This time the Meon Valley trail in Hampshire.

The local authority with it seems the backing of the South Downs National Park Authority is essentially resurfacing the previously dirt bridleway with what appears to be some hard pack aggregate. This appears to be to make it “more accessible” to cyclists, walkers, families etc.

Essentially all they are doing is creating a £310,000 17km hard pack motorway through the area.

Parts of the trail did need addressing, the mud in some of the darker areas of the trail was unpassable however this work has gone way too far.

They have also gone as far to reclassify the trail from bridleway to restricted byway, in a move that seems to be sticking two fingers up to the equestrian community following outrage that the new surface is not suitable for horses.

There is a Facebook group set up with some news here- https://www.facebook.com/groups/1422003224767344/

Lets hope they dont resurface the South Downs Way in the same fashion..

http://southdownsforum.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ramping-up-operations-on-the-meon-valley-trail

http://southdownsforum.ning.com/m/blogpost?id=6409074%3ABlogPost%3A48652

Soulless 🙁

Yer but.. Yer but some of it was pretty awful. I agree with accesability for all. Not sure why they are not encouraging horses that really seems at odds with what Hampshires all about. I’ll take a ride over there and take a POV once ridden over it again, which I’ve not done for a few months.

As for the SDW, well there are already large sections of gravel. Certainly sections where they used to be farm tracks that farmers use regularly, if you’d ridden them previously you’d welcome the gravel because prior to that they were just deep cut mud fest criss cross tracks where tractors had attempted to get through.

Access for all I say, if it encourages folks in wheelchairs up there then I’m more than happy with that. If it pisses off a few bikers (like me on occasion) then I have to suck it up in the knowledge that I hope it encourages more folks to get out and see what a beautiful place Hampshire is.

Prob’s not what you wanted to hear from me, but hey there you go.

I completely agree that some sections needed sorting, the bottom of Old Winchester Hill was a mud slide in the winter. Like I say some parts of the MVT did need some drainage work but stripping and hard packing the lot? Too far IMO.

If only these areas and trails were just for our use 😉

Again, agreed. I’m all for access to everyone but apart from the really boggy sections this was already in place.

The first post on that fb page ‘pedestrians have footpaths, cyclists have cycle paths’ as if bridleways are there purely for the use of horse riders.

No wonder she’s not getting much response from the council if that’s the approach she’s taking.

Her logic probably goes something like this:

Footpaths = foot traffic, walkers
Cyclepaths = cycle traffic, cyclists
Bridleways = bridle traffic, horses use bridles so that’s us!!

See it far too often with the horsey set. Occasionally get the “Why don’t you go ride at your trail centres, that’s built for you then we can have the bridleways to ourselves!” argument from one of my dad’s friends who runs a riding school.

Sorry but some of the chat on that facebook group is ridiculous!

Does the LAF have any input?

They did a similar thing on parts of the test way but did a real lazy job and only really did bits of it and was mainly cosmetic and hasnt improved it at all, there still muddy and puddle sections and is now stoney! luckily they didnt do the whole thing. what a waste of money.
It just seems like they do these things without any real thought or planning.

Good point about the LAF ^^

I just went and rode it, got bored after 5 miles and went back to the car. They’ve really made it a soulless motorway; the surface they’ve put down is shockingly bad, cheap aggregate too lots of large stones and not many fines, not sure if it finished yet but it really needs a lot more rolling as its really loose. It was never exciting but it was good for a pootle with the kids etc. I’ll not be going back, better places to ride now with the kids after what they’ve done.

I do feel for the horse riders as I imagine it was quite good for them to have a canter on and in my experience the riders there have always been friendly.

My house backs onto the railway line at Meonstoke. I only ever use it to get to the SDW or occaisionally to West Meon. I tend to find it very boring as most of it has no views at all,and unlike the South Wonston line no cheeky pump tracks!

Thats how you get the money to do it. make it accessible.

