31 August 2012

A red ribbon day

Leo (aged 4!) doing the honours for us, with a little help from his friends.
As regular readers of our blog will know already, our rangers team and volunteer groups have been doing a lot of work this year improving access between Wray Castle and Lake Windermere's western shore.
Last week, as part of a celebratory bike ride, we had a V.S.P. (very small person), called Leo cut the red ribbon to open up a 2.5km stretch of greatly improved track suitable for all through our land on the western shore of Windermere.

The bikers arrive - now where's the cafe!
We've been using National Trust funds as well as a variety of grants and donations - much of them tied in with the development of Wray Castle as a visitor attraction this year. However, in February we were approached by staff of the National Park to see if we could use £80,000 to make a transformational step forward. We said yes!

The work was planned by our Rangers working to a brief given by GoLakes with the goal to attract a new audience to visit the less busy side of the lake by foot, bike or even pram - and travel there and back by boat. Our contractors did a great job - and it is working; we're getting lots of people doing simple activities for the first time.

The money has come from the 'GoLakes' partnership in the Lake District and is funded by the Department of Transport. The Trust is heavily involved in this exciting project - a one-off chance to really make a difference to sustainable transport in the middle of the Lakes, both in terms of changing how people think as well as physical improvements to infrastructure.

Here are some reminder photos from earlier blogs about this access work ...
Blog post  - 'New Ranger at Work'

Blog post - 'Once More unto the Shore ....'
We are working on a number of other projects with the same partnership - all aimed at reducing carbon and environmental impact and opening up new opportunities for our visitors. Watch out for more results in the future.


Post by John Moffat & Linda
Cycling Photos Osprey Communications

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