It has taken nearly three months of hard work, but 70% of public rights of way in Cumbria, closed on safety grounds following the January storms that brought down half a million trees in just ten minutes, have now been reopened.
Ever since 102mph winds battered Cumbria’s 65, 000 acres of woodland in January, Cumbria Woodlands and the Forestry Commission have worked to restore public access to Forestry Commission land and private woodland where rights of way were blocked or damaged by fallen trees.
At the height of the storms over 800 trees per second were felled by the storms, leaving a massive clear-up operation and restricting public access to some of the region’s best walking areas.
Traditionally, Easter marks the start of the busiest tourist season in Cumbria and with 60% of the 12 million annual visitors to the area citing the main reason for their visit as the opportunity to go walking, reopening as many paths as possible was a priority.
Edward Mills, Director of Cumbria Woodlands, stressed the enormity of the task that faced them immediately after the storms, saying, “Pulling together our resources, we have a achieved the impossible in record time to open up Cumbria’s network of paths and trails in time for the start of the trekking season.”
