Last chance to get close to Dales falcons

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Moorland access: all areas now open

Heavy and persistent rain (grough can vouch for that from a Scottish Highland Munro-bagging trip at the weekend) has led to the lifting of the access restrictions in national parks across the country.The Yorkshire Dales authority lifted its ban on Friday, and the North York Moors park’s western area reopened the day before.

Annabelle's gong gets climbers steamed up

The cragrats on the UK Climbing forums are getting their ropes in a twist over the news that blonde uppercrust stunner Annabelle Bond has been awarded an OBE for, among other things, services to mountaineering.Annabelle was the fourth UK woman to stand on top of Everest when she summited in May 2004 and completed the highest mountains on each of the world’s seven continents to raise cash for the Eve Appeal which funds research into the prevention of ovarian cancer.

Beer for a year on offer at geocaching event

19:12:17Any event sponsored by a brewery is guaranteed grough's attention, so it's no surprise that a little festival in the Lakes caught our eye.Jennings, the Cockermouth brewery, is one of four sponsors in a geocaching event based at Borrowdale youth hostel in September.

Close all access land, say moor owners

With a pronouncement as predictable as the blast of shotguns on the 'glorious twelfth', moorland owners have blamed the Government's right-to-roam laws for a spate of fires in England.The Moorland Association (MA), which represents the owners of much of England and Wales's prime grouse-shooting land, says allowing people to roam  at will when the moors are dry presents risks.The anonymous spokeswoman for the Lancaster-based organisation told the BBC website: "There were risks opening up these vast tracks of moorland."  Either the BBC reporter has cloth ears or Ms Spokeswoman doesn't know the difference between a track and a tract.

Free bus service for Dartmoor cyclists

If you're taking to two wheels on Dartmoor and want to take some of the strain out of the height gain, the national park authority is running a scheme to help you.The Dartmoor Freewheler is a free bus service with a cycle trailer attached, so you can get your bike to the high ground of the moor and enjoy the (mostly) downhill ride out again, or so the authority claims.The service runs on summer Sundays, until October, with a different route each of the four Sundays in the month.

Yorkshire Dales access land closed again

Latest news from the Yorkshire Dales is that all open access areas have been reclosed because the fire risk has again risen to exceptional.The national park authority had re-opened most of the land earlier in the week.

Fire-risk moorland: some areas re-open

Access land in the Peak District re-opened this week, but moorland fires raged in the South Pennines.The situation in the Peak is under constant review after Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) access areas were re-opened after weekend rain.

'Wheels fall off' Government access body

Natural England, the new body which will take over access issues in October, is being starved of cash, according to its boss.The Independent reports it has seen an email from its chairman Sir Martin Doughty to the Environment Secretary, arch Blairite David Milliband, which says the wheels are coming off the new organisation before it even launches.Defra, the super agency created in the wake of the foot-and-mouth disease crisis of 2001, controls the new organisation's budget and, surprise surprise, it has cut the amount of money available to do the job.The Independent quotes Doughty's email: ""I am deeply concerned that current financial demands being placed upon us by Defra are eroding our capacity to deliver these benefits before we even begin."I understand the need for Defra to live within its budget and Natural England is committed to playing its part in that - we are already committed to £7m of cuts.