Walking group on the path to success

Thousands of miles of unmapped paths have been discovered by a walking group.

Since August last year, Ramblers Scotland has been looking into hidden paths in parts of the West of Scotland, including Renfrewshire and Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park.

It has been using data donated by 14 organisations which manage paths in the region.

Ramblers Scotland director Brendan Paddy said that improving public access to path information would boost the nation’s health and well-being – with two in five Scottish adults still not getting recommended levels of exercise.

Mr Paddy said: “Scotland has world-class access rights, but we lack a national path network which appears on all maps.

“The trial has shown the huge potential to help many more people enjoy these hidden paths – offering better links between communities, new opportunities for fun days out, and more space for people to boost their health outdoors.”

Data on local paths has been provided by Renfrewshire Council, Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park, RSPB Scotland as well as other local authorities such as Woodland Trust Scotland, Scottish Forestry, Paths for All, ScotWays, Green Action Trust and NatureScot.

During the next couple of years, Ramblers Scotland intends to publish easilyaccessible data showing paths all across Scotland, including f a r m o re than the 13,000 miles of ‘core paths’.

It is also working with many partner organisations to agree a definition of what standards a path should meet for it to be mapped – and it is also inviting any organisations with path datasets to get in touch about including them in the project.