tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73244198311583941752024-03-13T19:23:19.634-07:00Trails by Dafydd DavisDafydd Davis, Trail DesignerIain Robinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03633733907566547236noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-8639014030659127172014-06-09T13:47:00.000-07:002014-06-09T13:47:24.584-07:00ON THE BOARDWALK....<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Following on from our last blog, the new sections of trail at the Ballyhouras are now OPEN!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The maps at the trail centre are yet to be updated, but pop in to have a word with Declan and the guys at <a href="http://www.trailriders.ie/">Trailriders</a> and they'll be able to point you in the right direction. Please remember - the trails will be closed to the general public on the 14th and 15th June 2014, as they are hosting the European Marathon Championships.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another piece of good news for fans of the trails is that the long boardwalk section on the brown trail is being replaced by <a href="http://www.ecoplastic.net/">Ecoplastic</a> boardwalk plus a section of trail, and the boardwalk section near the Ballinaboola crossroads on the white loop has also been replaced by trail. This is due for completion in the very near future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some photos of the boardwalk so far.....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-36837126231495383232014-05-13T06:49:00.000-07:002014-05-13T06:49:10.430-07:00BALLYHOURA FOREST PARK - MTB TRAILS PHASE 2<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ballyhoura Forest Park in Counties Limerick and Cork, Ireland has gained a fair bit of recognition following the planning, design and development of a mountain bike trail system back in 2006. The forest is owned by <a href="http://www.coillte.ie/">Coillte</a>, the trails were planned and designed by <a href="http://www.trailswales.co.uk/">Trails by Dafydd Davis</a> and the funding was put together by the community group <a href="http://www.ballyhouradevelopment.com/">Ballyhoura Development</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The initial trails were designed to be accessible in order to grow the mountain bike market in Ireland, which at the time was relatively small, and to have low management impacts for Coillte, who needed to continue harvesting timber commercially at the site. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With an extensive trail system of over 50km at the Ballyhouras, along with another 4 sites which were developed on Coillte land in conjunction (Ballinastoe, Derroura, Curragh Chase and Portumna - see link to map below) and other developments in Ireland, the market has since shown considerable growth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.coillteoutdoors.ie/index.php?id=140">Coillte Outdoors Map of Sites</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So now it's time to step it up a bit in terms of the type of trails at the Ballyhouras. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phase 2 includes the construction of a new inward and outward route, a skills area near the trailhead and three new sections of more challenging trails. In addition,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> detailed designs are being put together for up to 13km of additional trail, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to be constructed during a further phase of works.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The construction of the 3 new sections and skills area is currently underway by <a href="http://www.euroservicescontracts.com/">Euroservices Contracts</a> - these are to be complete in time for the European Marathon Championships 2014 to be held at the Ballyhouras on the 14th and 15th June 2014.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy biking :-) </span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-30008015957062078772013-04-20T13:30:00.000-07:002013-04-20T13:30:06.195-07:00MTB Hall of Fame Nominations<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please pop over to this page and vote for Dafydd in the MTB Hall of Fame :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ukmtbhalloffame.com/hall-of-fame-2013/dafydd-davis/">MTB Hall of Fame - Dafydd Davis</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-5638174155887993572013-01-29T07:28:00.000-08:002013-01-29T07:28:35.417-08:00MOURNES MTB PROJECT - 2 MONTHS TO GO!!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, there's only 2 months left until completion of the above project - there's a growing sense of anticipation in the surrounding areas, especially among the local riders and businesses. Here are a few photos of recent developments.....</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-31365533050351256002012-12-19T07:36:00.001-08:002012-12-19T07:37:00.524-08:00Trails Video<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check out this cool video of the trails Dafydd designed in the Czech Republic :-)</span><br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/53770611">Singletrek pod Smrken</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-90198857372234485212012-12-19T07:15:00.002-08:002012-12-19T07:15:47.458-08:00Barnett's Demesne<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are some pictures of parts of the new Category 3 (Blue Grade) mountain bike trails at Barnett's Demesne, Belfast - this is a seriously sensitive site which is used by thousands of people every day for taking the dog for a walk, going for a run or just to get a bit of peace and quiet. But it's also very heavily used by mountain bikers who have established a network of single track trails throughout the park over a many years. