THE FUTURE of one of Britain's oldest long-distance walks has been assured.
An organisation is being set up to safeguard the North York Moors National Park's Lyke Wake Walk.
The club formed 50 years ago, to organise the 40-mile walk from Osmotherley to Ravenscar, on the North Yorkshire coast, is to fold.
The secretary of the New Lyke Wake Walk Club, Gerry Orchard, says it has been dedicated to the memory of the late Bill Cowley, who founded the walk and made its first crossing in October 1955.
Over the years, the number of people completing the walk has dropped to 550 a year from a peak of more than 15,000 in the 1970s.
The next annual wake is already arranged for Saturday, May 14 next year, setting off from the Lord Stones Cafe, Carlton Bank, and there will be a 50th anniversary wake on Saturday, October 1, from The Golden Lion, Northallerton.
Mr Orchard said an appeal was also be made to find previous members of the Lyke Wake Walk Club.
He can be contacted on www.lykewake.org or at 4 Cavendish Grove, Hull Road, York YO10 3ND.
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