Design guidance for directional path signs

4 miles Glen­more Old Log­ging Way Cairngorms NATION­AL PARK Aviemore 1 mile Old Log­ging Way Design Guid­ance for Dir­ec­tion­al Path Signs Cairngorms Nation­al Park

Acknow­ledge­ments This guid­ance has been developed by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity through engage­ment with a wide range of inter­ested parties includ­ing: land man­agers; non-gov­ern­ment­al organ­isa­tions; pub­lic bod­ies; the Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access For­um; Inclus­ive Cairngorms; the Paths for All Part­ner­ship and the Field­fare Trust. We are grate­ful to the con­sultancy ​‘Walk­ing the Talk’ for work­shop facil­it­a­tion and draft­ing the text.

Feed­back and Advice The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity is com­mit­ted to review­ing the guid­ance and wel­comes feed­back. Please email your com­ments and sug­ges­tions to the CNPA: email: outdooraccess@​cairngorms.​co.​uk or send to the address below. You can also con­tact the CNPA for advice on imple­ment­a­tion of the guid­ance and on poten­tial sources of fund­ing for path signs.

Pub­lished by Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 14 The Square Grant­own-on-Spey Moray PH26 3HG Tel: 01479 873535 Fax: 01479 873527 Email: enquiries@​cairngorms.​co.​uk www​.cairngorms​.co​.uk

© CNPA 2009. All rights reserved. ISBN 978−1−906071−04−2

For a large print ver­sion of this pub­lic­a­tion, please con­tact the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity, tele­phone: 01479 873535. It can also be viewed on the CNPA web­site at www​.cairngorms​.co​.uk and is avail­able in oth­er formats on request. Cov­er: The Old Log­ging Way path sign, Rothiemurchus CNPA

Fore­word Fac­al-tois­ich Cairngorms NATION­AL PARK The Cairngorms Nation­al Park has an extens­ive net­work of paths that provide numer­ous oppor­tun­it­ies for res­id­ents and vis­it­ors to travel through, explore and enjoy this spe­cial place. We believe that by provid­ing clear and con­sist­ent path signs through­out the Nation­al Park we will encour­age more people to use these paths respons­ibly and devel­op health­i­er lifestyles.

We are par­tic­u­larly grate­ful to the wide range of indi­vidu­als and organ­isa­tions that have helped us in devel­op­ing this doc­u­ment and we hope that you will find it both inform­at­ive and easy to use.

Dav­id Green, Con­vener, Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Con­tents Fore­word 3

1. Intro­duc­tion 4
2. Back­ground to a new approach 6
3. Rationale for dir­ec­tion­al path signs in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park 8
4. Con­tent, design and loc­a­tion of fin­ger­posts 9
5. Inter­me­di­ate 15 waymarking
6. Oth­er inform­a­tion 17 for path users
7. Mak­ing the change hap­pen 18 Annex A 19 Tha lionra far­sa­ing de shlighean-cois­ich ann am Pàirce Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh a’ toirt iomadh cothrom do mhuin­ntir an àite agus do luchd-tadhail eòlas a chur air an àite shòn­raichte seo agus tlachd fhaighinn às. Tha sinn den bheachd le bhith a’ toirt seachad stiùire­adh soil­leir agus cunbhalach air soidh­nichean nan slighean-cois­ich air feadh na Pàirce Nàiseanta gu bheil sinn a’ brosnachadh bar­rachd dhaoine gus na slighean-cois­ich a chur gu feum ann an dòigh chi­al­lach agus a’ toirt orra caitheamh-beatha nas fhal­lainne a leantainn.

Tha sinn air leth taingeil do chaoch­ladh dhaoine agus bhuidh­nean a tha air taic a thoirt dhuinn ann a bhith a’ leas­achadh na sgrìobhainn seo agus tha sinn an dòchas gum bi i an dà chuid feu­mail dhuibh agus furas­ta a cleachdadh.

