Welcome to the Pathways project page.

Robert Macfarlane, The Old Ways, A Journey on foot, ‘Paths are not just means of traversing space, but also of feeling, knowing and thinking’.

The Pathways group was set up in 2021 on the back of the CAP which identified the importance to the community of maintaining and developing our path network based on the knowledge that our paths are part of our outdoor infrastructure. 

As per the CAP, the first task undertaken was to undertake an audit of the paths and trails in the Stratherrick & Foyers area identifying the main users, level of use, landowners, and general state of/requirement for maintenance. To date 27 have been audited but there are more to be done…    

Two key strands of work emerged from this audit, namely, the maintenance and development of key sections of our path network and the marketing and promotion of our paths. The reasons for the focus on these two areas were as follows:

1. They are a key community asset.
2. There is little or no responsibility for any landowner/other 3rd party to maintain them.
3. Walking as an activity nationally has soared in popularity in the past few years and this is putting increased pressure on our paths resulting in degradation of path quality.
4. The South Loch Ness Trail which is part of the Loch Ness 360 passes through the area. This trail which launched in 2018 has been very successfully marketed worldwide by a number of tourism organisations.
5. To encourage more people, both locals and visitors, to use our paths, enjoy our environment while at the same time gaining health benefits.

Maintenance and Development

Following the award of £20K of funding from Highland Council in 2023 and £20K from the Trust, the group embarked on improvements over two sections of the South Loch Ness Trail. The first section between Inverfarigaig and Foyers was completed in February 2024. A collaborative project with Forestry and Land Scotland, improvements were made to the quality of trail over approximately 320m. This primarily entailed the resurfacing of the trail and improvement of water drainage with the installation of a number of culverts. The work was carried out by Mark Hedderwick, Hitrak, Beauly. Below are two images of the work.

The second section between Whitebridge and Foyers was due to have been completed by now too but as this is at the two streams crossings, the work was delayed by the heavy rainfall at the end of January. However, this work will be completed in March by Hitrak and project managed by Phil Thompson Ltd, Construction Management Services, Inverness.

Both these projects have come in under budget which has enabled the group to award a contract to Chamber Electronics, Inverness, to install people/bike counters at two key locations on the South Loch Ness Trail. The purpose of these is to measure usage on what we know to be one well used part of the trail and one lesser used. This will help guide future investment in this and other trails and paths.

These two projects have consumed a lot of time and my thanks here to Sharon for her assistance in keeping track of the budget and liaising with Mark and Phil.   

Marketing & Promotion

Following the initial development of the ‘Walk the Walk’ campaign in early 2023 to encourage more people, both locals and visitors, to get out and explore our paths, this has been consolidated  and further developed by the combined efforts of Fiona and Sian working with the Trust communications and marketing team, Jillian and Calum. There are now 13 walks, all with detailed descriptions listed under Our Local Environment here on the Trust website.  All of these walks can be opened in the Ordnance Survey Maps app which is available to download free of charge. In addition, we have approached accommodation providers in the area and provided a QR code which links to the Walk the Walk page on the Trust website. We hope they will use this code in their promotional materials and better inform their guests of the number and variety of walks in the area.

The second strand of marketing and promotion, namely the development of a path-based app, has been a more challenging project for a number of reasons. But with the knowledge and assistance from Sarah, plus a recent brainstorming meeting by the group and others, we are now confident that we will soon embark on the development of a community app, with the paths at it its heart but encompassing the heritage, bio diversity, stories and people that are at the heart of Stratherrick and Foyers community

Finally, we are also working with the Trust marketing team to hopefully enhance and expand the image gallery with the addition of more categories and a search facility

Further project updates will be posted here as and when they occur. In the meantime, if you wish

to be part of this active group please e mail Graeme at graemeambrose482@gmail.com.