Nature Trails and Mixed Routes - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 94

Case Study: Monsal Trail, Peak District National
Park, England ( Continued )
over-estimation, suggesting it is likely closer to 10 million visitors per
annum (Peak District National Park Authority, 2012). This region has
enjoyed a long history of tourism and transport networks, connecting
many of the major industrial cities of the Midlands of England, the
national park houses remnants of disused railways across the White Peak
as a result of the closure of many uneconomical rail lines in the 1960s
under the Beeching Axe.
The Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway
is now closed between Rowsley and Buxton, where the trackbed forms
part of the Monsal Trail (Peak District National Park Authority, 2013).
The national park authority took over the disused line in 1980. The
Monsal Trail subsequently opened to the public in 1981 as a traffic-free
route for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and wheelchair users. It runs
along the former Midland Railway line for 13.7 km from Topley Pike
junction, 4.8 km east of Buxton (a major spa town in the past) and runs
to Coombs viaduct 1.6 km south-east of Bakewell, one of the most vis-
ited tourism hotspots in the park. A short recreational trail, it affords
cyclists breathtaking views over the Headstone Viaduct, but was never-
theless interrupted by the closure of access through a number of tunnels
with public footpaths put in place to direct people around them. In May
2011, four railway tunnels were opened for public use. By January 2012,
50,000 cyclists had used the trail. According to the Park Authority, on
average since the tunnels opened, an average of 226 cycles has been
recorded on a daily basis. Between May 2011 and January 2012, the
trail's automatic counter had recorded 17,160 cyclists traveling toward
the tunnels and 32,855 cyclists toward Bakewell. Recreational use sup-
ports a number of cycle hire businesses and cafes along the way, with
visitors encouraged to stop and visit local mills, Cressbrook and Litton.
Conclusion
This chapter has described natural and mixed trails and routes. Because
it is feasible for a trail to exist in any natural setting, the chapter first dis-
cussed routes within the most common natural settings, namely wilderness,
water, geology and forest canopy environments. Nature trails that are a con-
sequence of recreational activities like skiing and snowmobiling, rambling or
long-distance walking were also examined. Conceptually, what emerges
from this discussion are two distinct typologies of nature trails (see Figure
3.12, part (i)). The chapter also presented 'mixed routes', given that the line