The opening ceremony at the Bobbin Mill tunnel mouth. Photo: LDNPA
A popular Lake District trail has reopened five years after Storm Desmond destroyed parts of its route.
Renovation and improvement of the Keswick to Threlkeld railway trail has cost £7.9m.
For the first time in almost 50 years, the Bobbin Mill tunnel under the A66 can now be walked and cycled through after tons of rubble were removed from the structure.
Two pupils of St Herbert’s Primary School joined national park authority chief executive Richard Leafe and the mayor of Keswick Paul Titley at a ceremony to officially reopen the trail on Friday, exactly five years since bridges and paths were swept away by the storm, during which 174mm of rain fell on Keswick.
The national park authority said the trail has been fully reconnected and enhanced. New picnic benches, seats and perches at viewpoints have been installed as well as new on-site interpretation to tell the national park local history and heritage story of the trail and give information on local wildlife and flora and fauna.
“In 2015 Storm Desmond brought the worst floods the county has seen,” a spokesperson said. “As a result two of the original Victorian railway bridges that cross the River Greta and around 200m of path were completely washed away. Rawsomes Bridge was deemed unsafe and the well used route between Keswick and Threlkeld was completely cut off.
“As much as possible the Lake District national park found some alternative routes but through feedback it was clear how important the route was to the communities of Keswick and Threlkeld, visitors to the area and to local businesses. As part of the design stage, a survey showed that the reconnection of the trail could be worth around £2m to the local economy.”
A £7.9m package was agreed to enable the project to go ahead, with funding from the European Structural Investment Funds which support innovation, businesses, low-carbon activity to improve local growth and create jobs. Funding was also received from Highways England, Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership and the Lake District Foundation.
The project included: rebuilding and repairing 5km of the trail; construction of two new bridges and extensive repair of a third bridge; re-opening and extending of the Bobbin Mill railway tunnel; work to stabilise the river bank along the route; the creation of 200m of new path; and the entire route being made more resilient to future flooding.
Richard Leafe, chief executive of the Lake District National Park Authority said: “This has been the most ambitious construction project we’ve undertaken as a national park authority.
“It’s taken five years to complete due to the scale, but we’re thrilled to be able to reopen the trail on the anniversary of Storm Desmond. I’d like to thank all of our funders and project partners for their input and the local community for their initial fundraising and for their patience whilst the work was ongoing.
“I very much look forward to using the trail and seeing others make use of this fantastic safe, local route which provides a sustainable transport link between Keswick and Threlkeld.”
More details of the trail are on the Lake District National Park Authority’s website.
Simon (lives in Keswick)
04 December 2020"It’s taken five years to complete due to the scale". No wonder this country is a joke to the rest of the world. 5 years, I mean come on, 5 years to the day. Most countries could build 100 miles of motorway in that time.
And, someone had the bright idea of tarmacking that used to be a lovely track.
Ian S
04 December 2020And no mention of the vote of no confidence in Leaf and his National Park cronies from Keswick Council. Tarmacing a perfectly good path is ridiculous. They seem to want to turn the Lake District into a theme park. Britain's capital of adventure my arse.
Martin Brockbank
05 December 2020Not very nice comments. I thought the outdoors was open to all, not just able bodied outdoor roughtey toughties. In response regarding tarmac , it allows people less able bodied, wheelchair users etc a safe journey between said towns, again outspoken ignorant rants show some people up for what they are. Outdoors is for all.
Regards
Brx
Al taylor
05 December 2020Didn’t take 5 years. Probably 3 years were spent arguing and finding the money. It was a hard surface trail before and although tarmac isn’t very attractive it does make the trail much more accessible. Seeing the construction access from the A66 I guess the actual work took just over 2 years Covid included. I’m sure when it weathers in it will be a great place for bikers, hikers families and others just passing through.
Sally (also lives in Keswick)
05 December 2020Completely stupid comment from Martin Brockbank. "outdoor roughtey toughties" get a grip man, the previous path was usable for just about everyone from 1 to 100 years old.
