WORK can now get underway to repair a remote path on Exmoor thanks to a crowdfunding campaign.

The path near Long Chains Combe is part of the Two Moors Way, a 102-mile route which reaches its 40th anniversary this year.

It was one of the projects involved in the British Mountaineering Council’s (BMC) Mend our Mountains crowdfunding campaign – which raised £7,500 for the work.

For Exmoor, the aim of the project was to raise enough money to airlift stone into a remote part of the moor to improve the path’s surface.

Sue Applegate, rights of way and access officer at Exmoor National Park Authority, said: “We were surprised and delighted at the amount of money we raised by this innovative project.

“It will enable us to improve the surface of an ancient route, one of Exmoor’s most remote and rugged tracks.

“To repair a path, we would normally use material that is on site but, in this case, there was simply not enough suitable material for the scale of the job.

“Because of its remote location, a helicopter was the most efficient way of getting it there.

“The work would probably not have been able to go ahead without this funding and we are really grateful to everyone that donated from all over the UK and even as far away as the USA.”  

Local businesses, XMAN events and Encounter Walking holidays donated and the staff from BIH (Onshore) Ltd and local contractor Steve Atkins worked with national park rangers to lift the stone in.