Big rise in visitors to traffic-free Monsal, High Peak and Tissington Trails

Release from weeks of Covid-19 lockdown coupled with glorious weather means visitors have been flocking to the Monsal, Tissington and High Peak Trails.

The trails have experienced an uplift of almost a third more people on some of their busiest days compared to 2019, according to the National Park Authority.

On the Monsal Trail, the busiest July day this year attracted almost 4,000 visits, compared to just over 3,000 during July in 2019. Overall, visits to the Monsal Trail across July doubled from 1,100 each day on average last year, to more than 2,000 per day this summer.

The National Park’s most well-known traffic-free trails are mainly former railway lines. They offer accessible, family-friendly recreational routes for walking, cycling and horse riding.The trails are popular with wheelchair-users because of the flat surfaces and gentle gradients and there is the added benefit of an accessible range of bikes to hire from the National Park bike hire centre at Parsley Hay, for use on the High Peak and Tissington trails.Andrew McCloy, chairman of the Peak District National Park Authority, said: “As green arteries twisting and turning through some of the most stunning Peak District landscapes, it is no surprise that our multi-user trails have also helped to breathe life into our recovery from the effects of Covid-19.“Alongside the health and wellbeing benefits of these routes, their appeal to visitors of all ages also helps to support our local tourism businesses as they get back on their feet after an unprecedented summer.”Post-lockdown, the National Park Authority’s sale stock of ex-hire bikes virtually sold out with sales thought to be higher than the previous two years combined. Teams from the authority’s four hire centres across the Peak District also reported more than 1,200 bike hires taking place each week during early August.*An electronic counter is based on the Monsal Trail and is able to track movements of both pedestrian users and bicycles. The numbers shown in this story represent the ‘visits’ registered on this equipment.