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However these trails are a cause of great concern to the park management and they are keen to try and manage mountain biking in the park by providing mountain bikers with sustainable alternatives. We are trying to get these trails into this park in as low impact a way as possible and in a way which is sensitive to the way in which people value this place. So that means the creation of super low impact mellow singletrack trails for the most part (which are shown in the pictures) but the development also includes a number of Category 4 (Red Grade) trails and a dirt jump area. The challenge at this site is to make sure we meet the needs and expectations of the many mountain bikers whilst also having as little impact as possible. Hopefully we are well on the way to achieving this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you can probably tell from these pictures the new trails are already being heavily used by riders - it's really important that people stay off these trails as they must be given time to dry out, consolidate and compact. Riding them just makes more work for the contractor and prolongs the trails construction process.</span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-38818232170724441412012-11-26T11:05:00.001-08:002012-11-26T11:05:09.593-08:00Trails Poem <br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Trails are not dust and pebbles on a hill,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nor even grass and wild buds by a lake;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Trails are adventure and a hand to still</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The restless pulse of life when men would break</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Their minds with weight of thinking. Trails are peace,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The call to dreams, the challenge to ascent;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Trails are the brisk unfolding of release</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">From bitterness and from discouragement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Trails are the random writing on the wall</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That tells how every man, grown tired at heart</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Of things correct and ordered, comes to scrawl</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">His happy hour down - then goes to start</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Life over with new eagerness and zest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Who builds a trail finds labor that is rest!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">HELEN FRAZEE-BOWER, 1896-2000, Trails</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-67625024718013094792012-11-01T10:28:00.004-07:002012-11-01T10:30:28.456-07:00MOURNES MTB<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, there's plenty of activity going on over in Northern Ireland at the moment, not least the Mournes MTB project - here are a few more pictures of the progress being made here :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>ROSTREVOR</u></b>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>CASTLEWELLAN:</u></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-62706698292490986332012-10-05T10:46:00.000-07:002012-10-05T10:46:35.851-07:00CASTLEWELLAN UNDERWAY....<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, it's true, the construction of the trails at Castlewellan is finally underway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whilst trail building at Rostrevor is all about working in the middle of nowhere on top of a mountain with lots of peat, rocks and water, Castlewellan is a whole different ball of wax.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Castlewellan Forest Park has been managed with landscaping and biodiversity in mind for generations and these trails have to take that into account.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Euroservices guys are doing a fantastic job on Section 18 at Castlewellan, where the landscaping of the trails is so important.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the crucial thing is that the trail planning and design process that we used at Castlewellan has allowed for all of these issues to be taken into consideration and built into the construction process from the start. This means that Euroservices are able to get it right first time - just take a look at the photos below to decide for yourself if this is the case.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-38105389898889777452012-09-30T05:08:00.004-07:002012-09-30T05:08:44.107-07:00ROSTREVOR - SLINKY DINKY DOO!!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Section 13 of the Rostrevor Mountain Bike trails has taken
shape since the helicopter lift of stone the other week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The picture below shows what little impact the trail has had
on the open mountain even though it has
