THE opening of a new bridge has brought to an end a three-year project to re-establish lost routes across a stunning landscape.

The Missing Links Project in the picturesque Esk Valley Project has created and improved six bridleways that all connect with public transport.

And the final touch came with the new bridge over the Murk Esk – a tributary of the River Esk in the North York Moors National Park.

The bridge was officially opened by Lady Elizabeth Kirk, a founder and trustee of the Byways and Bridleway Trust and a former Countryside Commissioner.

She, along with fellow horse riders Bill Tait and Susan Bell, were among the first to cross the new bridge which restores an historic bridleway connection between the hamlets of Esk Valley and Green End.

A ford used to provide passage across the Murk Esk but a severe flood in the 1930s completely changed the course of the river leaving the ford effectively marooned in the middle of a field.

The only way across the new course of the river involved a steep climb up from the riverbank but the bridleway has been diverted and the new crossing installed at the site of a former tramway bridge.

The new bridge, designed by award-winning engineer Geoff Freedman, sits on the abutments of the old tramway bridge, which was built in the 1830s to transport whinstone from the mines near Green End to the Whitby and Pickering Railway.

The mine closed in the 1930s and the bridge was lost following the severe floods that diverted the course of the Murk Esk.