Roseberry Topping - More path repairs underway thanks to BMC Mend Our Mountains

Mend Our Mountains Articles
13 Jan
8 min read

The BMC Access & Conservation Trust are helping to fund the repair of badly eroded paths on Roseberry Topping in North Yorkshire as part of our ongoing Mend Our Mountains campaign. Here's the latest update.

We are pleased to announce that work is now underway on Path 8 of a £700,000 project to restore ten key pathways on Roseberry Topping, an iconic mini-Matterhorn of a peak in the Tees Valley, North Yorkshire, loved by BMC members who live locally and visitors alike.

Drainage channels, new surfaces, timber steps and path-edge rocks are being installed on this forested path this January to increase its durability and reduce erosion from rainwater. Path 8 has been funded by HF Holidays, while Paths 1 and 10 are funded by the BMC Access & Conservation Trust's Mend Our Mountains campaign. A number of other organisations and donors are collaborating with the National Trust to complete this substantial project.

Despite its diminutive size at 320m, Roseberry Topping is a favourite for BMC member and legendary mountaineer Alan Hinkes OBE, the first British person to climb all 8000m peaks. "Although it's small, it's like a proper mini-mountain," he says.

Mike Conlon, BMC North East Access & Conservation Volunteer, agrees. "Everybody loves climbing Roseberry Topping," he says, "Beginners, seasoned hill walkers, mountaineers and runners alike. At around 1,000ft, it is within most people’s scope but provides a real sense of achievement of climbing a mountain. For generations of local families, it has been a right of passage to take your children up. Some use it as a leg stretcher on the way home from work."

New surfaces and drainage channels replace the badly eroded pathways in the woodlands to the south of Roseberry Topping
Timber revetments stabilise steeper sections with steps, while new surfaces and drainage channels increase durability and reduce the risk of erosion by rainwater

Last year we received the good news that Path 1, from Newton Woods car park to the summit, was complete. Paths 5, 6 and 7 are being surveyed currently for completion in February 2026, and planning applications continue for Paths 2, 3, 4 and 10.

A signage plan is also in development to help visitors navigate and learn more about Roseberry Topping and the surrounding area.

Signage includes:

• Welcome boards at key access points

• Interpretation panels highlighting Roseberry’s history, ecology, and geology

• Waymarked routes with QR codes for extended walks

Other project donors include: National Grid's Landscape Enhancement Initiative, Defra’s Farming in Protected Landscapes Scheme, the HF Holidays Pathways Fund, a generous National Trust legacy donation and a grant from the North York Moors National Park Authority.

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What’s Mend Our Mountains?

Mend Our Mountains is an award-winning campaign from the BMC’s Access & Conservation Trust (ACT) which has raised a total of £1.4 million since its creation in 2016 to repair Britain’s hills and mountains. Since then over 50 miles of fragile footpath has been restored for future generations and 544 miles of upland has been repaired - the equivalent length of over 67,000 double decker buses!

Support Mend Our Mountains

Path repair is a surprisingly costly business. Working in remote locations with complex equipment and adverse weather conditions makes rebuilding trails an enormous and expensive challenge.

£5 buys a pair of work gloves

£50 buys five garden skips for moving soil

£250 fixes approximately one metre of footpath

£1,000 flies ten bags of stone to an inaccessible mountain location

Did you know?

Simply becoming a BMC member supports BMC Access & Conservation Trust projects like this, plus you get all the benefits that membership offers, including these and many more:

£15 million Worldwide Combined Liability Insurance

£10,000 Personal Accident Insurance

Quarterly member-only magazine, Summit

15% off Cotswold Outdoor, Snow+Rock and Runners Need

BMC Travel Insurance

Join the BMC

Cotswold Outdoor Discount

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