MOORLAND Guides has given £500 to the Donate to Dartmoor scheme, following the success of its Dartmoor Walking Festival 2017.

The money raised from the festival, which ran from Saturday, August 26 to Sunday, September 3, will be used to carry out essential continuing repairs to Nun’s Cross Path.

Simon Dell, director and co-ordinator of Moorland Guides, said: ‘The Dartmoor Walking Festival this year was another great success with over 1,000 people again taking part and it is clear that it is an event which is here “to stay”.

‘The 2017 event focused our fundraising efforts towards the Dartmoor Search and Rescue Dogs, but such was the generosity of those who love Dartmoor we are delighted to have also raised a further sum of £500 for Donate To Dartmoor’ to be used restoring such a popular route for many of our guides and walkers.’

Nun’s Cross path is used by more than 40,000 walkers and around 10,000 mountain bikers each year. It runs between Princetown and Scout Hut (near Gutter Tor) passing South Hessary Tor and Eylesbarrow. It is part of a circular route from Princetown to Eylesbarrow and Burrator which has suffered over the years from severe erosion.

The Nun’s Cross scheme is the authority’s largest, long term project. It started three years ago with work commencing from the Princetown end. Thanks to funding from the British Mountaineering Council’s Mend our Mountains crowdfunding campaign and the Donate for Dartmoor scheme, repairs have been completed as far as Nun’s Cross this summer, with over 1.5km of trail repaired and moorland restored. 

Andrew Watson, head of recreation, access and estates, said: ‘Dartmoor National Park Authority is delighted to receive this generous donation from Moorland Guides through our Donate for Dartmoor scheme. The donation will support our work to continue with repairs and access improvements to the popular Nuns Cross path from Princetown, across the high moor; a route used by many thousands of people each year.’

The next step in the project is to repair the path from Nun’s Cross up to Gutter Tor. This is the hardest part in terms of transporting materials and it is estimated that the cost will be in the region of £150,000 to see this project through to completion.