Daib­hidh Green, Neach-gairm, Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Policy on dir­ec­tion­al path signs in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park

03 DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK

04

1. Intro­duc­tion

1.1 This doc­u­ment provides guid­ance about the signs that people use to get around the path net­work in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. The guid­ance is primar­ily about those signs that help people find out where a path goes and how far it is to the des­tin­a­tion. For the sake of clar­ity, we will call such signs ​‘dir­ec­tion­al path signs’, of which there are two basic types: • Fin­ger­posts – which dir­ect the user along a path and con­tain inform­a­tion about the dir­ec­tion of the path, des­tin­a­tion and the dis­tance to that des­tin­a­tion; and • Inter­me­di­ate way­mark­ers – which help to guide people along a path that has fin­ger­posts at either end. Way­mark­ing is used to provide the user with reas­sur­ance and inform route choice along a path and with­in a net­work of paths. Not all paths with fin­ger­posts will require inter­me­di­ate way­mark­ing. 1.2 Dir­ec­tion­al path signs are very import­ant to help people get the most out of the path net­work in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. Such signs are espe­cially import­ant for people who are unfa­mil­i­ar with the area or who are less con­fid­ent in their abil­ity to nav­ig­ate safely. As such, they can play a sig­ni­fic­ant role in help­ing vis­it­ors enjoy the Park and in help­ing encour­age people to become more act­ive. The policy on dir­ec­tion­al path signs, as appears in the Out­door Access Strategy for the Park, is reprin­ted in Annex A (see p19).

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS

Cairngorms NATION­AL PARK

1.3 This guid­ance is for any­one who is: • • Con­sid­er­ing installing any dir­ec­tion­al path signs; • • Con­sid­er­ing repla­cing old and worn dir­ec­tion­al path signs; Pre­par­ing a pro­pos­al for fund­ing for such signs from the Scot­land Rur­al Devel­op­ment Pro­gramme; Expect­ing to receive fin­an­cial sup­port from any pub­lic sec­tor organ­isa­tion for install­a­tion of dir­ec­tion­al path signs.

1.4 This guid­ance deals only with the path signs that help people find their way. There are of course many oth­er signs not covered by this guid­ance that path users may encounter, for example signs that: • Pro­mote respons­ible beha­viour; • Provide inform­a­tion about route con­di­tions or haz­ards; • Provide inter­pret­a­tion, telling stor­ies about the place; • Provide inform­a­tion about who man­ages the path and/​or fin­an­cially con­trib­utes to the work; • Mark the bound­ary of land own­er­ship, or des­ig­nated sites, for example a Nation­al Nature Reserve. 1.5 This guid­ance sits with­in the con­text of the nation­al guid­ance provided by Paths for All Part­ner­ship in their pub­lic­a­tion Access Sign­post Guid­ance — A Guide to Good Prac­tice (www​.paths​for​all​.org​.uk) and provides the ​‘loc­al format’ for path signs in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

05 DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK

06 | 2. Back­ground to a new approach

2.1 Many paths are already sign­posted in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. How­ever, the cur­rent sys­tem of path sig­nage in the Park is the res­ult of a piece­meal approach. Signs have been installed in parts of the Park over a num­ber of years in a vari­ety of styles, each of which looks quite dif­fer­ent. Dir­ec­tion­al signs across the Park are cur­rently made of vary­ing mater­i­als (for example wood, plastic and met­al), are dif­fer­ent col­ours and they provide users with vary­ing inform­a­tion (for example dis­tance in miles, kilo­metres, meters or with estim­ates of time to reach a des­tin­a­tion). 2.2 We believe that the cur­rent sys­tem, inher­ited from the past, is unlikely to meet the needs of the future. Fol­low­ing dis­cus­sions with a num­ber of inter­ested parties the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity is com­mit­ted to pro­mot­ing a new approach. This is par­tic­u­larly import­ant for the fol­low­ing reas­ons: • Pro­mot­ing high stand­ards of design in a Nation­al Park All signs are, to some extent, an intru­sion in the land­scape. In the Cairngorms Nation­al Park we need the highest stand­ards of design to ensure that people can find their way around but with the min­im­um impact on the land­scape. • Signs for many dif­fer­ent types of user In the past some signs have been developed spe­cific­ally with walk­ers in mind, for example where estim­ated walk­ing times are provided. Scotland’s new access legis­la­tion encour­ages respons­ible use of paths by a vari­ety of users, includ­ing cyc­lists, horse riders and wheel­chair users. Sign design should cater for all these needs togeth­er, and good design should make signs easi­er to read by a wide range of users.

