Is anybody else experiencing this?
Yep, the wall at the witches trails in Fort William was flattened last April to this:
Don't have a before pic but imagine the base of a dry stone wall and that's pretty much what it was.
Can anything be done about it?
Doubt it...
To: lochaber.district@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
Subject: Witches Trail: The WallHi there.
I was recently riding your trail, and noticed that The Wall section had been subject to some major sanitisation. While I realise the drive to have consistency in the grading of the trail centres within the FC's remit, I feel that this has spoilt what was one of the more entertaining sections of trails for experienced riders, as well as lowering the standard for events such as the Scottish XC Champs being held on the trails in June of this year.
Can I ask why this work was carried out, rather than creating a lower-graded 'by-pass' or parallel trail, leaving the technical sections as opt-in for those who wish to challenge themselves?
Thanks for your time, I look forward to your response.
FC response:
One of the criticisms of the trail network at the FC / Nevis Range venue was that apart from a short skills loop and miles of forest road, there is a big gap in the provision of grades of trails which allow less expirianced riders to build up both their skills and stamina. Conversley what we have an abundance of is red trails on FC ground including the soon to be launched new red route at Nevis Range and the existing down hill black.As part of the trail review that we are undertaking nationally we held an open public workshop at the Lochaber college, and it was in part, as a response to feed back from this that we carried out the regrading work on this section. This means that we will be getting closer to a stacked loop system where we will have a Blue loop and the Red route starting from Nevis Range. Giving a better choice for the wide range of trail users and abilites that visit the centre.
At the same time we are updating the leaflet and interpretation panels to reflect these changes including a long overdue combined lealfet containing info for both the Downhill and XC routes as a one stop shop for info for visitors. Hope to have this launched in time for the world cup in June.
A quick response to what has been a lenghty consultation. Copied this to Kirsty Mann who led the review of the trails in case I have missed any points
Please don't hesitate to give me a call if you would like to discuss
further.Regards
Craig
Craig Millar
Communities, Recreation & Tourism.
Forestry Commission Scotland
Lochaber Forest District
Direct 01786 222133
Mobile 07876 478230
To sum it up they had a brief local public consultation that few folk knew about (a lot of people travel from all over the UK to ride there) and decided to do what they wanted to do anyway. They didn't even consult the Scottish XC race organisers who use it for the Scottish champs course:
Bill RossI notice a comment from Craig Millar of the Forestry Commission, that they carried out an open public workshop in Fort William prior to carrying out the work. Well they didn't contact the SXC who indirectly represent a significant number of the racers in Scotland and as a consequence have failed to gain sufficient credibility for their plan. Over the past 3 years they have devastated the most technical sections of the course in an attempt to standardise the grading, however all they have succeeded in doing is making a fantastic course technically very easy.