only just been built.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rAiaR5rwP8k/UGg1kRFWiAI/AAAAAAAAAM8/_N4l0jTHwJU/s1600/RT+Slinky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rAiaR5rwP8k/UGg1kRFWiAI/AAAAAAAAAM8/_N4l0jTHwJU/s640/RT+Slinky.jpg" width="478" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-58773178822874471272012-09-27T11:31:00.002-07:002012-09-27T11:31:21.451-07:00CASTLEWARD REVISITED<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Went to Castleward for a bit of a look around again the
other day, just to check out some of the trails I missed last time I was over
there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m so pleased with the way these trails look, they have
really matured into the landscape in a very short time and I think they really
add something to the estate. I was particularly pleased with the trails in
Tullyratty which is an ASSI for its species rich grassland and where I reckon
there has been no net habitat loss due to the trails. Instead the trails allow
people to access this very special habitat in a sustainable way which might
just increases people’s awareness of it and change how they value it. The
trails in Mountain Wood looked great too as did the old forest road which was
changed into a twisty singletrack with landscaping and demarcation and the
clear felled areas have greened up nicely. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all I am very pleased with these trails. They were never
intended to be ‘mountain bike trails’ for people on bouncy bikes, rather they
were intended to be a network of multi use trails built around a hierarchy of
access. The all ability trails provide
access to the foreshore for all kinds of user, whilst the wider trail network
allows for walkers, runners, cyclists and horse riders to enjoy this very
special Estate.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mrgCHYGIL_0/UGSZ6HtSKdI/AAAAAAAAAMY/HOryFYur8jE/s1600/Catleward1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mrgCHYGIL_0/UGSZ6HtSKdI/AAAAAAAAAMY/HOryFYur8jE/s640/Catleward1.jpg" width="478" /></span></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The above picture shows the forest road that was turned into a nice twisty singletrack to reduce the gradient – pretty easy to do but really worthwhile I think. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eGLRtwtKzoc/UGSZ_vAcX9I/AAAAAAAAAMg/Fd5m03DbpUk/s1600/Catleward2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="478" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eGLRtwtKzoc/UGSZ_vAcX9I/AAAAAAAAAMg/Fd5m03DbpUk/s640/Catleward2.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This the equestrian trail through the specials rich
grassland – really careful design and detailed construction specifications allowed this
trail to be put into this very sensitive habitat with minimal disturbance. </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5A1fGJ_wQz8/UGSaEqcPZ6I/AAAAAAAAAMo/lsZZfod_jsw/s1600/Catleward3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5A1fGJ_wQz8/UGSaEqcPZ6I/AAAAAAAAAMo/lsZZfod_jsw/s640/Catleward3.jpg" width="478" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p>This picture shows the walking and cycling trail through the
species rich grassland. Very carefully landscaped demarcation on both sides of
the trail has helped reduce the impact of the trail and its users on the ASSI.
The landscaping has effectively led to the demarcation disappearing into the
landscape.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dafydd Davis</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">27/09/12</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-12158860267212279862012-09-11T06:07:00.000-07:002012-09-11T06:17:57.128-07:00THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO .......<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Irish helicopter boys arrived on site at Rostrevor last week and have been making light work of moving the stone out onto Section 13 across the Slinky and up onto Section 10.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check out the videos below for a close up!!</span></div>
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<object class="BLOGGER-picasa-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DXW36QCOc3o/UE82Tkn1vCI/AAAAAAAAALo/up-f99Lasrc/s1600/movie.mov" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fredirector.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3Dbe3a23015a5b7879%26itag%3D18%26source%3Dpicasa%26cmo%3Dsensitive_content%253Dyes%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1349960528%26sparams%3Did%2Citag%2Csource%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%26signature%3D4CB24C18C5E503E219404CD4F86D962430CE593C.1650B60E7115832A20F57A399D3F3E1DB5D663D2%26key%3Dlh1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fredirector.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3Dbe3a23015a5b7879%26itag%3D18%26source%3Dpicasa%26cmo%3Dsensitive_content%253Dyes%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1349960528%26sparams%3Did%2Citag%2Csource%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%26signature%3D4CB24C18C5E503E219404CD4F86D962430CE593C.1650B60E7115832A20F57A399D3F3E1DB5D663D2%26key%3Dlh1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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<object class="BLOGGER-picasa-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-gMtAl8uM_mw/UE84xgqvUJI/AAAAAAAAAME/N6XXTByNtpc/s1600/movie2.mov" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fredirector.