VISITORS to a gorge will be invited to test their mettle on high level cable walkways.

How Stean Gorge, at Lofthouse, in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire has opened three sections of via ferrata after securing permission from Natural England earlier this year.

The kilometre-long chasm is one of only two places in Britain to have a network of iron cables, staples and bridges fixed to the walls and ledges of rock at heights of up to nine metres.

Via ferrata routes were built for soldiers to access vantage points in the mountains  of Europe during the Second World War.

The three walkways include Tyrolean Traverse, featuring an overhead cable and a seated pulley system, Burma Bridge with two hand cables and one foot cable and Postman’s Walk, which has one top cable and one to walk on.

A spokesman for the attraction said the new walkways would offer previously unseen views of the gorge.

Visitors wear a safety harness and helmet and learn how to work others to traverse the cables.

For details, visit howstean.co.uk