David Robinson, of the Lake District National Park Auth-ority, which is responsible for the cycling network, said: “This is a fantastic stretch of bridleway which is already popular with cyclists, but in its previous state you really had to use a mountain bike to enjoy it.
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/9898535.New_cycle_trail_opens_along_shore_of_Windermere/
Oh noes, you had to have a mountain bike to ride a bridleway (rigid or even hybrid would have been fine). Not that this was some great bit of tech singletrack they've wrecked, but they appear to have turned it into a road (or is this picture wrong and it's showing a bit of the actual road?)
[img] http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/resources/images/2137030/?type=articleLandscape [/img]
The surface, which was previously muddy, uneven and littered with rock, has been improved using locally-sourced stone
How awful. Who'd have thought there would be mud, rock and uneven sections on a bridleway in the countryside? 🙄
IIRR, it was a run-down road that runs just along the water's edge with "decent" riding above it. Means that "anyone" can ride it now - families with kids & granny etc. Fine by me, though I'm not entirely local.
My hunch is that is on the road (or previuosly surfaced first bit, I don't think you get much tarmac for £75000). I don't realy see this as much of a crime. Its a scenic bit of trail and its nice that its traffic free. I don't think covering the mud is a bad thing.
I cycled round Rutland water last weekend. The demand for scenic low traffic cycling is clearly huge. I'd say I'm in favour of this need being met.
Nevermind that, it's the "improvements" to the bottom part of loughrigg terrace you want to be complaining about.
I dunno I just find the idea expressed here that you should be able to ride a bridleway on a road bike slightly concerning. It really wasn't very rocky or muddy before either, just seems like a massive waste of money.
IvanDobski - didn't know about that. 🙁
Yep, it's the techier bit at the bottom where you do a 90deg left turn alongside the fence then the slightly rocky run past the woods before it opens out by the lake and you go through the stream...
All gone and replaced with a 6ft wide, raised motorway.
I've not ridden it yet as it still had the construction barriers etc up but it looks like it'll be fast and flowy. Trouble is it's a blind set of fast corners on one of the busiest sections of one of the busiest bridleways in the lakes - there's going to be a lot of bike/walker/pram/dog on lead incidents.
So apparently if you ride off road you need a bike suitable for riding off road 😯
All for trails for all but the reasoning seems somewhat flawed and surely that is a bit short
Probably not aimed at actual cyclists like up but at people who own bikes
I also agree the ruining of other bridleways in the name of improvement is a far worse crime
I've not ridden it yet as it still had the construction barriers etc up but it looks like it'll be fast and flowy. Trouble is it's a blind set of fast corners on one of the busiest sections of one of the busiest bridleways in the lakes - there's going to be a lot of bike/walker/pram/dog on lead incidents.
There already are - my kids were nearly taken out by an inconsiderate mtber going way too fast down the rocky descent bit. Smoothing it may actualy slow folk down as it will be less of a challenge.
Just got back from a ride that took in the Loughrigg 'Improvements'
I was a tad dissapointed to see what they have done but i'm sure i'll get over it. But I would say it just makes the area look worse then previously, when it was a narrow bridleway out of sight.
More worried about the increase of these improvements around the Lakes. Recently they have made Walna Scar into a motorway which was a dissapointment, and noticing more and more minor fixes to places. It seems to be the thing the local authorities enjoy spending money on at the moment.
Video of improvement to Windermere bridleway here, as per original post
Thanks Cammer. I can see the value in promoting cycling to newcomers - I suppose I just struggle with the idea that everything has to be made incredibly easy in order to be enjoyable.
What's wrong with a little bit of effort/challenge (and I really do only mean a very little bit - it wasn't a technical trail to begin with)? Don't people come to the Lake District to enjoy the rugged countryside, not a manicured theme park (sadly I think I might know the answer to this one).
I don't have a problem with groomed trails at a trail centre - I just find the rationale that bridleways out in the countryside need to be made smooth and easy in order for people to enjoy them patronising and concerning.
Have you ever seen an argument made that Lake District paths needed improving so that people don't have to wear proper walking boots to walk them - 'this improvement means anyone can walk the path in the flimsiest of trainers or even high heels, it's great'.
What Grum said but I may well take my kids there so I cam see why it was done there if not in general.
TBH sanitising will just lead to more cheeky trail use IMHO
Looks like a good idea to me tbh. People who're upset about the "you needed a mountain bike" comment- do you think all bridleways should be impossible to ride on a shopper?
There's obviously a place for easy, well surfaced offroad paths/trails. They're just not for us.
Im sure that cycleways like this will get more bums on bikes and that can only be a good thing, though Im not sure that 'improvement' is the right word. There are loads of tracks in that area (claife) and if the more skilled riders start to get a bit 'cheekier' then so be it, as long as no real damage is done. I must say though, there must have been a cheaper way to flatten that b'way, its not like it was in bad nick !
Rode this today with my wife and 3 kids, who are 2, 4, and 7. we can now ride from home, all the way to wray castle, without much trouble. To be fair it was never that technical, but the kids would have struggled before they've done the work. All the decent stuff is up in woods, or on the top. If they touch that I'll be annoyed tho!
People who're upset about the "you needed a mountain bike" comment- do you think all bridleways should be impossible to ride on a shopper?
I would imagine you could have ridden it on a shopper before the 'improvement'. Certainly the vast majority of it. And again: have you ever seen an argument made that Lake District paths needed improving so that people don't have to wear proper walking boots to walk them?
There's obviously a place for easy, well surfaced offroad paths/trails. They're just not for us.
I agree - but wouldn't it be great if they'd spent £75k building new ones rather than flattening an already perfectly decent track.
All the decent stuff is up in woods, or on the top. If they touch that I'll be annoyed tho!
'First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.'
😛
Rode that bridleway last week with my daughter(tagalong) and it was a pleasure to ride, gone was the muddy mess that was there before and literally came across loads of families using that route,if it upsets you head up claife way for your thrills 😉
God forbid you should have to encounter a bit of mud in the countryside. How awful. Honestly, these incomers thinking they own the place. 😛
Never said it was exciting before and yes I've ridden the other BWs around Claife and they're great (for now).
Give it a few hard winters and it will start to break up. Its that cycle of, er, well, cycling.
Walkers and mountaineers have been going through this argument for about three decades now as footpaths are improved and repaired.
Video just says it all really, well done go lakes more family friendly routes in the lowlands please!
looks like coed-y-brenin if you ask me