No one said the outdoors wasn't open to all. The previous path was perfectly suited to the less able, apart from the boardwalk, however, now they've opened up the old tunnel that short section which was not wheelchair friendly has gone.
The point I'm making is, to make it wheelchair friendly, they did not need to tarmac the path just open up the tunnel.
Clough Head
06 December 2020THANK YOU very much Lake District National Park Authority for chopping down the trees at the Threlkeld end of the track which was once a habitat for our RED SQUIRRELS! NONE have been seen in this area since! The Planning Officer for this track 'Phil Nichols and his boss Richard Leafe' have no respect for endangered mammals of the UK and I hope that the Extinction Rebellion get to know about how the Lake District National Park Authority have no respect at all for endangered local wildlife. The twits of the LDNPA are only interested in is their own careers and money from tourists which help to keep their jobs. Next time they cut jobs lets hope Phil Nichols and Richard Leafe are the next 2 to go! The Lakes tourist industry is one of the best in the world here but our biodiversity is one of the worst and Phil Nichols and his boss Leafe couldn't care less! They'll be lots of confrontations between cyclists, walkers, etc on this tarmac track! I'm sure they'll be ROAD RAGE in abundance on Phil Nichols and Leafe's Racing Track! Twits!
PD
07 December 2020No pleasing some of you lot , it’s done and it’ll still be a great walk even for the outdoors purists , stop with the fault finding and just go and enjoy it
Donald
07 December 2020What a Joke the Lake District National Park have installed boards telling of 'The National Park local history and heritage story of the trail and give information on local wildlife and flora and fauna!'
Does this tell of the heritage destruction of the old original bridges Rawsome & Brudnholme which were mangled up and sent to a scrap yard instead of being protected and given to Threlkeld Quarry Mining Museum? Does it tell of the trees that were killed to make way for tarmac! Does it tell of the boardwalk which when installed over a decade ago was immediately destroyed by a fallen tree as the clowns who had put it there had damaged the soil around the boardwalk! Sorry but I agree with the other locals here.
PD
07 December 2020Well don’t use it then , simples
Slowcoach
08 December 2020Well, as a frequent visitor to the Lakes I am very happy that the path is open. I really don’t mind about the surface.
Numb2
08 December 2020It's obvious from these comments how the locals are concerned about protecting their wildlife and heritage whereas the selfish tourists couldn't give a sh*t about any of these things as long as they can have an easy stroll. After all the mess that the Campervans and others made this year I'm not surprised that the locals are showing passion towards protection of their area and it's plain and obvious that the daft tourists couldn't care less about any of these things and don't seem to mind about having a visit to an eroded landscape.
Andrew Richards
08 December 2020#Slowcoach has hit the nail right on the head by saying they are a visitor. Not a resident, a visitor to the place.
Well that's a completely different thing to those of us that actually live here. A visitor won't mind lots of things because they'll see it once or twice and that's it. We on the other hand have to live with these things and not one person I've talked to in the town thinks the new surface forced upon us. Especially after so much noise against it.
Andrew Richards
08 December 2020I meant to say
"not one person I've talked to in town thinks new surface should have been forced upon us"
Local
08 December 2020Andrew Richards obviously is another local showing concern for the area. To be honest I am surprised by the comments defending this track, obviously they must be from visitors. Locals don't want to see their heritage and wildlife ruined just for the sake of some ignorant tourists. Thankfully not all tourists are as ill-informed as others. I think that some tourists would love to see tarmac on the fells. Let's face it the track on Jenkin Hill going up Skiddaw looks like it's for cars! Fix the Fells did that and what a scar on the fell it has remained, I get asked by tourists how can they drive their car up it regularly. Why not just tarmac the lot and keep the visitors happy. Oh, and put more parking metres by them also.
alwaysannoyed
13 December 2020Tarmac is a great surface when the weather is good but come winter it will rapidly go lethal. Unless it's gritted it will develop patches of black ice, even when it's not apparently freezing.
They tarmaced all the new walkway paths round me in Edinburgh. So I know this to my cost. Very painful when your bike slides away from under you.