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3D58d68760c8ea708e%26itag%3D18%26source%3Dpicasa%26cmo%3Dsensitive_content%253Dyes%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1349961160%26sparams%3Did%2Citag%2Csource%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%26signature%3DB4FAA0C1667210A575EB9A0FE9E2AAB6904B01D1.50FED74F7A0266BDAAFFB4E79D1BBE5450DE9BCE%26key%3Dlh1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fredirector.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3D58d68760c8ea708e%26itag%3D18%26source%3Dpicasa%26cmo%3Dsensitive_content%253Dyes%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1349961160%26sparams%3Did%2Citag%2Csource%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%26signature%3DB4FAA0C1667210A575EB9A0FE9E2AAB6904B01D1.50FED74F7A0266BDAAFFB4E79D1BBE5450DE9BCE%26key%3Dlh1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-30931054424389906752012-09-03T04:17:00.001-07:002012-09-03T04:17:29.949-07:00READY FOR LIFT OFF............<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The pictures below show bags of stone at Rostrevor ready to be airlifted into Section 13 on the slopes of Slieve Meel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is an exciting, but also slightly apprehensive time for everyone involved with the Rostrevor project.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hopefully, Euro Services will perfect their airlifting methods, which can greatly facilitate the process of building trails in difficult and inaccessible places.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y1Zl7H2UAG8/UESQiiWZqhI/AAAAAAAAAK0/05SzKQ7Lkog/s1600/bags+of+stone+2+section+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y1Zl7H2UAG8/UESQiiWZqhI/AAAAAAAAAK0/05SzKQ7Lkog/s640/bags+of+stone+2+section+13.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XcunIZJdPqM/UESQj4S5WNI/AAAAAAAAAK8/nopK-uOoB7k/s1600/bags+of+stone+section+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XcunIZJdPqM/UESQj4S5WNI/AAAAAAAAAK8/nopK-uOoB7k/s640/bags+of+stone+section+13.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-86676267823388618452012-08-31T08:36:00.004-07:002012-08-31T08:36:54.455-07:00RECREATIONAL TRAILS AND LAND USE<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fear that many land owners have when considering developing recreational trails is the impact this will have on the commercial viability of their current land use e.g. forestry, grazing, water catchment etc.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whilst these fears are understandable, with the right approach it is more than possible to develop trails with minimal impact on land use, and where land use has minimal impact on the trails. This is something which is a major part of our 'Sustainability Framework', which underpins all our recreational trail designs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The key is to start out by creating a frame of reference with land owners and managers which will guide the rest of the project and will establish issues such as aims and objectives, the status of any trail development, current land use and recreational use etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a great deal of cases official trail development takes place to manage unsanctioned recreation on land, which is impacting upon land use, the aim being to resolve these issues. For example, when considering unsanctioned trails in a commercial forestry setting, it is very difficult for foresters to predict the flow of recreational users when the trails are unsanctioned and as forestry can present a hazard to the public, this can affect the liability of the land owners and managers in terms of reducing risk to the public. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When official trails are put in place, it is much easier to manage the flow of users and to establish diversions and trail closures for the time required for forestry operations. In addition, the trails are protected by their official status - when harvesting takes place, measures are taken to protect any parts of the trails which could be impacted upon, and during the design process, measures are taken to ensure the sustainability of these trails in every sense e.g. raised trails structures placed on top of the land will be greatly impacted upon, whereas it is much less likely that an effective bench cut, designed with harvesting in mind will be damaged.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same is true for any type of property or land use. Establishing the Frame of Reference on an individual basis for each project is wholly important, there is no such thing as successful trails when taking a 'cookie cutter' approach - each property and its issues are different.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So once again, the point is this - a prescriptive and considered approach to trail development set within the context of a Frame of Reference agreed upon by stakeholders is the way to go about getting THE RIGHT TRAILS, IN THE RIGHT PLACES, IN THE RIGHT WAY.</span><div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-68315549817659689702012-08-24T07:55:00.001-07:002012-08-24T07:55:42.103-07:00THE MOURNES - THE MOUNTAIN BIKERS ARE COMING!!!!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The opening of the new 'Mournes Mountain Bike Trails' at
Rostrevor and Castlewellan in Spring 2013 is already a much talked about topic.
