MORE than five kilometres of new off-road bike trail is being proposed for Hamsterley Forest after criticism from riders who say the existing route is not challenging enough.
Forestry England, which owns and operates the 2,000-hectare forest, has submitted proposals to Durham County Council to create a 5.4km off-road mountain bike trail as part of upgrading facilities.
Currently Hamsterley Forest has a number of colour-coded bike trails through the forest, ranging from novice green through to expert level black routes. The forest’s moderate level blue route has been criticised by some first-time visitors for not being challenging or off-road enough.
In a design outline, Peter Laing, trail designer, said: “The Hamsterley blue route is actually a green route in disguise – an easy spin round the forest low ground on roads, tracks and wide paths.
“Novice to intermediate mountain bikers who visit Hamsterley for the first time are generally disappointed with the route because they expect to be tackling fun and challenging single-track climbs and descents with banked corners, rolling jumps, easy drops and other features.”
The proposals look at creating a new blue grade trail to join existing forest roads. It would create a total route of 11km in the eastern half of the forest. Matthew Poulton, from Forestry England, said: “Of the newly constructed trail, just over ten per cent will run through broadleaved plantations, the remainder will be constructed in coniferous plantations.”
The new route would start at Hamsterley Visitor Centre, run through the plantation in an anti-clockwise direction, passing through North Forest Drive, on through the woodlands south of Bedburn Beck.
He added: “The trail will be made from the moving of soil and locally sourced stone as opposed to Tarmac or concrete. The trail base will be good mineral soil and broken sandstone from either a nominated on-site quarry or trail side borrow pits.”
The proposals have already been praised by tourism bosses. Craig Wilson, from Visit County Durham, said: “The cycling market and particularly mountain biking is very popular, but other destinations are investing and competing for their market share. If we can attract and keep visitors like these in the area, it benefits local businesses such as places to stay, eat and drink and sustain visitor economy employment.”