If you want your interest covered – you have to be active in the process. and engage with everyone else however reluctant they are. And you also have to put up with those not interested destroying thousands of pounds of work by ignoring temporary access restrictions. yes Horsey people and mountain bikers thats you! Its a thankless task. Even for those that do it professionally. never mind the volunteers.

I was going to go up there today but I’ve ridden another route instead.. I shall pop along tomorrow..

Yeah I feel too for horse riders, no I really do. I think they’ve got a lot of local input to be heard around South Hampshire (where I ride) and ALL I pass have and always are cheery folks. I often share a nice word or two with them when I’m out.

Lots of ROW and Byways are being opened up and used more often, certainly I’ve seen more use of a few sections that I thought were never used, found nedders and other bike’ists on and flattening out age old deep rooted tractor troughs.

Anyone been up near Steep recently ? Theres a Byway up there thats hardly used, it needs more of us lot on it I reckon.

😀

I’m certain that there’s a South Downs Local Access Forum. What I don’t understand, no I do really, is that those representing our interests on the LAF do not appear to be engaging with users and presumably that’s due to their remit or lack of one. Yes, it would mean a huge amount of work for the rep, perhaps having two would help, but at the end of the day it involves effort.

Years ago I offered my services to a LAF, I heard nothing. It’s something I’m still interested in doing and am willing to put the work in, putting something back for all the benefits and enjoyment I’ve received over 20 years or so.

Hopefully ninfan will see this thread, he has a massive amount of experience and knowledge of Rights of Way.

Er, is this the flat, straight, old railway line that runs through Wickham?
Sorry, can’t find a map on any of the links and that is what I thought was the old Meon Valley Line…
If it is, great, seriously, I wanted to use that route to do a complete offroad ride from home (Waterlooville) to work and tried to use that route and it was unrideable bog.
I’ll be able to cross-bike it to work now! fab!
(if it’s not that, bugger, it’s awful)

Sorry, I’m being a bimbo. It isn’t clear from the Minutes who is responsible for what. It’s up to us all to make our voices heard.

I think its something every type of user will have to get use to these days.The amount of Byways in Wiltshire they keep grading is nuts a lot of them were not to bad.They are now putting some soft grit down on the cycle path between Chisledon and Marlborough what was wrong with the surface before who knows.Wilts council must be loaded.

What Dezb said.

Sounds like its not great loss as a trail and a great gain as a way of getting to somewhere better faster off-road…

I expect one day soon it’ll become an NCN route ..

Access for all means it looses any technical elements or hard to pass mucky sections all for the greater good. The number of trails in the Lakes that have been improved into sections of towpath is criminal IMO but democracy and equality trumps the needs of a MTB minority.

Having been allowed to join the Facebook group, I’m amazed at the number of horsey sorts advocating all sorts of action. Some including riding on cycle paths wich woe in effect be worse than what’s being proposed here.

To me there was nothing of any ‘technical’ nature, just a permitted path that for the most part was off limits or not a lot of fun for the majority of the winter season, like most of the bridle ways around here, it did offer a fairly good way of adding some distance or linking stuff up with some nice scenery.

I welcome a more suitable surface for more users, I think a lot of the objectors forget that there are a considerable amount of bridleways in Hampshire – and if they actually bothered to ride them they might help keep them open from vegetation for all users, I refer more to horse riders with that statement but some cyclists could do worse than grabbing an O.S map come the summer and exploring.

There are sections on the meon trail that are unrideable and unusuable by all due to the mud. End of. underneath all that mud is a hard stony surface. From what ive seen the council has scraped back certain sections. I think the horseriding section have caused a storm in a tea cup – the final result will not be boulder strewn surface, it will probably be topped off with fine scalps. As for the motorway look, give it 1 month to settle and the surface colour will change to that dark grey colour we’re all used to.

