Lottery cash protects mountains

Scotland's mountains attract many tourists

An extra £1m is to be spent on protecting Scotland's mountain heritage, it has been announced.

The money will be used to maintain upland footpaths across the country to give walkers better access to Scottish mountains.

The extra cash has been made available by the Heritage Lottery Fund and will be used by the National Trust for Scotland to carry out a five-year programme of path repair.

It will improve public access at the same time as reducing its impact on the natural landscape of the mountains, which the trust has called some of the finest in the world.

Ben Lomond, by Loch Lomond, is owned by the trust

National trust chief executive Robin Pellew said: "This is absolutely wonderful news.

"This support represents a huge public affirmation of the worthiness of the trust's determination to secure sustainability for its mountains."

Six mountainous properties owned by the national trust will benefit - Glencoe, Ben Lawers, Ben Lomond, Goatfell, Torridon, and Kintail.

They need concerted attention because of the volume of workers that tramp over them annually.

The trust said it now hoped to obtain further funding to help maintain mountain pathways.

More than 1.7 million people visit Scotland's mountains every year.