I was wondering how much it cost local authorities to sanitise various bits of trail – helicoptering in surfacing materials etc. must cost a bomb. So in these times of austerity is there any chance that there will be less focus on turning techy trails into gravelled highways, or is the risk of getting sued by a horsey type too much of an impetus to ignore?

a very, very small upside to a much greater down

Possibly, although its not all bad/good, a lot of places really do need soem armouring otherise they'd be 100ft wide bogs (Cut Gate for example) which just gives ammunition to the ramblers to get us banned. Other places it gets done sympatheticaly, its just no one posts on here to say "they've dumped even more rocks on Snowdon's paths" but you do here "that really boggy section of trail with a nice view that I use once in a blue moon is now wheelchair accessible, bloody wheelchair users, why dont they just stay at home"

I hear they are tarmacking some of Snowdon because of erosion.

I had this exact thought a couple of weeks ago when riding down Devils Elbow near Blackamore in Sheffield. Hopefully the cutbacks will persuade the Wildlife trust that they should leave it alone.

I hear they are tarmacking some of Snowdon because of erosion.
They've already done the steep lower bit.

IanMunro – Member
I hear they are tarmacking some of Snowdon because of erosion.
They've already done the steep lower bit.

Also alledgedly to assist in disabled access (according to Janet Street Porter in the Daily Fail, in what was a rather anti-disabled access rant a few days ago)

Would these "improvements" be local authority funded, or funded by the appropriate national park authority?

I had this exact thought a couple of weeks ago when riding down Devils Elbow near Blackamore in Sheffield.

thing is with Blacka, they need to sort the drainage out properly, this will stop people going round the bog and widening the path further and further