Cant believe the reaction. The authorities – damned if they dont, damned if they do

I recall getting shouted down on here not long back for having the temerity to suggest that tarmacing old railways was a bad thing…

I don’t know any of the SD LAF members personally, I am in a position however to say just how bloody tough it is to get anyone from the mountain bike community to sit down at an official table and speak about the wants and desires of off road cyclists, in the last couple of months I have contacted nearly every council ‘cycle forum’, CTC rep or major club within about twenty miles of here, and only a handful have responded, with most essentially disowning any interest in off road, or only being interested in ‘sustrans type’ paths. If it’s hard for me with my contacts and experience, then the council stands little chance of getting Decent MTB input

Do you hear this? We are our own worst enemies!!!

Putting it in context, you should never, ever, look at a trail that’s just been worked on and try to form any opinion – they take time for the surface to bed in and the vegetation to cover up – very often a year down the line they are unrecognisable. That trails need this level of intervention is a sign of long term neglect, particuarly of drainage.

Regards other users… The one big problem is that a good surface increases bike speed, that always increases conflict – especially on gradients, personally I think that wherever possible bikes should descend on an alternative line (this would allow us to build some interest in too) though if not possible, the path needs to be chicaned to narrow down the bike line and provide refuge, trying to work on some of those in surrey at the moment.

Just walked up to Old Winchester Hill from Meonstoke. The SDW between the railway line and OWH has had scalps spread on the flat section before the incline that goes up to ‘Rooty Corner’. The Incline will still be virtually unrideable at times in winter!

Well finally I hacked the CX’er along it on Weds and it ain’t that bad, ok it’s souless for about 2miles but I got a KOM out of it so I’m fine with it 😆

Having said that, it’ll bed in well enough, it’s wide too.. For some reason the council have widened the track by quite a bit, this suggests to me it’ll become an NCN route before long.

Go ride it, you’ll hate it if your on a bouncer, but if like me on a CX’er you’ll love it 😆

I joined then left the Facebook group, got fed up with the holier than thou attitudes running away.

I think it’s great that gentle routes like this are created, looking forward to taking the kiddy trailer down it when little one is big enough

Breath of fresh air:

Bhs Hampshire
Yesterday at 10:46 · Southampton
A statement from the BHS:
The British Horse Society local Development Officer, Hannah Marsh, has visited the site at the West Meon end of the trail where a 100m stretch of the surfacing work has been completed. Hannah confirmed that this section is finished to a good standard, having had the stones well compacted to give a smooth surface, and the BHS has been assured that this is the standard to which the rest of the work will be finished. Particularly once the surface has had time to settle in and has had more use, it will become better with time. It is important to note that this is the only part HCC have said is finished, and other sections where users are seeing changes are still works in progress.
We are grateful for the work that has gone into this. Although we understand the frustrations from riders in the change of surface but the improved surface will make it suitable for all intended users. Hampshire County Council has recently agreed to dedicate the route as a restricted byway thereby formalising the ridden and carriage driving access that currently takes place. This truly is a multi user route and, in partnership with the South Downs National Park Authority, HCC is repairing the surface to accommodate all users – walkers, cyclists, horse riders, people with disabilities, families, and carriage drivers. It is important that we, the equestrian community, are responsible users of rights of way and are able to appreciate the needs of others who wish to enjoy the same safe access to our wonderful countryside as ourselves.
We would encourage those who feel passionate about their off road access to get more involved with their local BHS access work where they will be involved at earlier stages of route planning and potentially get involved with new projects. To find out more visit http://www.bhs.org.uk or contact a member of the access team.
To find out more on the BHS recommendations for route surfaces please click here: http://www.bhs.org.uk/…/Access…/BHS%20Advice%20Surfaces.ashx

Cor, I bet that’s got the horse riders in the Facebook group frothing. Wish I hadn’t left it now so I could see their response to that. From what I read it just appeared that they wanted to keep it as their own personal ‘hacking’ track. Damn all other users who must give way (and maybe grovel a bit) as they pass.

