Kinder footpath target reached

Supporters have reached a £10,000 fundraising target to help repair a damaged stretch of footpath on Kinder Scout in the Peak District National Park.

The Mend Our Mountains campaign was launched by the British Mountaineering Council in March to fund eight urgent upland repair projects in partnership with National Parks.

Among them was a severely-eroded path below the Ringing Roger rock outcrop on Kinder Scout.  Supporters pledged more than £12,400 towards the estimated £28,000 cost of stone-pitching a section of one of the most popular routes to the Kinder Plateau.

Mike Rhodes, access and rights of way manager at the Peak District National Park, said: “It’s quite an impressive thing that people are prepared to donate to something like this. They may not even walk the route themselves but still want to help us look after the landscape.

“The erosion had got to the point where we had to do something and this initiative from the British Mountaineering Council is absolutely brilliant.’’

The national campaign raised more than £103,000 and will fund repairs to damaged paths on some of Britain’s most popular peaks, including Snowdon, Scafell Pike, Ingleborough and part of the Brecon Beacons Horseshoe, as well as contribute towards vital repairs to moorland on Dartmoor, Exmoor and the North York Moors.