Eryri: essential path upgrades or motorways through the hills?
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.
As well as carrying out much needed repairs to the high level and seriously eroded paths on popular peaks such as Yr Wyddfa and Cadair Idris, some of which were part funded by funds raised by BMC members through the “Mend our Mountains” campaign, Snowdonia National Park also has an objective of upgrading many low level routes, enabling access for a greater range of people including the less abled, the disabled and inexperienced walkers.
Some of these upgraded trails such as the Lon Gwyrfai, in the valley west of Snowdon, connecting Beddgelert and Rhyd Ddu mainly follows existing forest trails and runs parallel to a major A Road, offering the walker, cyclist and horse-rider, a welcome, safe and mainly traffic-free alternative to using busy and dangerous A roads.
However, over the last two years, many hill users, both walkers and mountain bikers have been surprised and even shocked at the scale of works being carried out on the bridleway running up Bwlch Maesgwm, the valley that connects Llanberis to the Snowdon Ranger Path on Yr Wyddfa. This is a bit of an iconic mountain bike route, crossing a high mountain col at nearly 500m, and provided users with a flowing natural trail, with natural obstacles such as rock barriers and small drops, as well as being partially stone pitched to quite a high standard, by the National Park Authority itself, only a few years ago. While it’s fair to say there were some maintenance issues and several drainage pipes and ditches had fallen into disrepair, the natural obstacles and features provided a natural “brake” for fast mountain bikers and the bridleway provided a fine natural flowing route for those wanting to ascend Snowdon on a different route or walkers doing the wonderful Moel Eilio circuit.
WATCH: Mend Our Mountains Snowdonia National Park
Many local users were shocked to see heavy machinery, excavators and dumper trucks and teams of National Park workers, working on this route for nearly two years, with work still ongoing today, including recently using a type of concrete surfacing, after the freshly laid surfacing of gravel was washed out within weeks of being laid. Many hundreds, if not thousands, of tons of gravel aggregate have been carried in 30-ton lorries up the narrow lanes to the base of the path, before being carried further up the hill in dumper trucks. The end result is a uniform trail, that looks and feels more akin to a new hill-track and has an over-engineered and very urban feel.
The Park Authority say that in time, the visual impact will soften and that by constructing a one-off, large capital investment project, (probably costing well in excess of £200,000 for this trail alone), it will avoid the need for expensive maintenance in years to come. An unintended but forseeable consequence of smoothing out the natural features and using excavators to remove the rock barriers and steps has been an increase in conflict between descending cyclists and walkers, due to the increased speed of descending cyclists as the smooth surface promotes fast descents by even the most considerate of mountain bikers, a point that was raised by many users before the path was upgraded. In order to warn of this danger, there are now prominent signs at the 500m high col, warning cyclists not to “speed on the road” and stating that they could be “prosecuted under the Road Traffic Act” for speeding, further urbanising this hitherto remote col, as well as being a legally questionable threat!
Despite concerns about the lack of consultation and the lack of opportunity for user groups and local communities to be involved in shaping these improvements being expressed to the Park Authority, local walkers and mountain bikers were even more shocked in the new year to see similar works being undertaken on the bridleway that connects Capel Curig to Crafnant, again with no apparent effort to consult with user groups or even local users and residents.
READ: Labour of love: what it takes to be a mountain path repairer
Due to urgent concerns expressed by local members, BMC Cymru’s North Wales Area requested further information, and representatives were invited to a site meeting with National Park officials in the second week of January. This trail, which connects the village of Capel Curig to the remote and quite difficult to access Crafnant valley on the southern edge of the Carneddau is also being given the “Bwlch Maesgwm” treatment, with excavators and dumper trucks creating an uniform smooth trail up through Nant y Geuallt, hundreds of tons of aggregate being transported up the valley and excavators being used to peck away the natural rock steps.
At the meeting, the Park Officers, again justified the works on the grounds that a large civil engineering project (this time estimated to be costing about £100,000) was required to avoid ongoing future maintenance work. It's understood by all that some drainage and targeted maintenance work is required and its good to see the National Park investing in path work but most see it difficult how there could be justification in creating, what is effectively a new road, dumper-width wide, for over two kilometers in length, across a perfectly good path that did not require any upgrading, simply to provide access to transport materials and machinery for the couple of hundred metres of path that was a bit boggy.
They conceded and apologised that the level of consultation had been inadequate, and that this was due to the funds being offered at a very late stage of the financial year to the National Park by the Welsh Government and that they were under a strict timetable to spend the funds. They also promised that they would have a full and open consultation before planning any further or similar work in the National Park and were working on creating a process to ensure that all relevant communities and groups would be consulted before further new works are considered.
However local resident and landscape photographer Nick Livesey has been particularly incensed by this recent work, stating on his social media account:
"The beautiful little path which threads its way through Nant y Geuallt is no more. Times without number I have trodden it, a path of antiquity and great charm. A bridleway where those on two wheels and two feet coexisted in mutual respect for each other and the gorgeous landscapes we travel through.
The path is in the process of being widened (from the lovely footbridge above Bryn Tyrch Farm) and has had aggregate of some description (I'm no expert on such things) raked onto it in much the same way as the path from Bwlch Maesgwm to the Snowdon Ranger.
It is completely trashed and has totally changed the character of the valley.
Why? Who thought this was a good idea and a good use of SNPA's money?
A digger operator told me that the plan was to continue all the way to the bwlch above Crafnant. Even if it doesn't get that far the damage done is unforgivable.
I’m fuming and I am also greatly saddened. A philistine solution to a problem that didn't exist”.
Another long-term and local Welsh speaking resident stated "We want upkeep on paths but not this sort of inappropriate development! As discussed…some thoughtful stonework in the wettest places would have been sufficient"
The BMC North Wales Area members will discuss this further at their meeting on Tuesday January 18th, and while welcoming the Park’s commitment for better and improved consultation, many are very disappointed to see such engineered works being carried out in wild and remote places within a National Park by the very same authority whose primary responsibility and purpose, as stated in law is “to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the National Parks”.
LISTEN: Snowdon episode of our Wild Horizons podcast
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