I saw that on Spotlight earlier, no mention of routes in Somerset though 🙁

cool . is this part of the new red routes as discused last august,

Snaps,
the second link you have is dated october last year and relates to the first round of funding for the cafe, re-jigging the adventure and family trails, and the new red run.

yep thats it , extra money , i cant rember were from , i was at the meeting , just seemed to go very quiet about it all , this is very good news indeed, i was up holden about 2 weeks ago , trails looking a bit worn / poor to be honest, were do you get info about helping etc , i looked here but found nothing, i wouldnt mind helping out somtimes ,

hi m8 , done both of those not had any thing back from HFR for ages , and nothing at all from EXMTB

I’m a bit sad that money’s being put into Haldon. I’d like to see other things reviewed.
For instance, some years back Sustrans looked at using the old Teign Valley line as a possible cycle track. Sadly the 3 tunnels going through the hill at Ide stopped it. Why they couldn’t have thought of a way round it baffles me, I think money was the ultimate downfall. That would have meant getting a trail from Exeter around a really pretty valley to Chudleigh or possibly Newton Abbot. It would be usable for a lot of people and also allow a possible commute-by-bike into and out of the city.
With Haldon recouping money by charging, it seems to me the money could be better spent elsewhere.
Also, as Traimonkey hints, it seems trails in the city are being improved, but no one links the outside *to* the city, so as he says, it’s Exeter-centric!
my tuppence!
cheers
Q

Never mind Haldon and Exeter. How about some all-weather trails in North Devon (mainly ones that don’t turn to clay at a hint of moisture)!

Also, when did Haldon start charging? I was there a couple of weeks ago and no-one asked me for money, although I never use the car park.

spongemachine:
At least you’ve got the Traka Trail!!! Yes I know it’s not somewhere that you can thrash around on, but down here we have *nothing*!
The city has now tried to link trails in and around Exeter, and starting to extend down the estuary, but apart from that…..zilch!
There are areas where on a mountain bike you can have fun and actually get out and about in Devon, we have a lot of bridleways and generally it doesn’t take too much to link them into a trip. I’m on the other side of the valley looking at Haldon. When they were young my kids had no where to learn to ride, unless you try to learn uphill on a 1:4 in most places. Now they’re older but really can’t face the hills that I cope with, family or ‘pleasure’ riding means we either have to drive across Devon to get to the Tarka trail, or possibly ~ 80 miles down the Wadebridge – it’s silly! The Exeter trail network is ok, but city based and incredibly busy, no place to go for a tranquil ride in the country with the family.
My point was that the money could be more effectively used for the benefit of general cycling elsewhere – prehaps looking at other disused railway beds such as the Teign Valley – rather than a specialist area appealing to a few like Haldon. Where I live, the only flat road is our valley road which has blind bends on it, cars use it as a race track, roadies cycke 2 abreast which antagonises motorists and it’s now often a cycle v car battle. I hate using the road and wince at the thought of letting my older daughters cycle on it. Such an area needs gentle family recreational non car routes – as I’m sure other areas in Devon do to
hey ho
life’s too short to argue
take it easy
Q

jam bo:
sorry, ‘scuse my iggerance, never been!
I suppose I was just trying to make the point that another longish cycleway would attract a greater variety of users, casual cyclist, familes etc as opposed to putting it where only a limited number of dedicated bikers will benefit.
Q