Earlier this year we reported on the consultation on mountain biking at Lyme, organised by the National Trust’s Outdoor Activity Development Officer (www.peakdistrictmtb.org/advocacy-action-mountain-biking-lyme) . Lyme is a 1400 acre National Trust estate inside the Cheshire Peak District near Disley with few rights of way for cyclists, but it was clear from the consultation that there was a hunger for more riding options.
So what’s happened since? Graham Clark – Cycle Trails Transition Officer for the National Trust – has an update:
Throughout August we have had two (of the usually closed to cyclist) trails open from 5pm until closing on weekdays. This has gone well and so we are keeping this extra access on throughout September. Based on this we will then formulate a plan for the months ahead – especially once the clocks go back and our opening hours reduce.
There are maps of the tracks in the trial available from the Information kiosk or you can download a pdf map here.
We are also investigating the use of a ‘Lyme License’ as suggested at the last meeting – we will update you all with this when we have some more news – currently we are speaking to our National team about the data protection side of things (a hot topic in the Trust currently).
At the meeting over Bollinhurst Bridge (just outside the park on East Drive) there is a plan to remove the existing bridge and create a ford. They were not adverse to the idea of allowing cyclists, and we will keep mentioning this whenever we get asked about access from that direction.
Positive news I hope you agree, and a superb example of the importance of advocacy in our mountain biking world. Well done to Graham and team for moving this forward.
