The Project - The RA and the North Yorkshire County Council have agreed to collaborate to produce a booklet, similar to the one published in 2008 by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, describing 10 walks on the new access land in North Yorkshire outside the National Parks. The booklet will be published in May 2009. Whereas, in the case of the East Riding booklet a grant was received from Natural England (Access Management Grant), in this case, RA Central Office will provide about half (2,000 GPB) of the funding and North Yorkshire Countryside Service the remainder.
Who is doing the work? - Volunteers from East Yorkshire & Derwent area of the RA together with officers of the NYCC are surveying possible routes, writing the descriptions. NYCC will produce the maps, commission professional photographs, contract a designer and arrange for 5,000 copies to be printed. The overall project is managed by Aidan Rayner (Team Leader - Public Rights of Way), Richard Granville (Campaigns Officer) will represent RA CO and Tom Halstead will coordinate the local RA effort. A provisional survey carried out by us suggests that the walks will be mainly, but not exclusively, in the Yorkshire Wolds and the Nidderdale AONB. The length of any route will not exceed 11 miles and, wherever possible, shorter/easier/disabled access variations will be described. The possible use of public transport will be explored. Additional information, eg about archaeology, natural history, geology, local history, architecture, etc. may be included where appropriate.