peatland habitat from damage, while creating a sustainable route for walkers and making it more enjoyable.
“The new stone-flagged path is wide enough for people using mobility aids. It’s not a route for everyone, but it will give more people a better chance of getting up to the peaks above Birkdale, one of the most remote places in the National Park. On a fine day you can see all the way down Swaledale from the new path.
“We hope that National Trail status will make the Coast to Coast route even more popular, giving a boost to local businesses. There can be few better ways of experiencing the special qualities of the Yorkshire Dales National Park than walking the trail between Kirkby Stephen in Westmorland and Richmond in North Yorkshire.”
In addition to the stone-flagged path at Birkdale, signage of the route is being installed throughout the Yorkshire Dales section of the trail, with more than 40 new fingerposts pointing the way and five new bridges so far.