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS

Cairngorms NATION­AL PARK

• Signs for a net­work of paths In the past dir­ec­tion­al path signs have been installed on land where the land man­ager was par­tic­u­larly pos­it­ive about encour­aging people. In the future paths will be sign­posted over a much wider area espe­cially in, around and between com­munit­ies and in oth­er places of interest. The sys­tem of path signs should reflect the needs of people to move around this net­work. • Agree­ing the format for new signs As a res­ult of ongo­ing work we are likely to see more dir­ec­tion­al path signs installed in the next few years. It makes sense to agree now what those signs should look like and what inform­a­tion they should con­vey in order to provide the widest pos­sible range of bene­fits. Provid­ing an effect­ive stand­ard design at this stage can also help keep main­ten­ance costs to a min­im­um. • The need for a stra­tegic approach Provid­ing an effect­ive sys­tem of dir­ec­tion­al path signs is only one part of what it takes to help people enjoy the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. For example, the work on sig­nage needs, to be linked to the pro­vi­sion of vis­it­or inform­a­tion and the main­ten­ance of the paths them­selves. The Out­door Access Strategy for the Park was approved in March 2007 and provides the stra­tegic con­text for this work.

07 DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK

08 | 3. Rationale for dir­ec­tion­al path signs in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park

3.1 Dir­ec­tion­al path signs are primar­ily provided to improve people’s exper­i­ence of a path, or net­work of paths, and can be used to con­firm that users are: • Wel­come to be there; • Where they thought they were; and Going some­where. • 3.2 Path signs can also be a use­ful ​‘tool’ for land man­agers to help encour­age people to remain on paths, and to avoid sens­it­ive areas or areas with busy or haz­ard­ous land man­age­ment activity.

3.3 Fol­low­ing dis­cus­sions with a range of inter­ested parties this guid­ance has been developed based on a num­ber of fun­da­ment­al prin­ciples: • A user-based approach The exper­i­ence of path users is the single most import­ant factor in decid­ing what any sign should look like. • Sim­pli­city The signs should be as simple as pos­sible and should avoid inform­a­tion that is not essen­tial for path users, for example mar­ket­ing brands or logos, names of organ­isa­tions, etc. This inform­a­tion can be provided on oth­er signs, per­haps loc­ated near the trail­head. Fin­ger­posts should primar­ily dis­play: • Dir­ec­tion of the path (nor­mally through ori­ent­a­tion of the fin­ger­post); • Des­tin­a­tion of the path; • Dis­tance to the des­tin­a­tion. • Sep­ar­a­tion of sign types Dir­ec­tion­al path signs should be provided inde­pend­ently of any oth­er signs. Oth­er inform­a­tion that users may need, or which land man­agers may want to provide, should be provided on oth­er signs or inform­a­tion boards to suit the spe­cif­ic cir­cum­stances. • Con­sist­ency A con­sist­ent approach should be used across the Park. This will, in time, increase the con­fid­ence of path users, par­tic­u­larly those unfa­mil­i­ar with the area. • Pla­cing signs only where they are needed This guid­ance can­not pre­scribe where each sign should be placed: a bal­ance is required between provid­ing suf­fi­cient inform­a­tion for users and clut­ter­ing the land­scape with signs. This needs to be con­sidered at a loc­al level, tak­ing into account a num­ber of factors. The policy in the Out­door Access Strategy already con­tains a pre­sump­tion against sign­post­ing or way­mark­ing in wild, remote or sens­it­ive areas (see Annex A, p19).

