Help Shape the Future of the 7Stanes Trails

“FLS is looking to mirror the successful delivery of the Glentress Masterplan”

Oh dear, that doesn’t bode well if the Glentress masterplan is deemed a success!

No room for holiday lets as they are building a wind farm across most of it it would seem.

Has a single one of the 7 Stanes improved overall since they were originally built? Discounting off piste trails.

Has a single one of the 7 Stanes improved overall since they were originally built? Discounting off piste trails.

Good question, there has been some new trails but there has also been a closure of others as well as a sanitation of some.

Most of the 7 Stanes are a big drive from most of Scotland’s population. So a decent trail centre that’s closer would be ideal.

That kinda defeats the initial thinking behind situating the trails in the south west to start with.

Away and on mobile only so haven’t checked the link yet but is it similar to the last questionnaire about “how should we spend this £x million pound windfall to improve the 7 Stanes, specifically think about a retail experience and holiday lodges at Glentress” bullshit?

Tough crowd. New green, blue, red and black trails at GT, over 10km worth, that you don’t need to pay to ride, that get pretty good reviews, what’s not to like? Yes, holiday cabins coming too, but GT is still one of the most extensive trail networks in the country. Was able to host a pretty damn good XC world champs too. And there’s still a new skills area bit to be built. For an agency who specialise in growing and felling trees and are mostly self-funded, it’s not bad, no?

*Though agree with the point on maintenance. A little would go a long way.

Tough crowd. New green, blue, red and black trails at GT, over 10km worth, that you don’t need to pay to ride, that get pretty good reviews, what’s not to like?

The original trails are knackered, bit’s have been closed for years and there feels to be hardly anything left of the original black route. The old cafe was friendly and welcoming, and did decent value food. The new one isn’t and doesn’t.

Mabie is by far the most neglected though. It used to have a cafe/bike shop and a whole other trail.

Gribs
Full Member

The original trails are knackered, bit’s have been closed for years and there feels to be hardly anything left of the original black route.

Yep, GT black barely exists at this point. Storm Arwen was a nightmare, this year’s been almost as bad but without the single bad night. Reality is, sometimes trails get put beyond reasonable use, and it can’t be fixed without bringing in the machines to safely clear it. Assuming the trail even survived the windblow, that is- you can go right up to the worst damage on GT black and see part of the boundary trail turn 90 degrees and go straight up, because the tree whose root plate it was built on went over.

Pretty much every forest trail is one bad night away from being completely closed, or shut down long term.

Ahh good old turbine bribes. Here’s 80 turbines to ruin your views and landscape but we’ll build more trails next to the ones that are already mostly wrecked and closed because we can’t be arsed to come and clear them.

There was a plan not long after Arwen to reopen the GT black using Five Year Plan, but nothings happened. There’s also effectively no trails at GT for beginners now- the upper green is unlikely to ever reopen as the bit of hill has been destroyed. Falla brae is broken again. The cabins are ever encroaching on the rest of the forest. The new trails are pretty beat up in places and haven’t even opened in others.

There’s a general theme of neglect right across the 7 Stanes from what I read here, not just GT, but as the “flagship” offering its not great

If as many people as possible put these points into the survey, they might eventually listen so I’d recommend spending a couple of mins letting FLS know your thoughts

The problem is that FLS are just not given revenue for maintenance, and they struggle to generate revenue (car parking, be honest….). So they get big capital boosts every few years, build and then the decline starts. This cycle will continue until a revenue model is sorted out. FLS do have their hands tied behind their backs.

We have a worldwide trail network, accessible for free. What other sport to you access facilities for free? I agree that ongoing (revenue) funded maintenance is badly needed, its just not clear how / when / if his will happen.

We need to be careful here – Glentress is the jewel in the crown for FLS and they really don’t like any negative chat about it as they have invested so much into it that they are convinced it will not fail…that investment has been to the detriment of the other Stanes as money is diverted from them, as well as other areas (as money is diverted from them).

