Mend our Mountains campaign will benefit Dartmoor

The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) has just launched its second Mend our Mountains Campaign, with the goal of raising £1 million for a range of vital path repair projects within the UK’s entire family of 15 National Parks. This new, year-long appeal follows a successful 2016 crowdfunding campaign which lasted 10 weeks and raised over £100,000 towards upland path repairs in 8 UK National Parks. On Dartmoor, Mend our Mountains 2016 raised £8,497 but this figure more than tripled through other donations and match funding, meaning the ‘worth’ of Mend Our Mountains support grew to £27,000. The money was used to make repairs to the popular route from Princetown to Nun’s Cross, used annually by over 30,000 walkers and 10,000 mountain bikers.

The Nuns Cross scheme is our largest, long term project. It started three years ago from Princetown and, thanks to the generosity of the public we have completed repairs to 4 kilometres of the route – we still have just over 4 kilometres to go – and this is the toughest part! The distances to transport materials and the weather conditions make it a challenge both physically and financially. Eventually though we aim to make repairs and improvements on the route from Princetown right through to the road near Gutter Tor – making this route much more accessible and opening up better access through to Burrator Reservoir and beyond, linking with the Princetown railway track, enabling a long circular route starting and finishing in Princetown. As well as huge open vistas, providing a real experience of the high open moor, the route passes through a landscape full of the stories of those who have gone before. When the work is complete this route will enable people to enjoy a journey through time where prehistoric people once trod, medieval travellers passed, tin miners worked in harsh conditions and where Arthur Conan Doyle sought inspiration to write perhaps his most enduring novel – the Hound of the Baskervilles.

We hope to raise funds to enable our work here to continue and this campaign is aiming to raise £40,000 – so please help us - for the benefit of all who wish to enjoy this special place – and donate to the BMC’s Mend our Mountains campaign. For further information on the Mend our Mountains Campaign or to make a donation please visit http://mendmountains.thebmc.co.uk/dartmoor/