The Eastern Cairngorms Access Project (ECAP) was a £2.5 million programme of high-quality access improvements in the mountains and glens of Angus and Upper Deeside between 2003 and 2006.
At the time it was the largest such project ever undertaken in Scotland, created by an innovative consortium of 14 public and private sector partners in what became the main eastern gateway to the Cairngorms National Park (CNP).
The project brought a new joined-up approach to raising the standard of access facilities in an area where they were vital to the local economy’s tourism provision.
The mountain paths targeted for repair were badly eroded and better promotion pointed visitors to a wider variety of outdoor opportunities, helping spread the benefits of tourism.
OATS – under its name at the time, the Upper Deeside Access Trust (UDAT) – delivered the work on the ground in Upper Deeside, about half of the total, and it was the organisation’s first big partnership project.
The overall project involved repair, reconstruction and landscaping of over 26km of the most popular and damaged hill paths in the Eastern Cairngorms; creation of circular routes and link paths within and between the glens; and creation and upgrading of five community path networks.
A total of 173km of paths and cycle routes were created or upgraded, new jobs were created and local tourism jobs were supported.
UDAT’s slice of the work included building the Mount Keen Bridge in Glen Tanar and the Highland Society Bridge at Braemar.
The scheme broke new ground in operating across local authority and other boundaries, while using local knowledge to tailor solutions to local areas. Taking place around the time of the creation of the new CNP it meant the access infrastructure was well up to the extra demands of national park status.
Paths and trails were created to cater for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders with 2km of all-ability trails, all designed to be sensitive to the exceptional landscapes of the area, and using innovative techniques to ensure minimum impact.