GRAND circular tours of Coniston Water by the Steam Yacht Gondola, and new rail maps for Lakes Line passengers, are among projects to share a £20,000 helping hand.

Easy and accessible transport for visitors across Cumbria is to be boosted by funding from the See More sustainable travel programme.

Grants are being given to 12 projects across four key travel corridors – Oxenholme to Grasmere, Penrith to Ullswater, Keswick to Borrowdale, and Carlisle to Hadrian’s Wall.

The idea is to support businesses, transport companies and community groups who want to entice visitors out of their cars, by making buses, boats and trains more attractive, as well as cycling and walking.

Projects to share the £20,000 small grants fund include:

- support for the National Trust’s Steam Yacht Gondola to reintroduce the grand circular tour used in the 1860s to link steam and boat services around the Lake District

- promoting Stagecoach’s newly-expanded 599 bus service between Grasmere and Lakeside

- creating new Lakes Line rail maps to welcome visitors arriving by train at Kendal, Burneside and Staveley

- targeting Chinese visitors by translating tourism leaflets and websites

- surveying the lake bed on the proposed site of a new jetty for the Keswick Launch at Lingholm

- promoting the Derwentwater Way with way-marker signs and panels at seven Keswick Launch jetties

- marketing a new walking route around Ullswater on quiet roads and public rights of way, with clear links to bus, boat and rail routes.

See More programme manager Nicola Parker said: “We want to help organisations develop projects which will have a lasting effect, giving people the best possible access to public transport links and enabling them to travel around as quickly and easily as possible. This funding will help them do just that.”