Sustainable tourism and the North Highland Way.

This is an extract from an email which was sent to HIE, Thurso, in February 2010 to which I did not even receive the courtesy of a reply. HIE consider the NHW as "outwith their remit".

"Regarding building sustainable tourism for the walking product, I have been doing some research, and am particularly interested in developing a "North Highland Way". As discussed last night, this would not take the same format as the long distance paths in other parts of Scotland, but could involve community path networks being developed and linked to make the "path". David Barclay has done a fantastic job on the CPNs for Caithness, and we need to build on these for development of the walking product, especially in the coastal areas.

At Dunnet and Brough, we are developing the Walkers are Welcome scheme which is part of a national scheme - see http://www.walkersarewelcome.org.uk/. The representative will be giving a meeting to the Dunnet & Canisbay Community Council at Britannia Hall on 5th May, you are of course welcome to come along. We envisage this being rolled out over the other areas, and that, I feel, is where HIE may be able to help. As discussed last night, the Dunnet & Canisbay Community Council is a large area and have many issues to attend to in meetings by virtue of its location and issues with the Pentland Firth. We propose therefore forming a local association under the umbrella of the Dunnet Head Educational Trust. Other areas might be able to utilise the community councils. The Trust, however, would however, be interested in the area from John o Groats to the boundary of the Castletown Community Council. The Moray Firth Trail, of which I am sure you are aware, comes along the east coast and is not being marketed. This is a missed opportunity. Having communicated with them, they advise that they charge 500 euros to be a "Friend of the North Sea Trail".

We are having a walking development meeting on 17th March from 2-5pm at Dunnet Head(the old tearooms) in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce, as part of British Tourism Week. All sponsors of the walking festival, past and present, as well as other interested parties. It will be an informal session which will include a DVD presentation of how the festival has been developed and where we can go in the future. This will include economic impact assessments and figures for each year of its operation (this year will be the seventh). Linking with orher areas is paramount, including Aviemore which has recently lost its walking festival due to lack of finance. Again, I think this where HIE might be able to help. I am still working on the details as it was only agreed the date yesterday, but will make sure you receive a copy. Of course, again you are more than welcome to come along.

The Walkers are Welcome scheme is inherent to the Dunnet section of the "North Highland Way" - ie from John o Groats to the border with the Castletown Community Council. The South West Coastal Path has a very interesting model - see http://www.swcp.org.uk/. Attached is their framework. I feel that we could utilise this model for Caithness.

There are a few issues to be taken into account:

1. Initial capital expenditure - where coastal routes are "aspirational" we would need to get David Barclay involved as to how the Council view getting any gaps filled and what capital expenditure could be raised. If not through the Council perhaps through the NDA - LEADER funding is notoriously difficult and time consuming to access, and the Trust would not follow this route.
2. Maintenance - as I understand it, is the biggest issue. Each association / community council would look after its own area and raise their own funds. There is a great opportunity here for offering conservation holidays through BTCV / RSPB etc. There would also be a requirement for developing training for local people to enable them to do guiding / dry stone walling / bridge building etc. Again, this is potentially where HIE could help.

3. Public Liability Insurance - this would be required for each entity, or an overarching policy for areas as they meet the criteria as laid out by Walkers are Welcome
4. Lack of information - shortage of information and detailed self guided walks, although Walk Highlands and Walking World both go some way to addressing this. I have also written a guide book which I am currently updating.

Have a look at the Walking Festival web site - www.walkcaithness.com - there is now a section promoting the Round Coastal Britain run which gives value add to the sponsors of the festival whose accommodation will continue to be listed on the site until the run has passed Caithness. Colin Simpson mentioned that there is to be a cycling event going along the north coast and down through Strath Halladale (I think) - maybe we can promote this through the site as well, but we would need a contribution to funds or some other benefit from them. The Round Coastal Britain organisers are promoting the walking festival on their site and their forum is getting thousands of hits per day.... good promotion for the area.

Anyway, if you would like to discuss further, I look forward to hearing from you. I wonder if there might be business development funding available to take the proposed association forward.

Best regards.

Tina Irving
Secretary
Dunnet Head Educational Trust"

I have emails of support from SNH and the Highland Council. If you would like to sign up as a supporter of the NHW, please do so on our web site at www.walkcaithness.com.