The care bit is that if they do do a similar master plan then they are likely to draw people away from Glentress – and how will that work for them?

I really hope this Masterplan is left at Glentress and they create a suitable master plan for each area – and ideally they are all not the same as the one used at Glentress as that doesn’t appear to be working as intended.

“Have you been yet?”

Yes, I ride there most weeks. I can’t deny it is far from perfect, and that every trail at GT and the 7stanes as a whole needs maintenance. But I still ride and enjoy the trails. And I do think it’s a bit of a stretch to say the black trail basically doesn’t exist anymore – Boundary is shut and the diversion is long, and there’s a diversion around Buzzard’s Nest, but the rest is still there and still pretty good. Surprisingly, last time I was at Britney Spears (3 weeks ago) I thought it was running better than it had been for some time.

The bottom line for me is that they’re literally free to use – I can’t expect perfection. And as FrankSinatra says, the funding for FLS as a whole means maintaining trails is way down the list of priorities (and that’s a whole other kettle of fish to get into).

As for the construction debris, collapsing corners and drainage problems, surely an issue that should be taken up with the builders?

Not trying to have a go at anyone here, each to their own. Just think FLS get a bad rep when as a body who mainly plant and harvest trees, it’s pretty good there are trails at all.

mtnboarder
Full Member

Construction debris is littered around. The bottom half of three of the trails closed after 1 day as the corners were collapsing.

The bottom trails are fully repaired btw, they’re still closed presumably to weather in. There’s also been changes made to the drainage and some other tweaks. The situation was made worse because it had to wait for the contractors to be available and onsite as it was basically a snagging/delivery issue not normal wear and tear. And let’s not pretend it was really “after one day”, the trails were getting basically normal levels of traffic before they were opened because people are arseholes.

Construction debris? TBH it’s mostly just inevitable ground scars that’ll cover up over time, basically give it a year and it’ll look way better. The nonstop mountain bikers shortcutting trails, riding over verges and walking and pushing around everywhere have way more impact tbf, and also stop the edges of the trails greening in as intended. In fairness that’s been made worse than it probably would have been by the closures at the bottom.

The signage is an absolute fiasco right now though. At least partly because almost nothing was done in advance, to try and reduce the number of people riding the unopened trails, the rangers were out the day before opening smashing in signs at the last minute (as it turned out, nothing short of landmines would have done that, but still). There’s more posts in place which aren’t signed up yet so I hope that’s part of a general improvement but it needs a really visible trailhead, a massive **** off map that actually explains how the entire centre works, information on escape routes and how to link up different trails, and I think most of all signs to link in the old trails properly.

Long term is going to be interesting. It does feel like a high maintenance set of trails, and basically all the work at GT for years has been dedicated to making it as low maintenance as possible. I think partly there’s also just some ridiculous expectations here, it’s not going to be or supposed to be bowling green smooth, and braking bumps aren’t just inevitable, they’re normal. But the blue especially is going to need to be kept in good shape just in order to work and be in grade. Traffic levels have been insane, that’ll probably fall after the summer and presumably the idea is that it’s just part of the whole big centre once things are back to normal post-cabins, whereas right now it’s absolutely the centre of all the riding, I’ve spoken to so many people that are literally only riding the new stuff by going up the fireroad.

Right now it’s easy to be negative about it, the cabins still feel like a bullet in the head almost, and the sheer amount of unconnected wind damage closures are depressing. Either of those 2 alone would be a big deal. It’s an absolute ghost of what it was in the old trails, that’s a fact.

For anyone interested I got the wrong link in the post above, the map and survey for Dalbeattie are here: https://www.research.net/r/dalbeattieforest

There is still the option for anyone in the town to come along this Friday and Saturday at the Initiative office.

https://forestryandland.gov.scot/news-releases/dalbeattie-forest-visitor-concept-plan-open-for-public-consultation

The office is now back down at 71 high street (where the food bank had been for the last few years).

As said before we have an interest in getting as many views as we can on improvements to Dalbeattie forest to support the town and the Rocks and Wheels project