A path for everyone.

Regular readers of the blog will know about the ongoing project to create an access-for-all path along the western shore of Derwentwater.  I’ve been working on this piece by piece for at least 20 years now.

Last week I made a visit with a group of people whose concern is accessibility for those with disabilities.   John Crosbie, who for many years was Centre Director of the Lake District Calvert Trust (experts in the provision of outdoor activities for people with disabilities), was keen for them to see the latest developments on the path.

This is a project where everyone wins.  What was once a 20 metre wide and often muddy path now has a good surface and is little more than a metre wide.  This encourages walkers to stay on the path and protects the surrounding vegetation.  It also allows wheelchair-users, pram-pushers and other limited mobility users to enjoy a beautiful lakeside location.

In order to make part of the path accessible to all, we had to construct a board-walk.  I’ve mentioned before that we used recycled plastic ‘boards’ for this.  They have a textured, non-slip surface and should last longer than the wooden boards we recently replaced.  For anyone who might be concerned about using plastic in a landscape like this, when we were installing the board-walk, a frequent question from passing walkers was, “What do you use to treat the wood?”  The longest stretch we have installed is about 300 metres across wet-land.  If you visit, you will see that it is much less visually intrusive than a spreading path.

This was one of those occasions where there was an opportunity to step back from the details of a project and see the overall achievement to date.  We know that the Calvert Trust and similar users can now access an increasing amount of the lake shore.  Not only is that very satisfying but it motivates us to continue the work along the opposite shore of the lake.  And it reflects a founding principle of the National Trust that it will act for ever, for everybody – we do need to look after the landscape but also make it as accessible as possible to as many as possible.

Hi, it's Daisy here.

 I've had lots of friends to stay and I've learned all about lambs and sheep. You are allowed to look at them from a distance.  But you must not try and play with them.  I don't want to play with them anyway.

Pictures of two of my friends