Mend Our Mountains
Help us repair Britain's paths and trails
Our footpaths, trails and bridleways are the lifeblood of the Great British outdoors, but the 140,000 miles of footpaths and bridleways we have access to in England and Wales are under serious threat. The footpaths you love the walk on, up mountains and to crags, are disappearing fast before our eyes due to erosion from increased footfall and more extreme weather conditions.
This is why the Mend Our Mountains campaign, from the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust (ACT), funds footpath repair and access projects across the UK. From professional path work on England's most popular peaks like Scafell Pike and Roseberry Topping, to outdoor education in the Cotswolds and volunteer footpath repair and conservation work that you can get involved with.
The BMC has raised over £1.4 million so far for the Mend Our Mountains Project since it was set up in 2016. That's 50 miles of fragile footpath restored for future generations and 544 miles of upland repaired - the equivalent to over 67,000 double decker buses. But there's plenty more to do. Scroll down for our current and previous projects.
DONATE NOW
Path repair is a surprisingly costly business. Working in remote locations, with heavy equipment and adverse weather conditions, makes rebuilding trails an enormous and expensive challenge. £250 fixes one metre of footpath. £1,000 flies in one bag of stone to an inaccessible mountain location. Will you help us repair the paths?
Support Mend Our Mountains
By supporting Mend Our Mountains, you’ll be directly helping paths and people around the UK. In 2024 we will be funding a range of projects that include:
- Training volunteers and supporting wardens and rangers across the country so they can repair paths, help improve biodiversity and continue to teach / learn valuable rural skills
- Restoring important access routes to some of our most iconic peaks and climbing areas
With your support:
- £5 buys a pair of work gloves
- £10 buys a replacement handle for a mattock
- £25 buys a shovel or sun cream & midge repellent for a ranger team
- £50 buys five garden skips for moving soil
- £150 buys protective clothing for path repairers
- £250 fixes approximately one metre of footpath
- £1000 flies ten bags of stone to an inaccessible mountain location
You don't get a cuddly toy or a fancy welcome pack, but what you do get is the satisfaction of being able to walk along your donation, and secure these paths for future generations to enjoy for many years to come.
2024 projects
Cotswolds NL
Mend Our Mountains will fund a Grants and Access Officer for the Cotswolds Natural Landscape (NL). This role will oversee the allocation of the DEFRA 'Removing Barriers' funding for work to improve access, making this protected landscape more accessible to people of all ages, abilities and from all backgrounds, including path repair, signage and toilets.
Lake District National Park
Fix the Fells save Lake District footpaths from erosion through regular repair and maintenance. Mend Our Mountains will fund their highly skilled ranger team to continue their path restoration work in tune with the natural landscape. They work tirelessly, in all weathers, throughout the year to protect the footpaths we love to walk on, up our favourite mountains.
North Yorkshire
The iconic, mini-Matterhorn-shaped Roseberry Topping is a much-loved, local landmark. As such, the 320m peak sees plenty of footfall and suffers from significant path erosion. Mend Our Mountains, along with other partners, will help to fund the restoration of 10 areas of unsafe, eroded footpath in dire need of repair around and towards the summit.
South Downs National Park
Chanctonbury Ring is an incredible prehistoric fort steeped in local folklore at the top of Chanctonbury Hill on the South Downs, West Sussex. The track has been badly eroded into deep ruts, making it difficult for people to access this historical site. Mend Our Mountains will fund the repair of 800m of track and drainage ditches using local chalk and flint.
Peak District National Park
Mend Our Mountains is helping to fund a new 20m (60ft) footbridge at Cressbrook Mill, a crucial route across the River Wye linking the concession footpath from Cressbrook to Litton, to the open access land and the Monsal Trail, and leading to climbing crags in Water-Cum-Jolly. This work will bring back a vital access route which has been closed for some time.
Dartmoor National Park
Haytor Rocks, one of Dartmoor’s most iconic granite tors and a popular rock climbing site, will benefit from a Mend Our Mountains grant to support the repair of footpath erosion at its base. Deep gullies and holes will be filled in with local stone around the tor itself and on popular walking routes between other local tors - Saddle and Rippon Tor.
Get Stuck In!
If you’d like to get involved directly in Mend Our Mountains then Get Stuck In is the place for you - volunteer footpath repair with the National Trust in the Lake District, Snowdonia and Peak District, often over 2-days with basic accommodation provided. You can dig drainage ditches, place stepping stones clear out invasive species and more.
MEND OUR MOUNTAINS NEWS
Hill Walking News
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
Do you have Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) days to fill or is your company looking for new and exciting CSR days for your staff? The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) has the answers.
Access Articles
This unassuming, bright, green or red moss with lush, almost tentacle-like fronds is hiding five well-kept secrets.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
Did you know that the 140,000 miles of footpaths and bridleways we have access to in England and Wales are under serious threat? The footpaths you love the walk on are disappearing fast before our eyes due to erosion from increased footfall and more extreme weather conditions. Here are 14 reasons why we can't ignore footpath erosion.
Get Stuck In! Volunteer Days
'Get Stuck In!' volunteer events are a key part of repairing our footpaths, funded by Mend Our Mountains.
Here, you have an opportunity to get out on the hillside, learn new skills and meet like-minded people whilst making a real difference to our wild places. Take a look at the upcoming dates and get stuck in!
Completed Mend our mountains Projects
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
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
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.
Mend Our Mountains Articles
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.
What does it take to be a mountain path repairer?
An interview with mountain path repairer Ryan Hamilton to find out more about the highs and lows involved in this vital job
