Much needed path repairs along the Ullswater Way at Watermillock Church have recently been completed thanks to a generous £7,000 donation from the organisers of the Montane Lakeland 100 event.
Around 100m of path in this area has been improved by Lake District National Park Rangers and volunteers, resulting in a more sustainable path surface.
Funding for this work has come from the organisers of the Montane Lakeland 100 Ultra Trail Race whose runners use part of the Ullswater Way as part of the challenging 100 mile course. The demanding route starts in Coniston and the competitors run to Buttermere, then Dalemain, on to Ambleside and back to Coniston.
The Lakeland 100 organisers and its runners have been very supportive of the National Park over the years and have conscientiously contributed to the upkeep of the routes that they follow. This year it looks likely that 400 runners will take part in the 100 mile course and more than 1,000 will run the shorter 50 miles from Dalemain to Coniston.
Lake District National Park Ranger Dylan Jackman coordinated the repair work. He commented: “In the last 12 months we have seen numbers of walkers in this area of the Ullswater Way double to over 20,000 each year so it was great to get this £7,000 donation to enable us to carry out these much needed path repairs.”
Terry Gilpin from Montane Lakeland 100 said: “We are delighted to be able to fund these works and hope that we will be able to support more of this invaluable work in the future. The next running of the Montane Lakeland100 is taking place at the end of the month and we are already working with Park Rangers to identify future improvements.”
