People walking and cycling between Radstock and Frome can now enjoy a much smoother journey after a key local cycle route was given a £140,000 facelift.

The Frome’s Missing Links project aims to deliver a new multi-user path from Welshmill Lane, just north of the town centre, to the Colliers Way cycle path in Great Elm, providing an unbroken route between Radstock and Frome.

Phase two of the project, which runs from the Colliers Way terminus to Elliots Lane in Hapsford, was partially implemented in December 2018 – but the surface is currently too “loose and uneven” for horses, bicycles, scooters or wheelchairs.

Following a successful crowdfunding campaign in the autumn of 2024, this section has now been fully resurfaced in smooth Tarmac, providing an easier connection to route 24 of the National Cycle Network.

Frome’s Missing Links chairman Richard Ackroyd said: “We started this stretch back in 2015. We had about 120-odd people who came out for that first weekend, where we cleared head-high brambles, twigs, branches, trees, you name it.

“That carried on for several years, clearing all the old railway line and sleepers – along with land ownership deals and battles, with Network Rail helping out near the end.”

The phase two section runs for around 1.3 kilometres, with pedestrians and cyclists being able to join westbound from either Buckland Road in Great Elm or from the Colliers Way active travel route.

When this section was originally constructed in late-2018, volunteers cleared the route of brambles, removed the old railway track and concrete sleepers. levelled the ballast and built steps up the embankment.

The rough surfacing, made of old railway ballast, meant the route is walk-able even in cold or wet weather, but the less able-bodied or those wishing to cycle or wheel their way along face a bumpy ride.

These latest improvements, with the ballast being replaced with smooth Tarmac, will make it easier for people of all abilities to utilise this route to avoid the numerous narrow country lanes between Radstock and Frome.

Geoff Pell from Frome’s Missing Links said: “This is all about getting people out and about so they can exercise in safety.

“I cycle on the roads myself, but I understand that for many people that seems too dangerous – and this gives them the safe route that they need.”

The Crowdfunder raised more than £27,000 once gift aid has been taken into account – giving the charity some much-needed spare cash to put towards the remaining ‘missing links’ on either side of the town.

Two further phases of the Frome’s Missing Links have already been delivered, with phase one running north from Welshmill Lane for 950 metres, skirting around the Rossett House care home and the town’s waste water treatment plant up to Whatcombe Fields. Phase three runs north from Whatcombe Fields along the river to just south of the railway line.

Frome Missing Links forms part of the wider Somerset Circle project which, when completed, will form a 76-mile traffic-free circuit linking Bristol, Bath, the Mendip Hills and the Somerset Levels.