 Clearly it's not a flat, wide gravel track though... I think you'll find that it actually is, They have reduced the technical difficulty of the trail almost none existent, the routes are entirely graveled up with scant regard to the fact that during the next storm they will be washed away, and there isn't a single bermed or cambered corner which the cynic in me thinks is a speed calming measure. I've been riding this for a few weeks now, and you can still access a number of the great parts on the old Red Route, which had some great technical sections. The new route is to be honest best described as a family route which more twists and turns than the old blue route. Still it's actually quite fun at night
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 There you go. First-hand reporting FTW 
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The first few seconds looked distinctly unpromising
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 Not the most rad trail ever.
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Yep it's like that all the way down. The FC have ripped up an awesome section of berm to berm flowing riding into a rock garden and super narrow/little too close singletrack forest section. Other sections the FC have ripped up are a rooty nightmare of switchbacks and lovely little rocky descent...not to mention the free ride jumps and northshore. I normally wouldn't complain but I shall because the attempts to help out with trailbuilding and digging have always fallen on deaf ears. From what I can gather, Haldon Freeride project is shut down and the FC have stamped their foot down
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 looks like a lot of the "new" trails at CyB.
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It's nice to have it 15mins from my house and coupled up with the family route makes for a decent training circuit...but I've no idea what the actual point of it is.
It's too simple for mountain bikers...maybe a little too scary for family riders.
I think it's aimed at Exeter people (they're very odd, think city types who moved to the country but need a city...that's Exeter people) who have the audi 4x4 have the spesh rockhopper and want to go riding...it'd suit them to the ground.
I'd quite like to go down on sunday afternoon and scream my lungs out frigging moooove! at the newbs but as it stands I'll just ride it at night with just me and the freaky scary staring you out deers in the forest
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 Looks alright. The place has changed stacks since I first started riding there nearly 15 years ago
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Yeah, I mean there's nothing wrong with it...there's just no reason to rip up the old trails.
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It seems that there's always money to be had (EU, RDA, etc) to build new trails, but rarely money to keep old ones up together. I think this is the first time that a purpose-built FC trail has actually been completely replaced, though. I could be wrong. Seems a bit mad to actually spend money to get rid of the old one, too - I hear reports of diggers on the old red trail.
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Didn't really want to comment on the digging that's going on in rest of the forest  The old route did suffer a couple of years back, when half the hill fell about 30feet during a particularly wet and stormy couple of months. after that despite the number of people myself included who offered to "save the red run" the FC seemingly forsook the place. It did have a number of lines that were perpendicular to the slope of the hill and thus acted like channels for stormwater, so in a number of ways I can see that a lot of the FC's work is just trying to save the forest from collapsing. Still it's not nice when they seemingly rip up good trails for no good reason other than spoiling fun.
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It did have a number of lines that were perpendicular to the slope of the hill and thus acted like channels for stormwater I guess if it was that shoddily-built then it may have been easier to replace it. Pretty poor for a four-year-old trail.
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Of course, if anyone fancies sorting it all out, there's an interesting job going
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Trouble is the haldon freeride digging project seems to have ended...I'm not sure of the politics surrounding it but it seems that organised trailbuilding days with volunteers was frowned upon
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This is one of the annoying things about FC. It's all regionalised, with some regions enthusiastic about (or at least willing to entertain) volunteer groups and others just not. So whether you can get a project off the ground is largely down to the prejudices of the local management. Which doesn't seem right, really.
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 Looks pretty tame to me (and I ride a Spesh Rockhopper...  )
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Wow, I thought that I'd check it out as I used to ride there quite a few times. Not really enjoying the start on the family trail, no sir. Having spent some time this summer in the pyrenees, and andorra, (on at least 10 different ski stations) this trail would be on the tame/middle side of a Green run (i.e basic). Not technical at all, bigger rock gardens on a green over there. Definitely doesn't warrant a red tag. Fair to say I probably won't bother again, especially as they've pulled down the other stuff. What a let down.
Take a leaf out of the woodland riders book, look what they've achieved.
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Yeah but gawton is DH only! The FC have gone ballistic Nazi up at Haldon...you used to be able to park your car on the side of the road then they put mounds of earth to stop you, you used to be able to ride some shortcuts or 'the rat run' the put trees across it. Haldon doesn't want Mountain Bikers Haldon want's middle class middle aged, BMW drivers to ride quietly for 50mins, come back to the cafe area, purchase some of the pottery and carving wares, get a leaflet for the overpriced 'Go Ape' before leaving for home. crock of bollocks
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Hit the nail on the head, I used to park at the little chef car park then cruise on down.
They should rethink their difficulty level I think.
All I can say is thank god triscombe and all those other trails around there, are now closer to me! Hell that's more what it's about.
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