News en route
Coast to Coast gets National Trail Status
The government announced that Alfred Wainwright's popular
Coast to Coast Walk is to be made a National Trail.
The announcement last week followed several years of
campaigning the Wainwright Society. The 197-mile trail will now
undergo £5.6 million of upgrades to bring it to National Trail
standards, with an expected official "opening" in 2025.
Wainwright's route has undergone several changes over the
years, as some of it followed paths which were not Rights of
Way. The "upgrades" will include creating a further 9.7 miles of
new public footpath, 9 miles of new public bridleway and 5 miles
of "re-alignment" of existing rights of way.
Many stiles will also be replaced by gates, and other
stretches of path strengthened. It is estimated that over 6,000
walkers cross the entire route each year, bringing around £7
million into local economies.
The trail shares a short section with A Dales High Way
across
Ravenstonedale Moor.
Lord Benyon, Minister for Rural Affairs, said: "The Coast to
Coast route passes through some of our most spectacular
countryside, villages and natural habitats so I’m delighted to
approve these plans and deliver on our manifesto commitment to
develop the route into a new National Trail."
15 Aug 2022
Moorland Access Bans follow Heat-wave
Open access to wide areas of moorland in Yorkshire was banned
following the July heat-wave that set new UK temperature
records.
In the Bradford district, temporary bans on wide areas of
open access - "right to roam" areas - on upland moors were
introduced on July 20th in response to the danger of fire.
Addingham High Moor was one of the areas affected, but as
public footpaths were exempt from the ban, this did not affect
walkers on A Dales High Way.
Bradford Council said: “Temperatures may have dropped but
there’s still a very high risk of wildfire on moorland. Access
to some areas of moorland across the country is temporarily
suspended, with the ‘right to roam’ on open country withdrawn
until further notice.
“Please stay away from these areas until further notice. The
restrictions do not apply to public rights of way and public
roads."
Temperatures topped 40 degrees in some UK areas for the first
time, highlighting the very real dangers of unchecked
human-induced climate change.
1 Aug 2022
Commonwealth Baton in Saltaire
The Queen's Commonweath Baton arrived at Saltaire yesterday,
on its way across Yorkshire.
Sammy Wills from Sheffield, a paramedic with Yorkshire
Ambulance NHS Trust was chosen as one of 2,022 people to carry
the Baton in the relay preceding this year’s Commonwealth Games.
Sammy said:” I am very excited to be chosen as one of the
Commonwealth Baton bearers in Yorkshire. The 2022 Commonwealth
Games mark a fantastic year as it is also 20 years since I
started flying as a Paramedic with Yorkshire Air Ambulance
Charity, seconded from Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust."
The baton will be travelling through 72 Commonwealth nations
before the opening of the Games in Birmingham on the 28th of
July. The baton, which has already completed an international
route, is travelling the length and breadth of England, stopping
in 180 locations.
The relay will end at Birmingham's Aston Hall on 28 July, the
day of the games' opening ceremony.
13 July 2022
Aerial Archaeology Project for Westmorland Dales
A new aerial investigation project has been launched covering
the south-eastern part of the Westmorland Dales area of the
Yorkshire Dales National Park, a region rich in prehistoric and
Roman archaeology.
The area includes the final stages of A Dales High Way
and
was included into the National Park in 2016.
The project will identify, map and interpret historic
environment features to enhance the Yorkshire Dales Historic
Environment Record using a range of aerial imagery.
It will study all available aerial photographs and LiDAR to
identify and map archaeological features within the survey area.
LiDAR (light detection and ranging) uses lasers to create 3-D
maps of the surface, penetrating any obscuring vegetation.
In the Yorkshire Dales researchers have found two ploughed
down henges that are no longer visible, a significant number of
prehistoric settlements, former farmsteads and complex medieval
farming landscapes that exist underneath the stone walls and hay
meadows not visible to the eye.
The project is being undertaken by Archaeological Research
Services Ltd in conjunction with the Yorkshire Dales National
Park Authority and Historic England to cover 136km²
of the area that was incorporated into the Yorkshire Dales
National Park in 2016.
PHOTO shows the structural remains of a Gilbertine Monastic
House uncovered in 1928-9 in the graveyard of St. Oswald’s
Church, Ravenstonedale © ARS 2022.
1 July 2022
90 miles across the glorious high country of the Yorkshire Dales