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS

1. Con­tent, design and loc­a­tion of fin­ger­posts Cairngorms NATION­AL PARK

4.1 Fin­ger­posts dir­ect the user along a path and con­tain inform­a­tion about the dir­ec­tion of the path, des­tin­a­tion and the dis­tance to that des­tin­a­tion. The stand­ard design recom­men­ded for fin­ger­posts is shown in Fig­ure I (see p10). The design allows for two lines of text. If, in excep­tion­al cir­cum­stances, three lines are essen­tial, a wider blade width will be required.

4.2 Key fea­tures of the stand­ard design are used for the fol­low­ing reas­ons: • Mater­i­als Wood is a sus­tain­able resource and signs can be man­u­fac­tured loc­ally. Water based paints have low envir­on­ment­al impact. • Col­our White let­ters on green back­ground are high con­trast and easy to read. This col­our scheme is the most com­monly used for path signs across Scot­land. • Fonts Use of Arial / Hel­vetica fonts give the most flex­ib­il­ity and are two of the fonts that meet access­ib­il­ity stand­ards for the visu­ally impaired. Font size fol­lows nation­al guid­ance. • Dimen­sions of posts These are in line with nation­al stand­ards. A stand­ard min­im­um height for a free-stand­ing fin­ger­post of 1850mm is recom­men­ded. How­ever, there may be situ­ations where a dir­ec­tion­al sign could be bet­ter loc­ated in a dif­fer­ent pos­i­tion to improve the effect­ive­ness of the sign. Mid-height dir­ec­tion­al posts may be more effect­ive on paths pop­u­lar with wheel­chair users or be less intrus­ive in some land­scapes. Fig­ure 2 (see p11) shows the recom­men­ded design for a fin­ger­post loc­ated at mid-height.With care­ful thought, some dir­ec­tion­al signs can be added to exist­ing fur­niture without the need for a new post.

4.3 Loc­a­tion Fin­ger­posts should be placed at either ​‘end’ of the path and at sig­ni­fic­ant inter­me­di­ate junc­tions where new users are likely to join the route for the first time.

09 DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK

10 | Con­tent, design and loc­a­tion of fingerposts

Fig­ure 1: Stand­ard design spe­cific­a­tion for fin­ger­post in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park

100 mm 680 mm Mater­i­als 1 mile Grant­own on Spey Nethy Bridge 5 miles Spey­side Way 30 150 mm European larch or equi­val­ent dur­ab­il­ity, loc­ally sourced, pres­sure treated tim­ber (FSC stand­ard oblig­at­ory). River Spey Wood­land paths ½ mile 150 point text 100 point text Fin­ger­post to be 3150mm x 100mm square with slop­ing ​‘weath­er top’; Chev­ron: 12 mm wide Fin­ger blade to have an effect­ive length 650mm x 150mm high and a thick­ness of 40mm. Point to be cut at 30 degrees. Blade to be mor­tice-join­ted through post.

Use water based paints and pre­ser­vat­ives only, to RAL col­our 1850 mm (min­im­um) spe­cific­a­tions (6002 Leaf green for posts and blades, 9003 Sig­nal white for text). Min­im­um two coats. Con­tent Font: Arial/​Helvetica.

Text size: 150 point (effect­ive 54mm) for Des­tin­a­tion and Dis­tance 100 point (effect­ive 38mm) for path name All let­ter­ing to be pro­duced by CNC rout­ing or to an equi­val­ent qual­ity stand­ard. 900 mm (packed and back­filled) Walk­ing Install­a­tion All loc­a­tions should be checked for the pres­ence of util­ity ser­vices (eg cables) before install­a­tion begins.

