Ribblehead Viaduct

VISITORS to the Yorkshire Dales can now enjoy their own personal guided walks to help them explore some of the National Park's past.

Latest technology means they can download free MP3 audio trails as podcasts and print off maps so they can walk a route and listen while the features around them are explained as they go.

Last year the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) teamed up with Drystone Radio and the Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line to launch an audio trail around one of the most famous National Park attractions - the Ribblehead Viaduct.

The Authority funded the production of the trail while the Friends devised the route and contributed to the historical information about the building of the viaduct and the railway construction camps around it.

The trail - that can be downloaded from the Authority's Out of Oblivion website at www.outofoblivion.org.uk - proved to be such a success that the YDNPA and Drystone went on to produce three more podcasts covering Malhamdale, Lower Wharfedale and Ribblesdale.

And a fourth, looking at Swaledale, becomes available on the website this week.

Karen Griffiths, the YDNPA's Interpretation Officer, said: "People often walk in the National Park without realising the importance of what is all around them or under their feet - without understanding the thousands of years of history and archaeology.

"The audio trails are a great way of finding out more about different features ranging from ancient burial sites through to 18th century farmhouses - you have your own personal guide bringing history and archaeology alive."

The trails are part of an Authority drive started last year to try to reduce the number of new interpretation panels - boards placed on site explaining the immediate surroundings - being installed in the National Park because of the visual impact they have on the environment.

As well as that, the trails mean the YDNPA can reduce the amount of paper it uses because it does not need to produce hundreds of leaflets to accompany the walks - visitors wanting to use them just print off what they need at home.