On the face of it, the development of the long-distance Pennine Bridleway is a boon for mountain bikers. But the construction of the first sections of the trail have led to some consternation, with previously tricky, technical trails widened, smoothed out and resurfaced. Better for the casual rider and walker, but not quite so appealing for the people who’d been happily riding the trails as they were.

In an effort to communicate mountain bikers’ concerns to the powers that be, yesterday I spent an informative day in the company of several interested parties looking at the state of a particular stretch of the planned Bridleway. Tony Raven had heard of the work planned on Roych Clough and Coldwell Clough and, concerned because of the “classic” nature of the sections of trail (they form part of the infamous Hayfield loop) had asked for some consultation. Reassuringly, Derbyshire County Council and the Countryside Agency were delighted to get Tony’s call. Joining us were Jenny Southwell from Derbyshire CC and Julie Thompson of the Countryside Agency, who’s responsible for the Pennine Bridleway as a whole.

Also along were access guru Colin Palmer from the CTC, Ian Johnson, a trail maintenance contractor and Rich Edwards of IMBA. Fortuitously Rich was on a flying visit to the UK at just the right time…

The Pennine Bridleway is a massive effort, involving the upgrading, renovation and sometimes even creation of parts of a trail stretching from the Peak District to Northumberland. As a bridleway, the trail surface must be accessible to all users, particularly in the parts closest to centres of population. At the moment, some sections are almost impassible by horses due to the erosion caused during the Foot and Mouth outbreak – no traffic meant no compaction, meaning that rain carried off more soil than usual, meaning more loose rocks… Not an easy thing to fix.

On top of this, the creation of a national trail of this length is going to increase traffic on it. Already, B&Bs in Hayfield are noting an increase in people going away with horses for the weekend (yes, just as we throw the bikes in the car for a weekend in Wales, some people throw the horses in the box for a weekend away!). On the Mary Towneley Loop (elsewhere on the Pennine Bridleway) there is a growing trend to see two or three B&Bs working together to offer a package, letting the clients ride between B&Bs while their luggage is ferried by car to meet them at the next stop. Imagine this happening at every major centre along the planned length of the Pennine Bridleway and you can see that usage may well skyrocket, especially when you take into account that the trails haven’t even officially been opened yet and there has been no advertising.

So the scene was set for what we thought would be a titanic struggle to retain the classic nature of the ride against the oppressive monopoly of the horse and walker brigade. How wrong we were…

As we walked along the trail (Rich, Colin and myself pushing our bikes), we looked at the nature of the track and discussed problem points. Without going into details, we found that the people in charge of the trail work were happy to listen to our input and feedback. As they suggested something they saw as an improvement, we would let them know our views. Occasionally we agreed, more often we didn’t, but that simply led into conversation about how we could compromise. The insights provided by Rich Edwards were invaluable, and I must extend a big thanks to Rich himself, to IMBA and to Forest Enterprise for part-sponsoring IMBA to send reps over to the UK.

At times, Ian would suggest that the track would need to be widened, only for us to point out that doing so would encourage mountain bikers to gain speed at an inappropiate point. At other points, our hopeful suggestions of “gnarly” tracks were understandably seen to be inappropriate to a trail which may see high usage by visitors of all types. This give and take was in evidence along the whole length of the trail we walked together, and on the sections which we rode to meet the walkers as they were ferried round in cars we gained an understanding of the overall view of the trail.

At the end of the day I found that I gained a good understanding of the work that must go into maintaining trails, and the problems involved. From an official point of view, work can’t be done willy-nilly. Care must be take to ensure that the trail is suitable for all users (which may include motor vehicles on certain stretches, unfortunately), that the work is sympathetic to the surroundings, and wherever possible that the nature of the trail is not significantly changed.

Julie Thompson emphasised that they have so far had very little input from mountain bikers and would be keen for anyone with an interest in any part of the Pennine Bridleway to contact them and become involved in public consultation. Remember, if you don’t speak up, you can’t complain if you don’t like the results…