Two hori­zont­al met­al bars (set at 90 degrees) should be used at the bot­tom of the post to pre­vent easy removal.

Avoid using con­crete as this increases the risk of rot­ting. CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS

Cairngorms NATION­AL PARK

Fig­ure 2: Stand­ard design spe­cific­a­tion for mid-height fin­ger­post in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park

150 mm 100 mm 700 mm Nethy Bridge 5 miles Spey­side Way 1 mile Grant­own on Spey 500 mm (packed and back­filled) 1000 mm Mater­i­als European larch or equi­val­ent dur­ab­il­ity, loc­ally sourced, pres­sure treated tim­ber (FSC stand­ard obligatory).

Posts to be 1500mm x 100mm square with slop­ing weath­er top.

Fin­ger blade to have an effect­ive length 700mm x 150mm high and a thick­ness of 40mm. Blade to be mor­tice-join­ted through posts.

Use water based paints and pre­ser­vat­ives only, to RAL col­our spe­cific­a­tions (6002 Leaf green for posts and blades, 9003 Sig­nal white for text). Con­tent Font: Arial/​Helvetica.

Text size: 150 point (effect­ive 54mm) for Des­tin­a­tion and Dis­tance 100 point (effect­ive 38mm) for path name

All let­ter­ing to be pro­duced by CNC rout­ing or to an equi­val­ent qual­ity stand­ard. Walk­ing Install­a­tion All loc­a­tions should be checked for the pres­ence of util­ity ser­vices (eg cables) before install­a­tion begins.

Two hori­zont­al met­al bars (set at 90 degrees) should be used at the bot­tom of the post to pre­vent easy removal..

Avoid using con­crete as this increases the risk of rot­ting. DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK

12 Con­tent, design and loc­a­tion of fin­ger­posts Inform­a­tion on signs 4.4 Dir­ec­tion The fin­ger­post should point along the route of the path. 4.5 Des­tin­a­tion Care­ful con­sid­er­a­tion needs to be giv­en to the choice of des­tin­a­tion so that it is mean­ing­ful to users, ie a place where people want to vis­it and which they will recog­nise once they arrive. Often it will be a set­tle­ment or sig­ni­fic­ant fea­ture found on a map. The des­tin­a­tion shown on the sign may often be bey­ond the land man­age­ment area on which the sign is loc­ated. In some cir­cum­stances it may be use­ful to add an inter­me­di­ate des­tin­a­tion, for example ​‘via Bridge of Muick’. Where a path is designed as a recre­ation loop without des­tin­a­tion, it may be appro­pri­ate to sign it ​‘Cir­cu­lar Path’. 4.6 Dis­tance This is simply the dis­tance in miles, or crude frac­tions of miles, to the des­tin­a­tion, for example ¹⁄₂ miles. Please note, decim­al frac­tions of miles should not be used. 4.7 In addi­tion, and only if it is rel­ev­ant, the fol­low­ing inform­a­tion may also be provided: • Path name Use the stra­tegic route name, (for example Spey­side Way), or the loc­ally agreed path name, if appro­pri­ate. Note that the font size for the path name is smal­ler than for the des­tin­a­tion as this is of sec­ond­ary import­ance to most users. The devel­op­ment of a rel­ev­ant loc­al name for a path can con­trib­ute towards loc­al dis­tinct­ive­ness. Use of Gael­ic or Dor­ic path names may also be appro­pri­ate. • Path iden­tity sym­bol Where a path has an agreed sym­bol, such as the ​‘thistle’ on Long Dis­tance Paths, this can be incor­por­ated into the fin­ger­post. Oth­er organ­isa­tion­al logos and brands should not be used. • Col­oured chev­ron These can be provided on fin­ger­posts but only if the path sub­sequently uses inter­me­di­ate way­mark­ing with col­ours. Main­ten­ance 4.8 Painted wooden signs will require reg­u­lar main­ten­ance about every five years, includ­ing repaint­ing. Path man­agers should con­sider this when plan­ning signs for a path or net­work of paths. CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS

