An aerial view of the improved section of the Coast to Coast path. Photo: Yorkshire Dales NPA

Work to improve conditions on one of the boggiest sections of the Coast to Coast path has been completed.

The route between Nine Standards Rigg and Whitsun Dale has for years been the subject of dread for walkers tackling the 309km (192-mile) walk.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has finished laying the final flagstones across the notorious peat moorland in October.

Alfred Wainwright published A Coast to Coast Walk in 1973, suggesting a route from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire. Since then, thousands have walked from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, traversing northern England and passing through three national parks.

The Wainwright Society, aficionados of the celebrated author, long campaigned for the route to be designated a National Trail. Former Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in whose constituency the improved section lies, also supported the campaign and in 2022 the government agreed to add it to the list of 15 such routes in England and Wales. The England Coast Path will also become a National Trail when it is completed.

The Yorkshire Dales authority, whose boundary runs along the northern edge of the Birkdale moorland, said completion of the work paves the way for Natural England to formally open the Coast to Coast National Trail in spring next year.

Area ranger for Swaledale Michael Briggs has been part of the team on the ground, engaging with walkers on the trail while marshalling two teams each comprised of three staff including a digger driver.

After a two-month stint on White Mossy Hill, he said: “For me one of the best parts of the job has been chatting to people walking by.

“They all love the path we’ve made. There’s been so many international walkers and some were dreading this section because they’d been told how boggy it can be. People could not have been more appreciative.”

Previously, three paths were recommended to navigate the peatland at White Mossy Hill at different times of the year. The newly surfaced route uses the most popular of the three ways and has become a public right of way in agreement with the local estate.

When I described my walk on the Coast to Coast Path in 2008, I said: “Nine Standards Rigg flatters to deceive. Its fine ridge with its craftsman-made monuments soon degenerated into a glutinous morass, in the worst section of the whole route.

“There are three different, colour-coded routes, designed by the authorities to minimise erosion across the peat bog. The whole area is Countryside and Rights of Way access land but, in my view, the direct, eastwards path towards the head of Whitsun Dale, which is the August to November route, is probably best avoided if there has been any great amount of rain.

“Even in the warmth of the August sun, the bogs are unavoidable and you will inevitably end up caked in mud and with wet feet. The alternatives head south towards the Birkdale road.”

Rangers began work in August last year with a planned pause for the delivery of more materials and ground nesting bird season. Work resumed in August this year for ten weeks.

The authority’s member champion for recreation management Lizzie Bushby said: “The funding we have received from Natural England to enhance the Coast to Coast route in Birkdale has proved to be a win-win. We have been able to protect important peatland habitat from damage, while creating a sustainable route for walkers and making it more enjoyable.

“The new stone-flagged path is wide enough for people using mobility aids. It’s not a route for everyone, but it will give more people a better chance of getting up to the peaks above Birkdale, one of the most remote places in the national park. On a fine day you can see all the way down Swaledale from the new path.

“We hope that National Trail status will make the Coast to Coast route even more popular, giving a boost to local businesses. There can be few better ways of experiencing the special qualities of the Yorkshire Dales national park than walking the trail between Kirkby Stephen in Westmorland and Richmond in North Yorkshire.”

Waymarking of the route is being improved throughout the Yorkshire Dales section of the trail, with more than 40 new fingerposts along with five new bridges so far.