With hundreds of riders already chomping at the bit to get out there (and
thanks to all the guys and girls who are being respectful and keeping off the
trails whilst under construction) the opening will bring a whole new market to
the area which will need to be catered for if the local economy is to benefit
to its maximum potential – and the impact could be potentially huge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FaCi8DXsfpY/UDeVTC8R6AI/AAAAAAAAAKc/n8kM012VgHc/s1600/Picture1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="402" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FaCi8DXsfpY/UDeVTC8R6AI/AAAAAAAAAKc/n8kM012VgHc/s640/Picture1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A quiet day at Coed y Brenin</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take for example the original trail centre – Coed y Brenin
in North Wales. Once the centre opened, so did the floodgates. The visitor
numbers to Coed y Brenin increased from around 14,000 a year to in excess of
150,000 a year in 4 years with at least 90% of new visitors being mountain
bikers, and 80% of mountain bikers were weekend visitors, resulting in a £5
million a year cash injection into the local economy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Local businesses adapted
to provide for this new market, including accommodation such as B&B’s and
hotels providing secure storage for bikes and kit washing and drying services,
the provision of bike hire and repair services, mountain bike shops, trail guide services and much more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rostrevor and Castlewellan together will make for a great
weekend’s riding in beautiful scenery and all those mountain bikers will want
good grub to eat and a few pints of an evening. If the area really wants to
benefit from these trails, local businesses need to be prepared to give mountain
bikers the services that they need to make the Mournes a great mountain biking
destination.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-81444826754824928212012-08-16T07:03:00.001-07:002012-08-16T07:03:23.593-07:00WEEK 16 AT ROSTREVOR<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below is a selection of pictures showing Section 19 at Rostrevor. The pictures show that it is possible to build a nice flowing trail with lots of features, without having too much impact, and by being sympathetic to the landscape and the setting. However, this could not have been achieved here without a great deal of very careful and time consuming planning and design.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--TUJIJrELAY/UCz5PrAsYUI/AAAAAAAAAJY/hy3DW8-awI4/s1600/19+A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--TUJIJrELAY/UCz5PrAsYUI/AAAAAAAAAJY/hy3DW8-awI4/s640/19+A.JPG" width="478" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aI79FO6MDkk/UCz5fCPgAJI/AAAAAAAAAJg/fZPF1vZVRqk/s1600/19+F.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aI79FO6MDkk/UCz5fCPgAJI/AAAAAAAAAJg/fZPF1vZVRqk/s640/19+F.JPG" width="478" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WIMWBAD9EuY/UCz5wquoGHI/AAAAAAAAAJo/YRAWwAEVyi4/s1600/19+K.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="478" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WIMWBAD9EuY/UCz5wquoGHI/AAAAAAAAAJo/YRAWwAEVyi4/s640/19+K.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P7F8TW5kNoM/UCz6AVp7wtI/AAAAAAAAAJw/Hsx8FRqf3P4/s1600/19+N.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P7F8TW5kNoM/UCz6AVp7wtI/AAAAAAAAAJw/Hsx8FRqf3P4/s640/19+N.JPG" width="478" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The picture below is Section 20, which links into Section 19 and both sections together should provide a really fun, fast and flowing descent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last two pictures show Section 9, which is hidden away at the top of The Fallows. Effective planning and design has enabled a sympathetic approach to be taken to this section, whilst also taking into account very difficult and challenging ground conditions</span>.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-22839815670709324182012-08-09T07:17:00.001-07:002012-08-09T07:17:44.489-07:00Mournes and Slieve Croob Strategic Path Review<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Spring 2012, ' Trails by Dafydd Davis' was employed by The Mournes Heritage Trust to produce a report named 'The Mournes and Slieve Croob Strategic Path Review', which was funded by Sport NI and NIEA. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The process of producing this report involved very lengthy consultation with stakeholders, including land owners and managers, the Mourne Outdoor Recreation Forum, DARD, Fire Service N.I. and users of the upland paths, and the steering group consisting of Public Rights of Way Officers of local councils, representatives of Mountaineering Ireland, Outdoor Recreation NI (formerly CAAN), Sport NI, NIEA and the Mournes Heritage Trust. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a vast network of paths onto the Mournes, and these were assessed individually, and as a whole, in terms of sustainability and visual and physical impact on the landscape (see trail inspection forms in the appendices to see all the elements that were evaluated), and strategic recommendations made for each. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To read about the complex issues which surround these paths in their beautiful upland setting, click on the link below. The appendices contain the trail inspection forms, maps and photos and a whole lot more, so be sure to have a read of this also.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is Section 20 and is part of the last leg of the cross country trail back into Kilbroney. I'm very pleased with this and it's turned out pretty much exactly as I'd envisaged it i.e. fast and flowing with lots of grade reversals and quick little turns. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the same section - note the very limited impact on the ground around the trail. With needle fall and traffic this section should quite quickly start to feel quite naturalistic and that's been the aim all along.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same section again - showing where the trail has been stone pitched over big roots to give what are almost natural rollers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is Section 9 up in The Fallows. The Euroservices boys have done a great job here in truly awful conditions. Winter style rainfall and saturated ground have made life very difficult for them, but their impact is still very limited. I think this trail is going to be a bit of a gem even if it is in a pretty wet and midge infested place!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Dafydd, 06/08/2012</b></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-14516438775149501822012-07-30T09:16:00.001-07:002012-07-30T09:16:15.344-07:00CRAIGAVON TRAIL MAINTENANCE DAY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Saturday 21st July 2012 a willing band of volunteers, rustled up by Kelley Rushton of Lough Neagh Discovery Centre arrived at Craigavon for a hard days graft repairing some sections of the trails. Many thanks to Rich and Davey of Trailbadger.com for the photos below and their assistance in getting more volunteers for the day, as well as rolling up their own sleeves. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>So here are some photos to prove how much can be done in such a little time - amazing work guys.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This first photo isn't actually the trail, but badly rutted ground to the left of the trail (the actual trail being hidden under the brambles to the right). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next photo shows the same bit of trail, brambles removed, the muddy hole filled in and some good demarcation put in place. The existing trail also got a good light dressing of stone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next photo shows where riders have been taking short cuts to avoid a puddle and this has resulted in rutting and the retention of more water.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The guys in the photo below are busy working on the above section, concentrating on reprofiling the turn so it's a bit more insloped, surfacing and demarcating.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next photo shows the guys whackering in sub base on the same section.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the next shows them digging up the existing trail to reprofile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here's the turn almost finished....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next photo shows a badly rutted section of trail, where a lack of effective demarcation led to people riding on soft ground on either side of the hard trail surface. This led to rutting and eventually to the near collapse of the trail structure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next two photos show the above section repaired and with some really effective demarcation put in place to keep people on the hard trail surface. The important thing is that the demarcation be properly set into the ground and is landscaped to try and make it look as though it belongs there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well done to all the volunteers who turned up on the day and many thanks for all the effort. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Craigavon trails are a great community asset, not just for mountain bikers but for walkers and runners alike and it's great to see these sections restored to their former glory.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-75997323568731241742012-07-26T10:28:00.000-07:002012-07-26T10:28:11.579-07:00BALLYHOURAS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just found some pretty cool videos of the Ballyhoura MTB trails in the Republic of Ireland on Coillte land. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These trails were designed by Dafydd and this is the largest MTB trail network in Ireland, with over 50km of trails in a stacked loop system, with something for everyone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check them out :-)</span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-51083912505314961932012-07-24T06:46:00.000-07:002012-07-24T06:46:13.285-07:00WEEK 12 AT ROSTREVOR - SECTION 3 + TRAIL PLANNING AND DESIGN<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Week 12 at Rostrevor and some sections are nearing completion. The pictures below show Section 3, which will be the first descending section on the big cross country loop after the long climb from Killbroney. