Its fantastic to see all these new routes being developed. Hats off to the FC.

How do we get funding for this kind of route in the north :-)

All this talk about new FC trails, and you haven't even mentioned Haldon's official opening this weekend. David Arthur - you should be ashamed!!

I'm all for new centres and have raced XC there, but the FC seem to have pulled a fast one with Mike (a really nice and genuine bloke) from PORC.

The crux of the story is that the council and the FC have shut PORC down during the week because they both mislaid some paperwork... and it just happens that the FC are opening a new centre down the road.

More: http://tau-designs.org.uk/porc/portal.php?sid=facdc7c9eca3492e832d9f73e7964130

Rode it today. Had to hire a bike as at the parents and unaccomanpied by my usual stead, hired a Giant XTC £25 for two hours. You can hire some nondescript bike for £8 an hour if you want, you can also hire a full suss if you wish but you won't need it.

Rode the single track route, connected up by bits of a blue route, it's currently not sign posted and as such I spent a significant amount of time lost. The map provided by the visitor centre is pants and barely correlates to the actual paths and trails out there. This feeling was unanimous amongst all I met on the trails. In fact I rode with a chap called Barry who I met whilst lost, we were both lost for a while until he decided to try to head for the car park and I continued the search for single track.

All in all it was an ok ride and would be nice if I hadn't spent so much time lost. It's not exciting and will only get exciting if they finish the freeride bit. Bike shop staff are friendly and didn't over react when I handed back the new Giant covered in loads of mud and about 20mins late.

where do you mean exactly when you say `north`?

Time was against them a bit as far as waymarking the route properly, ready for the Easter weekend - The signs were ordered but never arrived. Give it a couple of weeks and it will be a lot clearer!

We are hoping to get some more technical trails built in addition to what has been built so far, it won't happen overnight as we need to form a club, get funding etc etc but the wheels are in motion....

BP

All this talk about new FC trails, and you haven't even mentioned Haldon's official opening this weekend. David Arthur - you should be ashamed!!

Perhaps someone at FC would like to mention it to us :-)

Awful signs.

Really need to sort out the trail maps and make it rideable rather than the appalling signs that just run out..

Saw lots of lost people.
Just unacceptably lazy especially after all the cash spent on the trails.

~How do we get funding for this kind of route in the north :-)~

Eh, assuming you mean the North of england, it is happening, have'nt you been to the new developments at Dalby??

When Simon said north I think he meant Wharncliffe ;)

Peter,
If you are talking about the signs at Bedgebury, we mentioned it and they did say that they were designing and making new 'tamper-proof' ones.

My mate lives near(ish) there so we've been pretty regularly at weekend since the official opening at Easter and they are on about the third set of signs. These vary from coloured sticks to printed day-glo notices but some idiots keep pulling them up and/or trashing them quicker than they can replace them.

I think that you'll find something suitable in place some time in the near future...

To be fair, there are only 2-3 places on the route where the next section is not obvious from the previous section as you exit.