Has anyone ridden the newish mtb trail? It starts near the Knot towards West Park gate (Higher Poynton).
It's been under construction for a few years now, but a few weeks ago while riding up, we saw some signs.
Yep, it's probably been there a couple of years now. It starts with an uphill section, even though it already starts at the top end of the valley, with bits that are so steep they're barely rideable. The downhill bit is then steeper than it would otherwise need to be (because it has that extra height to lose), fairly narrow and exposed, and also pretty much die-straight, so when you get to the bottom you've picked up a fair bit of speed so the skinny bridge that's set at a jaunty dog-leg angle to the track comes as something of a surprise...
TL:DR - it's crap. It could have been a nice whizzy wiggly track through the trees, it isn't.
Agree with IHN. I've "ridden" it once.
TL:DR - it's crap. It could have been a nice whizzy wiggly track through the trees, it isn't.
You mean the National Trust have been given an opportunity to do something for cycling / mountain biking and utterly squandered it?
I'm astonished...
Closely followed by all the wails of "well we built this incredible trail for cyclists but they're still digging jumps in our woodland, we must ban all bikes immediately!" and "cyclists told us we should build a trail so at vast expense we built this and none of them are using it, we won't ever build anything for them ever again!"
You mean the National Trust have been given an opportunity to do something for cycling / mountain biking and utterly squandered it?
To be fair, I've chatted to some of the rangers at Lyme and they are keen to do 'something' to provide some MTB stuff there, and they do turn a blind eye to cheeky stuff if folks don't take the piss. It's just a shame they built the thing they did without, I assume, bringing in a group like PeakMTB to advise on what would work.
I'll tell you what is a nice whizzy wiggly path through the trees - the path that runs down the side of the main drive. Obviously, riding down it on a busy weekend is a bit of a Rule 1 contravention, but on a quiet midweek evening it's a fun little razz on a mountain or gravel bike.
You mean the National Trust have been given an opportunity to do something for cycling / mountain biking and utterly squandered it?
This goes way back to 2017 when consultation was initiated by Graham Clark, the NT Outdoor Activities Development Officer. Digging started in 2019 but stalled somewhat during Covid and also due to abuse (entering the park outside hours, digging in the woodlands, etc.). Finding a suitable location for any development at all was an issue. If I remember correctly there are huge parts of the estate where it is nigh on impossible to carry out any kind of development due to the NT statutory obligation protect the land (or something).
IIRC they're also hampered by the terms of the lease from Stockport Borough Council (who actually own the park). The lease renews every seven years, and the renewal agrees/states what they'll do in the next seven year period, so if they want to do something that's not agreed in the current lease they have to wait until the next renewal to get it agreed before they can do it.