Cairngorms NATION­AL PARK Spe­cial cir­cum­stances 4.9 The fol­low­ing three sets of cir­cum­stances have been iden­ti­fied where it would be appro­pri­ate to depart from the stand­ard design spe­cific­a­tion for the Cairngorms Nation­al Park as described in Fig­ures I and 2 (see pp10-11). • With­in set­tle­ments with agreed sign design format Some set­tle­ments with­in the Park have agreed styles of dir­ec­tion­al signs, as shown in Fig­ure 3.1 (see p14). These should be used for path signs loc­ated with­in the set­tle­ment in order to retain a coher­ent appear­ance and to reduce the poten­tial for con­fu­sion. Towards the edge of the set­tle­ment it will be appro­pri­ate to change to the stand­ard design spe­cific­a­tion as shown in Fig­ure 1. • With­in set­tle­ments, when adding a path sign to an exist­ing road sign Here, met­al is the best option for the fin­ger­post, such as that shown in Fig­ure 3.2, (see p14). The con­tent of the sign should, how­ever, fol­low the stand­ard design spe­cific­a­tion (see Fig­ure 1) in terms of des­tin­a­tion and dis­tance. The size of font may need to be adjus­ted so that the new path signs fit with the exist­ing signs.

13 DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK

14 Con­tent, design and loc­a­tion of fin­ger­posts Fig­ure 3.1: Agreed sign design format in Aviemore Fig­ure 3.2: Use of a met­al fin­ger­post with a road sign River Spey Forest Walks Golf Course Ten­nis Courts Bowl­ing Green Foot­ball Fields Spey­side Way River Spey Anagach Wood­land Walks At any time CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS • Replace­ment of path signs of his­tor­ic­al sig­ni­fic­ance In some spe­cif­ic loc­a­tions, the exist­ing path signs are them­selves of his­tor­ic­al interest, for example the cast iron path signs that have been in place in some loc­a­tions for many years and which were installed by the Scot­tish Rights of Way Soci­ety (now Scot­ways). In these spe­cif­ic instances, the reten­tion of the ori­gin­al signs, or install­a­tion of rep­lica replace­ments, is recommended.

1. Inter­me­di­ate way­mark­ing Cairngorms NATION­AL PARK

5.1 Inter­me­di­ate way­mark­ers guide people along a path which has fin­ger­posts at either end. Way­mark­ing is used to provide the user with reas­sur­ance and inform route choice along a path and with­in a net­work of paths.

5.2 This guid­ance does not pre­scribe where inter­me­di­ate way­mark­ing should be installed, nor spe­cify the form it should take in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. The mer­its of four broad styles are out­lined in Table I (see p16) and the decision is left to the path manager.

5.3 A con­sist­ent approach to way­mark­ing will be required along the length of a path between fin­ger­posts, which may include cross­ing land man­aged by dif­fer­ent organ­isa­tions. This con­sist­ency in way­mark­ing style should be main­tained with­in a net­work of paths. Con­sid­er­a­tion should be giv­en to how users access the paths in ques­tion. For example, not all users may have passed the trail­head where the sys­tem of way­mark­ing is explained. 5.4 On many path net­works, round­els have been developed that include some text that ​‘wraps’ round the out­er edge of the arrow or sym­bol. It is con­sidered appro­pri­ate to use the name of the path, where one exists, which may help to reduce col­our con­fu­sion. Round­els should not be used to con­vey any oth­er inform­a­tion, for example warn­ing or advis­ory notices.

5.5 Path man­agers may find it use­ful for main­ten­ance pro­grammes to dis­cretely num­ber all path signs indi­vidu­ally and accur­ately record their loc­a­tion. Indi­vidu­ally iden­ti­fi­able mark­ers can also provide exact ref­er­ence points on pro­moted paths in such rare cir­cum­stances as when someone has a ser­i­ous acci­dent on the route.

