With just six days left, the British Mountaineering Council and the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority are calling on the public to show they care about the landscape they love and use by pledging towards the Mend Our Mountains Campaign at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/mendourmountains. Working with eight national parks the crowdfunding campaign has launched a final push to raise £100,000 by Monday 9 May to be able to carry out eight urgent upland repair projects on some of Britain’s most iconic peaks, one of which is right here in the central Beacons.
Photograph © Nigel Forster Caption: Mend our Mountains – donate today to repair the popular horseshoe walking route above the Neuadd Reservoir
The horseshoe path above the Neuadd Reservoir is part of a magnificent circular walk that takes in the highest peak in southern Britain, Pen y Fan, but the path has deteriorated badly over the last 20 years. Path repair in the most remote parts of the Bannau Brycheiniog can cost up to £170 per metre.
Melanie Doel, Chairman of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority:
“Uplands are immensely important to the National Parks’ visitors and residents for both adventurous and quiet recreation but they offer some serious challenges in terms of managing the land -not only for conservation of the delicate but vitally important peat bogs but also the network of paths that cross them. This scheme presents an excellent opportunity for those that love the hills to put something back so that future generations can enjoy them.”
Since its national crowdfunding campaign launch more than 1,000 pledgers have helped to raise a current total of more than £55,000 to repair damaged paths on some of Britain’s most popular peaks. Watching the sunset from Snowdon, a whole season of mentored climbing or riding in a helicopter over the Yorkshire Dales are just some of the brilliant experiences still up for grabs as crowdfunding ‘rewards’.
Carey Davies, BMC hill walking officer, said: “The response to Mend Our Mountains so far has shown that many walkers, climbers and outdoor enthusiasts care strongly about looking after the mountain landscape. It is a challenging time for the bodies which ‘look after’ some of our most important landscapes. Booming visitor numbers and smaller budgets, compounded by the extensive damage of recent flooding, means that many national park authorities are struggling to keep up with the ongoing challenge of erosion. But we want to send as loud a signal as possible that we are prepared to do what we can to stop mountain erosion. These hills are ours to climb and ours to care for. The more we raise in this campaign the stronger this message will be.”
TV presenter Julia Bradbury said: “It’s easy to take the paths beneath our feet for granted when we’re walking in the hills, yet footpaths are the arteries of the hills when it comes to enabling people to access the mountains sustainably. I’ve been fortunate to walk along many footpaths that have formed part of our landscape for hundreds of years and which now need our help. I’m supporting the Mend Our Mountains crowdfunding campaign so that many more people, including families and young people, can enjoy our hills and mountains in the years to come. If you love walking in our national parks, please lend your support.”
To show your support and make a donation visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/mendourmountains
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Notes to Editors
Photograph © Nigel Forster
Caption: Mend our Mountains – donate today to repair the popular horseshoe walking route above the Neuadd Reservoir