Demand for Trails and Routes - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 108

Coastal path open
Work in progress
Long-term plans

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Belfast

Carlisle

Manchester

Liverpool

London

DJT

Figure 4.2 England's coastal path: Developing a new national trail

approximately 78,000 walkers, involving 600 walking schemes that make
use of footpaths, bridleways, trails and rights of way. The scheme has now
been handed over to the Rambler's Association in partnership with a
national cancer charity.
There has been limited research on the extent of participation given the
increased access to National Trails in the United Kingdom. An exception to
this is the Ridgeway Trail, which stretches for 140 km in southern central
England, and is one of the oldest 'green roads' in Europe. According to
Bennett et al. (2003), approximately 150,000 visits to the Ridgeway take
place each year; 80% of these are short-distance users, predominantly walk-
ers and joggers, and the majority (77%) came from within a 48 km radius of
their access point.
With respect to the location of trails, there are two primary concepts of
importance, namely geographic setting and proximity to home. Common
sense suggests, as does Wessell's (1997) study, that use of urban and subur-
ban trails is greater than rural trails, because of their proximity to a larger
market catchment. Because urban and suburban trails are often employed for
commuting to work or school, many people use them daily and sometimes
more than once a day. Rural and wilderness trails, however, are generally less