15 DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK

16 Inter­me­di­ate way­mark­ing Table 1: Com­par­is­on of com­monly used styles of way­mark­ing Col­oured bands Arrow Badenoch Way Way Advant­ages • Simple, cost effect­ive and rel­at­ively easy to main­tain. • Can be used in any direction.

• Can be eas­ily integ­rated with fin­ger­posts through use of col­oured chev­ron. Dis­ad­vant­ages • No route choice can be shown unless extra ​‘con­firm­a­tion’ posts are installed after junc­tions. • Care­ful col­our con­trast is needed to dis­tin­guish dif­fer­ent paths. Sym­bol • Simple, cost effect­ive and rel­at­ively easy to main­tain. • Can be col­oured to identi­fy path and integ­rated with fin­ger­posts through use of col­oured chev­ron. • Provides dir­ec­tion­al inform­a­tion. • Can be used in a round­el with path name. • Easy to add to exist­ing structures.

• Care­ful col­our con­trasts needed to dis­tin­guish dif­fer­ent paths. • Can appear unpro­fes­sion­al, espe­cially when over-used. Sym­bol and arrow Advant­ages Dis­ad­vant­ages • Sym­bols, espe­cially when com­bined with a col­our, offer the most dis­tinct­ive type of way­mark­ing access­ible to all. • Can be used to devel­op path identity.

• Can be com­plex, expens­ive to devel­op and dif­fi­cult to main­tain. • No dir­ec­tion inform­a­tion. • Sym­bols, espe­cially when com­bined with a col­our, offer the most dis­tinct­ive type of way­mark­ing access­ible to all. • Can be used to devel­op path identity.

• Can be com­plex, expens­ive to devel­op and dif­fi­cult to main­tain. • Not inter­change­able with dif­fer­ent loc­a­tions. CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS

1. Oth­er inform­a­tion for path users Cairngorms NATION­AL PARK

6.1 If the dir­ec­tion­al path signs are to work effect­ively, a wider range of inform­a­tion is required to sup­port the needs of the path users. This can be provided in a vari­ety of ways includ­ing: • Map and inform­a­tion boards at the start of paths; • Sep­ar­ate spe­cif­ic signs; • Leaf­lets and websites.

6.2 These media offer the oppor­tun­ity to inform users about the role of land man­agers in man­aging the paths and to present the paths as part of a wider net­work in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park by use of the Park brand. For fur­ther inform­a­tion on the brand please con­tact the CNPA at: enquiries@​cairngorms.​co.​uk or tele­phone 01479 873535.

6.3 Some spe­cif­ic require­ments are con­sidered below. • Inter­pret­a­tion Draw­ing users’ atten­tion to spe­cif­ic points of interest along a route or telling stor­ies of the area or the path is often worth­while and can add con­sid­er­ably to the users’ exper­i­ence. This can be done using pan­els and oth­er forms of stat­ic inter­pret­a­tion or, more cre­at­ively through artist­ic approaches. It is recom­men­ded that site man­agers wish­ing to cre­ate a dis­tinct­ive ​‘sense of place’ for their site use cre­at­ive inter­pret­a­tion and design at key vis­it­or loc­a­tions without resort­ing to the need to cus­tom­ise func­tion­al path signs. Land man­agers should also give care­ful con­sid­er­a­tion to the impact that such addi­tion­al infra­struc­ture can have on the land­scape and be mind­ful of the need to reg­u­larly main­tain and update any inform­a­tion. Such struc­tures are likely to require plan­ning permission.

