UKH

What was the ending to that story? Has snpa's vandalism been made good or is there an established dirt bike track there now?

The new 'path' goes up to the bwlch above Crafnant and is a 10ft wide gravel track all the way. There were still diggers on it last week and it's a total f*ck up.

As a resident of Capel Curig, Nant y Geuallt is very special to me and I am still quite sore about the damage done.

That's what I both feared and expected.

If you're reading this, snpa, walk up there, look at what you've done, and have a word with yourselves.

I was out there with a group last week doing a CPD day looking at peatland habitats, flora and fauna etc.

We had been joined by the SNPA's peatland officer and ecologist. Let's just say I shared my opinion about the path and didn't mince my words.

The awkwardness this caused was palpable but to fair to them, I knew more about it than they did which suggests that the various departments within the National Park don't communicate as much as they should.

Interestingly, we probed down into the peat and found that we standing on a layer over 7 metres deep! Knowing how important peatlands are as a carbon sink makes me even more incredulous that they would choose to undertake such unsympathetic work just metres away from an SSSI.

They would probably say the path will bed-in over time and provide less mobile people with an all too rare opportunity to enjoy a mountain landscape. I work on occasion with organisations and groups looking to enable access to the outdoors for people with disabilities and no-one wants  to unnecessarily compromise landscapes and habitats but  there  are precious few places  - particulalry in upland landscapes - for  people with mobility problems to go. 

At least its not the Cuilcagh boardwalk which I think went way over the top 

That boardwalk is rather crass to say the least.

In the case of the Crafnant path, access from either end would be problematic for folk with mobility issues. There is also miles and miles of accessible lakes and forest tracks a stone's throw away in the Gwydyr Forest for those who struggle with rough terrain.

It's was also one of the few bridleways in the area enjoyed by mountain bikers for its technicality. It is now a high speed race track which has ruined it for MTBs and also conjured up safety issues which could cause conflict between different user groups.

A similar project was carried out a few years ago at Bwlch Maesgwm and it still looks terrible not to mention the areas which get washed out after heavy rain.

In truth, it's just another vanity project masterminded by the SNPA's access officer Peter Rutherford and was carried out quickly and with minimal consultation as they had to use the funding quickly.

Yeah as discussed on the original thread they've not made it accessible any way. Any conveyance that could get along the new track could have got along the old one, and anything that couldn't have got along the old one won't get along the new one. And both ends are in the middle of nowhere. That argument is a non-starter. For little more effort they could have made it passable to less mobile people, but they haven't.

Just to compound the misery I had confirmation from Conwy council that the route over to Crafnant from Capel Curig is indeed an unclassified road, so green laners / dirt bikes can fill their collective boots.

Take a bow, national park. 🙄

Worth a read

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/snowdonia-path-upgrades-or-unnecessary-motorways-t...

I've just got back from a walk up to Crimpiau via the new track. I was shocked at the state of it. The amount of material moved and replaced with loose ballast as well as the abandoned machinery and piping is disgusting. Ruts are already beginning to develop. There was absolutely no need to do what they've done. 

Ah right thanks - missed that.

There's an Outdoor Recreation Network conference in July at Plas-y-Brenin which will focus on visitor management in the park. It's not advertised yet but might be an opportunity to find out more about the thinking behind  this  and the Bwlch Maesgwm path.

If you think that’s bad you should see what the DCC have done to bridleways in the Peak. Nothing short of vandalism and now in most cases washing and eroding away. I would assume that if you were injured on said bridleways you would have good legal case, as all this was certainly a foreseeable risk and they now have a duty of care having hugely altered or enhanced the surface.

Did they say from when it's been classified as an unclassified road?

That's disgusting. How about people to with serious visual impairment not fall off the edge, only the steep section has handrails. What they need to do is to spray fluorescent orange paint ("chalk" based of course) on the edges, all along. 

I actually agree with you, that seems very unsafe for a wheelchair user, not just the visually impaired. 

Apparently it always was. It's just that prior to the park building a road, it was only suitable for packhorses. Now dirt bikes have easy access to the top of the valley and steep tricky bit down to Blaen-y-Nant to make mud pies with.