I have to say I don't like Bill Bryson's prose... I am not a fan... but I agree with him regarding the NT. I think they are a disgrace.... twisting access to the countryside toward the affluent upper middle class with their £4.00 a pop parking fees.... acquiring land that was previously available to anyone. Then engineering steps into mountainsides so little Tarquin doesn't slip but consequently making them lethal to any outdoorsman. I speak from experience from negotiating what the NT have done with Aberglaslyn (Beddgelert) yesterday - and avoid great areas of Cumbria because of them.