Shap­ing the Stor­ies of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park provides guid­ance on how to inter­pret the Nation­al Park (www​.cairngorms​.co​.uk). • Land man­age­ment signs It is recom­men­ded that path users are informed about tem­por­ary land man­age­ment prac­tices and sea­son­al con­ser­va­tion issues and by using the pub­lic­a­tion Signs Guid­ance for Farm­ers and oth­er Land Man­agers provided by Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age (www​.snh​.gov​.uk) and agreed by the Nation­al Access For­um. • Grant aid or com­mer­cial spon­sor­ship Some paths and path net­works receive grant aid or com­mer­cial spon­sor­ship and fund­ing bod­ies legit­im­ately want their sup­port recog­nised. Instead of adding logos to dir­ec­tion­al path signs, which can cre­ate a cluttered appear­ance, it is recom­men­ded that path man­agers inform users in a vari­ety of altern­at­ive ways as described above.

17 DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK

1. Mak­ing the change hap­pen 7.1 While many of the exist­ing path signs do not meet cur­rent best prac­tice stand­ards, the whole­sale replace­ment of path signs with the stand­ard design is not recom­men­ded. Pri­or­ity should be giv­en to installing the new design of path signs in the fol­low­ing order: • Install dir­ec­tion­al signs on pro­moted paths that are not cur­rently sign­posted; then • Replace dir­ec­tion­al path signs that are illegible/​worn/​damaged; then • Replace dir­ec­tion­al path signs that do not meet best prac­tice stand­ards. 7.2 Cre­at­ing a con­sist­ently sign­posted, coher­ent net­work of pro­moted paths across the Cairngorms Nation­al Park will require the act­ive co-oper­a­tion of many part­ners. It is anti­cip­ated that this work will take a num­ber of years.

7.3 Repla­cing exist­ing path signs is unlikely to require plan­ning per­mis­sion. New signs, depend­ing on loc­a­tion and impact, may require per­mis­sion. In all situ­ations, path man­agers are advised to con­sult the rel­ev­ant plan­ning author­ity as a mat­ter of course.

7.4 The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity can be con­tac­ted for advice on imple­ment­a­tion of the guid­ance and on poten­tial sources of fund­ing for path signs.

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS

Annex A Cairngorms NATION­AL PARK Policy on dir­ec­tion­al path signs in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Dir­ec­tion­al path signs have a cru­cial role to play in encour­aging people to take access and in assist­ing them ori­ent­ate their way around the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. The policy for the Park is based on the fol­low­ing prin­ciples: • There should be a net­work of • sign­posted and way­marked routes around and between every com­munity, includ­ing good inform­a­tion to ori­ent people and find the start of such routes; Fin­ger­posts must include a dir­ec­tion point­er, des­tin­a­tion and approx­im­ate dis­tance at the start of the route; • It should be easy to find the start of pro­moted paths from the heart of nearby com­munit­ies; • Giv­ing approx­im­ate times to com­plete the route at the start­ing point will help to provide com­fort to those who might oth­er­wise lack the neces­sary con­fid­ence to embark on the route; • There will be a pre­sump­tion against way­mark­ing in wild, remote or oth­er sens­it­ive areas, espe­cially in moun­tain­ous ter­rain, where people value the sense of wild­ness and are expec­ted to be self reli­ant; • The Park Author­ity will work with rel­ev­ant part­ners to pro­duce and keep under review tech­nic­al guid­ance, in line with nation­al best prac­tice, which will lead to high stand­ards, a con­sist­ent approach and the pro­mo­tion of a feel­ing of being with­in a Nation­al Park.

Source: Enjoy­ing the Cairngorms: Cairngorms Nation­al Park Out­door Access Strategy 2007 – 2012, Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity, 2007 19 DESIGN GUID­ANCE FOR DIR­EC­TION­AL PATH SIGNS CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK

Cairngorms NATION­AL PARK Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 14 The Square Grant­own-on-Spey Moray PH26 3HG Tel: 01479 873535 Fax: 01479 873527 Email: enquiries@​cairngorms.​co.​uk www​.cairngorms​.co​.uk

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