Nun's Cross Path in Dartmoor
The Nuns Cross Path is used by more than 30,000 walkers and 10,000 mountain bikers, as well as horse riders, disabled ‘trampers’ and many others each year - it is a shining example of the accessible but wild landscape Dartmoor can be. But a combination of extreme weather, like the storms of winter 2014, and erosion damage had taken its toll over the years. In stepped the BMC's Mend Our Mountains campaign.
Famous for its unique and beautiful granite outcrops, its ponies and its mystery, Dartmoor's anomalous geography hovers in England’s southwest like an escape route from the bustling metropolises of London, Bristol and the south coast. Yet like any natural landscape, its beauty is a double-edged sword: the more people love it, the more people trample its routes and by-ways.
The path to be repaired was part of a bigger route, known as the Princetown-Burrator Loop, and three years ago, Dartmoor National Park kick-started an ambitious plan to repair, restore and preserve what would be an accessible, quality 12-mile circular walking and off-road cycling route. That project has a bit of recent history for the British Mountaineering Council: the Nuns Cross Path initially benefited from £8,497 from the original Mend Our Mountains campaign which was co-ordinated by the BMC and funded by its charity the BMC Access and Conservation Trust (ACT).
WATCH: Mend Dartmoor
When the opportunity came up to help complete this work, it seemed like a perfect choice - and this time the target was far more ambitious. After 18 months of fundraising work from the Mend Our Mountains team, the Nuns Cross Path repair scheme was given a £20,000 boost, thanks to a generous contribution by ACT.
Andrew Watson, Dartmoor National Park Authority’s Head of Recreation, Access & Estates, said: “The support and funding from public donations has been absolutely fantastic so far and we are delighted to receive an additional £20,000 from the BMC’s Mend Our Mountains: Make One Million appeal. The trail improvements will make it easier for people to access Nuns Cross Path, connect with nature and experience the natural beauty of the area.”
So far more than 4km of trail has been repaired and moorland restored between Princetown and Nuns Cross Farm. Work included installing granite cross-drains using locally sourced materials, repairing eroded sections and providing a more sustainable path surface for people to use. The extra £20,000 will extend similar repairs and restoration to the path and moorland at Eylesbarrow. The route is a key step toward securing a sustainable path-building legacy on Dartmoor and around the country.
If you really care about Dartmoor, you can donate and support the work of Dartmoor National Park to look after Dartmoor’s wildlife, environment and cultural heritage now and in the future. Donations can be made at any of the Haytor, Postbridge and Princetown visitor centres or you can donate online. To support the ongoing work of the BMC ACT and Mend Our Mountains, please look at the information below.
Related Content
Mend Our Mountains Articles
A huge thank you to everyone who has supported the Mend Our Mountains campaign from the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust (ACT) - here are the 2024 highlights!
Mend Our Mountains Articles
Three impassable paths in the Cotswolds National Landscape have been fixed thanks to funding from the BMC Access & Conservation Trust's Mend Our Mountains campaign. Here are three great walking routes using these new paths.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
26,000 plastic bottles have been rescued from landfill to create a new bridge for walkers and climbers at Cressbrook Mill, partly funded by the Mend Our Mountains campaign from the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
This year's International Mountain Day, Wed 11 Dec, the theme is: “Mountain solutions for a sustainable future – innovation, adaptation and youth”. Here at the BMC we are brimming with nature-based solutions in the mountains that contribute to a more sustainable future, so here are 3 easy ways you can help us right now.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
Work to improve the first route at Roseberry Topping from Newton Woods to the summit is now complete, but there are 9 more sections of path repair to go over the next two years. Here's everything you need to know about the ongoing repairs, where to walk, when and why.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
Help the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust raise FREE donations with all your online shopping this Christmas with Easyfundraising.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
This Sunday is National Hiking Day, celebrated on 17 November, encouraging people to get outdoors and enjoy the beauty of nature through hill walking. Use the BMC's hiking route ideas to inspire you and our mapping discounts and freebies to navigate your way.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
With a new all-terrain, electric mobility scooter in the Cotswolds Natural Landscape thanks to Mend Our Mountains support, we celebrate the rise in accessible outdoor routes with a top six across the UK.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
Part-funded by the BMC, the new Great Bradley Bridge in Exmoor opens up access to the famous, 117-mile Two Moors Way long distance walking trail. Here are our five favourite walks that take in this new crossing.