The irony in this is it wasn’t a countryside route, it’s derelict industrial development that has returned partially to nature. No different to the re surfaced viaduct outside Winchester which was a top hit with cycle commuters etc

Why the need to make it wider? That will increase user conflict no?

This happened in Farleigh Wallop/Cliddesden with a lovely long track. Yes it was narrow but had ‘character’. The trees were felled, it was widened to resemble an extension of the M3 motorway. Why???

I believe a lot of it is the maintenance burden CG, but there are a few issues

The ROWIP had identified a shortage of places for safe cycling, families and kids type stuff, so it was always going to be tipped towards a wider route, plus there was a shortage of carriage driving routes in the region, so the creation of new RB, when most of the route carried no legal status before, is one part of the equation

The nature of funding is such that capital improvement for defined projects through grant is easier than ongoing funding for maintenance (I believe the funding here was from the same tranche that the new forest had to hand back because they cancelled their bike scheme and tried to spend on resurfacing roads and car parks) as the ‘old railway track’ had become more overgrown there were Weekly reports of fallen trees blocking the route in the last couple of years, each of which results in clearance work, so no doubt they have taken the opportunity with the funding to nuke it, cut back the trees (because hardly anyone in the South of England actually manages trees as a resource any more, and words like forestry, arboriculture and profit are verboten, harrumph!) clear the drains and regrade the surface – after which it will no doubt be left to slowly fall into overgrown disrepair for another twenty or thirty years before they do it again.

I think the main reason for the widening is it’s always been a really busy area TBH. Saturday’s and Sunday’s in that short section (just north of Wickham) is/has been a favorite for the 20minuite brigade.. A short walk takes you into Bere Forest (in itself is always busy) and either side of the old railway line are a string of Stables all along up to West Meon where it stops because of the old tunnel being closed (I heard a rumour that the tunnel will be next for opening but the section that crosses the A272 will be hard to cross due to the sheer number of vehicles using the road, but still I’d support that) so what you get is a myriad of families, old folks, horse riders, us lot, kids, dogs, more dogs and more families.
It really was ripe for widening. It’s about 2-3mtrs wide now so easy to pass folks. And since the resurface all the deep puddles and ruts have gone, which is nice.
I haven’t been further north on the resurfaced area than Bere Forest turn off but I’ll go up soon, keen to see where it reverts back to a single track..

Loads of moaning in Meonstoke village shop tonight!!! Public meeting at Wickham Community Centre for anyone interested. Rt Hon George Holembolx will be present apparently. Thurs 16th 7.30pm.

Glad to hear this has been resurfaced. Took a couple of rides along it years ago and it was an unusable bog in places. Sounds ideal for taking the kids out now.

Why are people saying it’s been made “soulless”? It’s an old railway. It was flat and straight. The only “soul” it had was the occasional impassable quagmire, and if that’s soul you’re welcome to it.

@Bez – we ride mountain bikes, they are supposed to get muddy. Have you seen the photos, it’s basically been turned into a gravel road. Useless for horses and IMO for biking. They have also stripped away all the trees and plants so it looks like a new build motorway. The council had £2m to spend (I believe as a result of the park being given national status) with a deadline of March 2015 so they just spent it.

It’s not quite at Rushup Edge council vandalism level but they are trying their best.

I’ve just ridden along it. It’s fine. Quit yer moaning. 🙂

EDIT
There were horses on it too, so they should pipe down a bit as well.
🙄

Why the need to make it wider? That will increase user conflict no?

I’m sorry but how the hell do you work that out? More space equals less conflict, surely?

@Peter, point taken 🙂 I might try and get out on it this weekend to have a look first hand myself

get out on it this weekend to have a look first hand myself

Arguing from a position of having first hand knowledge rather than second hand information and assumptions?

It’ll never catch on.