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20 C O N T E X T 1 7 9 : M A R C H 2 0 2 4 In England and Wales, each national trail is managed by a national trail officer. They coordinate and carry out the maintenance and repair of the trail, sometimes working with national trail rangers or with volunteer wardens. National trail officers receive some funding from Natural England or Natural Resources Wales and match-fundraise the rest through contributions from local highways authorities, other national trails partners or other projects. In Scotland, the national trails are managed by the national parks and local authorities that they run through. The national trails offer a great deal to the natural environment as corridors for people and nature. Projects run on the trails help to combat climate change and reverse biodiversity decline. They are also central to our shared cultural heritage. They wind through, and sometimes over, listed buildings, archaeological sites, world heritage sites and scheduled monu- ments. The trails are notable heritage assets in their own right, telling us about how people have moved through our country over the ages. And people get a wealth of mental and physical health benefits from being in nature and using the trails. A prime example of the balance of herit- age, people, nature and access is Hadrian’s Wall Path. This 135-kilometre national trail follows the line of Hadrian’s Wall from Wallsend, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the north- east to Bowness-on-Solway on the west coast. Maintaining the national trail here means ensuring that its physical fabric and its associ- ated archaeology, which is the primary gateway for visitors to the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site, is managed sustainably. When Hadrian’s Wall Path was being devel- oped over 23 years ago, the idea was to create a green sward over the majority of the trail to protect the underlying archaeology from users while enabling access to the landscape. A managed green, grassy trail is wearable and sustainable and it suits the setting of the world heritage site. Much of the work on the trail involves repairs to make a smooth, even surface sympathetic to the setting and ensuring that there is a clear path through the landscape, effectively manag- ing the flow of people. A large amount of the sustainable management of the trail can be done in usual daily maintenance. Gary Pickles, the trail ranger, monitors sections of the path to make sure that the walking surface is fit for purpose and remains in the right place. This includes regular mowing and vegetation man- agement and projects to drain muddy areas. Work such as mowing can have a large impact on the maintenance of the monument. In some grassy sections, Pickles mows the path in such a way that the grass clippings fall on its outward sides, helping to naturally delineate the course of the trail and discourage people from areas that might impact on the monument or other protected areas. Those working on Hadrian’s Wall Path have a generic consent, which enables them to replace trail furniture such as stiles, gates and signs when they break on a like-for-like basis. If larger works are needed that might impact the monument, such as new structures or digging Pennine Way Hadrian's Wall Path Esri UK,Esri,TomTom, Garmin, Foursquare, FAO,METI/NASA, USGS,Esri,Ordnance Survey, NASA, NGA, USGS Pennine Way Hadrian's Wall Path Esri, Intermap, NASA, NGA,USGS,EsriUK,Esri,TomTom, Garmin, Foursquare, METI/NASA, USGS National Trails Heritage at Risk Listed Buildings Scheduled Monuments National Trails Heritage at Risk Listed Buildings Scheduled Monuments Pennine Way Hadrian's Wall Path Esri UK,Esri,TomTom, Garmin, Foursquare, FAO,METI/NASA, USGS,Esri,Ordnance Survey, NASA, NGA, USGS Pennine Way Hadrian's Wall Path Esri, Intermap, NASA, NGA,USGS,EsriUK,Esri,TomTom, Garmin, Foursquare, METI/NASA, USGS National Trails Heritage at Risk Listed Buildings Scheduled Monuments National Trails Heritage at Risk Listed Buildings Scheduled Monuments The route of the wall as a whole and in detail (Image: National Trails UK)