The new route goes via Whitber Hill

Walkers tackling the arduous Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge have given the thumbs-up to a new section of the route.

The leg over Whitber Hill replaces the gloopy nightmare over the bogs of Black Dubb Moss and now takes walkers over maintained paths to meet the Pennine Way near Sell Gill.

The route between Pen-y-ghent and Ribblehead on the 39km (24-mile) challenge formerly crossed eroded peat bog but now follows a much drier path that is also easier to navigate.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, which carried out the footpath work, said there are no stiles on the new section to cause bottlenecks at busy times.

About 100,000 walkers are attracted to the Three Peaks area, around Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, each year.

The authority’s conservation experts hope that, by diverting walkers away from Black Dubb Moss, it will give the sensitive peatland habitats and the damaged vegetation time to recover.

Three Peaks area ranger Steve Hastie, who is also Three Peaks Project manager, said: “The latest figures we have show that 86 per cent of people on the Three Peaks Challenge this year used the Whitber route compared with 92 per cent using Black Dubb in 2011.

“At the moment, it looks like all the hard work that went into creating the new route has been worth it but, obviously, we need to collect more data so we can give a more accurate assessment of how successful it’s been.”

The work was completed using a €30,000 grant from the European Outdoor Conservation Association following a submission by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust.

Don Gamble, the YDMT’s projects development officer, said: “It’s great that the new section is already being well used by walkers and is proving to be such an improvement to the route, as well as helping to restore damaged peatland.

“YDMT is very pleased to have been able to assist the national park authority in its critical role in protecting the Dales landscape.”

The national park authority is now trying to find out how much the 100,000 annual visitors to the Yorkshire Three Peaks benefit the local economy.

Mr Hastie said: “We know some people just come for the day to tackle one or more of them while others spend several days in the area.

“We have never before tried to assess accurately the value of the peaks to accommodation providers, food outlets and other tourism-related businesses so we have launched an online survey to try to establish just that.

“We are hoping that everyone who has gone up one, two or three of them either individually or as part of the Three Peaks Challenge will complete the survey and help us find out how much they mean to the local economy.”

The survey is on the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority website.