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This section of trail crosses a steep slope through big trees with lots of step downs, rollable sections of stone pitching and grade reversals. The idea with this section was to have as little impact on the big trees as possible and to use the existing terrain and features to create a fun descent.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NTpzA5tZgcI/UA6gfvRKbgI/AAAAAAAAAGI/JSz54PTZ8rs/s1600/Section+3.10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NTpzA5tZgcI/UA6gfvRKbgI/AAAAAAAAAGI/JSz54PTZ8rs/s640/Section+3.10.JPG" width="476" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The above picture shows a bit towards the bottom of Section 3 - I think it looks great and after a bit of needle fall, will look and feel pretty natural.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fuH8AX2aIeM/UA6glITek2I/AAAAAAAAAGQ/8IcQZ6wJFH8/s1600/Section+3.5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fuH8AX2aIeM/UA6glITek2I/AAAAAAAAAGQ/8IcQZ6wJFH8/s640/Section+3.5.JPG" width="478" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can't really tell from this picture, but this actually descends at about 10% and there are loads of funky grade reversals and step downs - I'm pretty pleased with how this section fits into the landscape here.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9XPBaIJoyLQ/UA6gqS7NtNI/AAAAAAAAAGY/BAsdx2fLDWc/s1600/sect+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9XPBaIJoyLQ/UA6gqS7NtNI/AAAAAAAAAGY/BAsdx2fLDWc/s640/sect+3.JPG" width="478" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same bit again, check out how the trail uses the trees to demarcate the turns.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UKMVeq3RFks/UA6gvYKp6sI/AAAAAAAAAGg/mQbK2MipKcw/s1600/section+3.14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="478" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UKMVeq3RFks/UA6gvYKp6sI/AAAAAAAAAGg/mQbK2MipKcw/s640/section+3.14.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, it's quite difficult to see form the picture, but this one shows some of the grade reversals that characterise this section.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>TRAIL PLANNING AND DESIGN</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The way that the trails look in Rostrevor and how they sit in the landscape is no happy accident - rather, this is a result of a very lengthy planning and design process which took into account a lot of different issues and concerns raised by all kinds of stakeholders. The trail planning needed to take into account minimising the impact of trails on forest services' ability to carry out commercial forestry operations, whilst also making sure that the trails themselves were sustainable in the widest possible sense. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Consultation with local residents, recreational users groups and crucially, the local mountain biking community helped develop a clear frame of reference that has guided and informed the planning and design of these trails from the start.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lots of people love Rostrevor Forest, and it's an important local recreation and tourism asset, where people come to run, walk, ride a horse, ride a mountain bike or just have a picnic. It was very important that the development of mountain bike trails did nothing to devalue the place or undermine its importance to the local community. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With all of this in mind the planning and design of the trails system has centered on minimising the visual and physical impacts of the trails and giving them a naturalistic feel in the hope that this will connect mountain bikers to this beautiful and very special landscape for years to come. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The time spent establishing definitive trail lines and developing very detailed prescriptive plans has enabled Euroservices to fairly and accurately price the trail construction work and for us to monitor and measure the work in a robust way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dafydd Davis</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">24th July 2012</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-84045666148589355982012-07-18T07:17:00.000-07:002012-07-18T07:17:57.362-07:00ROSTREVOR UPDATE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple more pictures from Rostrevor ....watch out for next weeks blog, which will include some pictures of Section 3, a more featured, funky section than those shown previously, with some discussion about the trail planning and design work that went into the project.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CDpzw9dCKgk/UAbCvcQE0uI/AAAAAAAAAF0/Gp3vDYjcBT4/s1600/IMG-20120711-00053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CDpzw9dCKgk/UAbCvcQE0uI/AAAAAAAAAF0/Gp3vDYjcBT4/s640/IMG-20120711-00053.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The above picture shows the turn at the top of Section 5 on the climb up to Slieve Martin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a superb viewpoint out over Carlingford Lough </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(note Andy's abomination of a completely rigid single speed bike with dropped handlebars!!!??)