Julia Bradbury welcomes Wainwight's Coast to Coast walk becoming new national trail

The mostly unsignposted Coast to Coast walk wends its way through three contrasting national parks: the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors.

The route was first devised by Alfred Wainwright, a renowned fell walker and author, who published his guidebook to the route in 1973. It immediately gained a strong following, becoming one of the UK’s most popular long-distance walks - today around 6,000 people walk it every year, generating around £7m for the local economy.

Wainwright recommended that walkers dip their booted feet in the Irish Sea at St Bees and, at the end of the walk, in the North Sea at Robin Hood's Bay.

Julia Bradbury, who made a TV series of the walk in 2009, welcomed the move.

She said: “Having walked the walk, I know exactly why it is one of the great Alfred Wainwright's most popular routes. Taking in the magical Lake District, to the heights of the Peaks and the rolling landscapes of the Yorkshire Dales and Moors - it is just stunning.”

Chairman of The Wainwright Society, Eric Robson said it had long been their ambition for C2C to become a national trail.

He said: "The walk is one of the country's most popular long-distance routes, and helps support businesses and jobs from St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay, including in some of the north's most sparsely populated rural communities. We very much welcome, therefore, the news that the route will become a new National Trail.

"As Alfred Wainwright said of the walk he devised: "Surely there cannot be a finer itinerary for a long-distance walk!"

The upgrade to National Trail status will see the 197-mile trail recorded on Ordnance Survey maps in its entirety for the first time.

Over the next three years Natural England will be making improvements to the trail including removing obstacles like stiles.

They will be putting up signs, improving the walking surface and developing circular paths and link routes so people can take shorter walks from towns nearby like Northallerton, Richmond and Whitby.

The upgraded route will open in 2025, "closely following" the existing route.

Lord Benyon, Minister for Rural Affairs, said: “The Coast to Coast route passes through some of our most spectacular countryside, villages and natural habitats so I’m delighted to approve these plans and deliver on our manifesto commitment to develop the route into a new National Trail.

“With over £5 million of new funding to upgrade the path, local business and communities will be able to secure real benefits from the sustainable tourism this route offers. I look forward to seeing the route go from strength to strength and leave a lasting legacy across the North of England.”

Marian Spain, Chief Executive of Natural England, said it would be the first national trail "where delivery of the social and economic benefits for users and communities will be built in from the start".