TWO dads who vowed to clear an overgrown footpath being ignored by council chiefs have almost completed the epic task.

Martin Calvert and Nicholas Skaife decided to open up the path, linking Thornton-le-Dale and Pickering, after council chiefs refused to carry out the work.

The pair have toiled for nearly 13 weeks to get the job done on the two-mile path.

Both work full-time and had to carry out the project after work and at weekends.

"It has taken us quite a while but I would estimate we've probably got another week to go before we're finished," said Martin.

Averaging around ten hours a week, between them they have notched up more than 200 hours of work on the path.

Now the pair are trying to convince North Yorkshire County Council to use weedkiller to delay the path becoming overgrown again.

"If they don't it's just going to be like the Forth Bridge where, when we get to the end, we have to go back to the start again," said Martin, who works as a butcher in Thornton-le-Dale.

Martin and Nicholas decided to carry out the work because the path had become unusable.

"We both have young children and we found it's impossible to push a pram along there," Martin added.

"Other people were struggling too so we contacted the council - they just turned around and said it wasn't on their list of priorities for this year

"We had no other option but to do the work ourselves."

Martin and Nicholas have already been praised for their efforts.

"There are two elderly people in the village who use electric wheel carts. One of them, a gentleman, says he feels like he has been liberated from Thorton-le-Dale," said Martin. "He can now travel along most of path without much difficulty to get to Pickering."

Updated: 11:25 Thursday, August 30, 2001