Cerdded Bryniau Newyddion
With almost 2,000m of footpath around Haytor Rocks in Dartmoor newly repaired, thanks to BMC Access & Conservation Trust funding from the Mend Our Mountains campaign, here are our top 5 walks and climbs in the area.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
The BMC’s Access & Conservation Trust (ACT) is pleased to announce a seventh project within the Mend Our Mountains campaign for 2024.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
One of the biggest projects ever supported by Mend Our Mountains has hit its huge fundraising target, enabling repairs to be made to badly damaged sections along the South Downs Way.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
The dramatic skyline of the Great Ridge walk connects the summits of Lose Hill and Mam Tor in Derbyshire’s Hope Valley. Heavy footfall left the path in a badly eroded state and work to repair the damage to the path started in March this year, and has seen 500 metres of the most serious damage along the path repaired to protect the surrounding landscape and bordering habitat.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
A kilometre-long stretch of one most heavily eroded footpaths in the heart of Bannau Brycheiniog (The Brecon Beacons) has been fixed, thanks to £12,100 of funding from the BMC’s Mend Our Mountains crowdfunding campaign.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
England’s highest mountain has been a constant headache for its custodians, the National Trust and Fix the Fells, as ever-increasing numbers seek to top England’s highest summit. Yet a poignant anniversary has highlighted the continuing need for large-scale projects to repair and revamp its slopes and pathways.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
In the last three years Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park Authority have been very active in working on a number of lower level bridleways around Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) and more recently started work on the bridleway connecting Capel Curig to Crafnant. While some of these trails have given opportunities to link communities and provide access to lesser-abled users, the scale and nature of the works on some of the routes that pass through some wild and remote areas has also surprised many users.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
The money raised through the Mend Our Mountains: Make One Million appeal has started going into work on the ground, after a dramatic helicopter airlift helped path repair work to get underway on Yorkshire’s highest peak.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
Commuting with crampons, hard outdoor labour, and spending 120 hours a week with your colleagues - we speak to a mountain path repairer to find out more about the highs and lows involved in this vital job.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
Mend Our Mountains: Make One Million has helped leave a lasting legacy on some of the highest peaks not only in Scotland, but in the whole of the British Isles.
Mynediad & Chadwraeth
In the week that sees the Dartmoor wild camping case return to the Court of Appeal, the BMC clearly sets out its position on wild camping.
Mynediad & Chadwraeth
Seven things you always wanted to know about path repair (but were too afraid to ask)
Mynediad Dysgwch
BMC volunteers from the Get Stuck In programme joined Fix the Fells last month in Wasdale on Lingmell Breast, one of the main routes up to Scafell Pike. They spent the day helping to maintain part of this hugely popular footpath up to England’s highest mountain.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
The Watkin Path up Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) and the peat hags on neighbouring mountain Glyder Fach have benefitted from BMC volunteer improvement work on the latest Get Stuck In event, 15-16 April 2024. This was organised by Hill Walking Rep Steve Charles and Access & Conservation Officer (Wales) Tom Carrick as part of the Mend Our Mountains project, funded by the BMC Access & Conservation Trust.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
Mend Our Mountains is back for 2024 with six incredible access and conservation projects across England and Wales. This project is funded by the BMC’s Access and Conservation Trust charity (ACT) and we would like to thank all our members, supporters and volunteers for making vital work like this possible. Here’s what is happening this year as a result of your funding, including volunteering events you can get involved with.
Dartmoor National Park Authority met today (27 January) to agreed key decisions on backpack camping.