YOUR article 'Dumped cars are 'tip of the iceberg' '(Gazette, November 7) raised an important issue, even if the word “dumped” is a rather poor choice.

Unfortunately, Skelwith is an obvious place for people planning a walk in the lower reaches of Great Langdale to begin their outing and therefore leave their cars. While not in any way condoning the inconsiderate parking shown in the picture, I would suggest that things could be done to help.

The bus service between Ambleside and Dungeon Ghyll is useful for walkers planning a ramble along the valley but its utility is reduced by the infrequency of stops and perhaps also the infrequency of the buses.

I haven’t seen a bus stop sign between Ambleside and Skelwith, nor one between Skelwith and Elterwater. How difficult, expensive or unsightly would it be to have half-a-dozen request stops along this stretch of road, something which would give people many more options for parking without offending residents or impeding traffic flow? Also, the bus service could be made much more attractive if it was provided with the open-top buses which are so popular on the Bowness-Grasmere and the Borrowdale routes.

Another improvement - are you listening, Lake District National Park Authority? - would be to make it possible to walk safely along the line of the road where there is no right of way in the nearby fields. I am particularly thinking of the section east from Skelwith towards Nanny Brow, the first half-mile or more of which is potentially deadly to anyone exercising their right to walk along the public highway (as I discovered on Sunday).

In a number of spots in the district, footpaths have been made on the other side of the road’s boundary walls, and something similar is desperately needed on this section of road. While this possible improvement might have a limited effect on the problem pointed up in your article, it would open up more possibilities to walkers and perhaps make for fewer drivers desperately looking for a parking spot in the same place.

Roger Wilkinson

Leasgill