</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UV70boEX_bQ/UAbC1wYRAAI/AAAAAAAAAF8/cheD5IDhZQw/s1600/IMG_00000522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UV70boEX_bQ/UAbC1wYRAAI/AAAAAAAAAF8/cheD5IDhZQw/s320/IMG_00000522.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Above is a photo of Section 5, where it climbs across a very steep hillside through big trees - the Euroservices guys have done an amazing job with this, with very little impact on either the ground or the trees.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-42872039144559942972012-07-10T03:30:00.000-07:002012-07-17T08:01:28.273-07:00WESTERN AUSTRALIA<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dafydd has recently spent three weeks over in Western Australia (no...not on holiday, unfortunately for him!!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was a guest speaker at the IMBA conference in May, speaking about the importance of trail sustainability, trail planning and about creating a sustainability framework which all trail planning and design should work within.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See the link below (about half way down the page) to see what WAMBA had to say about Dafydd's presentation:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.wamba.org.au/">WAMBA Web Site - 2012 Diary</a>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-59xJDPop2Cs/T_wAlLZGWxI/AAAAAAAAAFg/XFSDdLyqDso/s1600/photo+(7).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-59xJDPop2Cs/T_wAlLZGWxI/AAAAAAAAAFg/XFSDdLyqDso/s320/photo+(7).jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beautiful blue sea of Perth - Dafydd was staying in a hotel just around the corner from here :-)</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JY35vSgCDrA/T_wAmyJfgUI/AAAAAAAAAFo/LIXttlYzaGg/s1600/photo5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JY35vSgCDrA/T_wAmyJfgUI/AAAAAAAAAFo/LIXttlYzaGg/s320/photo5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A great example of an accessible trail in a heavily used beauty spot which as been integrated into the landscape near Albany</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the rest of the time Dafydd sent in WA he was liaising with land owners/managers, statutory bodies, native heritage groups and stakeholders to develop a sustainability framework that will be used by DEC (Department of Environment and Conservation), DSR (Department of Sports and Recreation), West Cycle and WA Mountain Bike Association during the planning and design of any new trails. The first draft of this document is currently being circulated among the groups above and I'm sure there are future trips to Aus on the cards for Dafydd - lucky guy ;-)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Link to <a href="http://www.westcycle.org.au/cycling-development-sustainability-framework" style="background-color: white;">West Cycle - Developing a Sustainability Framework</a></span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7324419831158394175.post-17040403014322668892012-06-28T08:49:00.000-07:002012-07-10T15:34:45.561-07:00Castle Ward Multi Purpose Trails<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dafydd revisited Castle Ward on Tuesday
evening to have a look at the multi use trails that were put in just over a year
ago that were designed by Dafydd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Castleward is a very special place
in landscape terms and it was very important that the trails fit in with the
landscape in every sense. The trails that were put in were designed to appear
like thay had always been part of the estate and are open to a range of uses
including equestrains, walkers, cyclists and the less able. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was very pleased with the trails and we think the pictures speak for themselves:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lC1K_tJN0uY/T-x7mAkGI5I/AAAAAAAAAFI/HvwIRkSz0Rg/s1600/Boundary+Trail+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lC1K_tJN0uY/T-x7mAkGI5I/AAAAAAAAAFI/HvwIRkSz0Rg/s320/Boundary+Trail+2.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> This photo<span style="background-color: white;"> shows the multi-use trail along the property boundary. This was designed to make it invisible from particular parts of the estate and to be very soft on the landscape.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M2AXaiaM2k8/T-x7rSTASSI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/ApktZAYh7jo/s1600/Mallards+Plantation+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M2AXaiaM2k8/T-x7rSTASSI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/ApktZAYh7jo/s320/Mallards+Plantation+2.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This photo shows the Category 3 trail in the Woods which has really blended in well in a very short time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As always the key issue that underpinned Dafydd's design work here was sustainability, and a year on they have proven to be very popular with trail users and sustainable in every sense.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following another week of site supervision at Rostrevor, here are couple more photo's to keep you updated with progress at the site:</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pTNS-4tAIU4/T-x5YiuWBOI/AAAAAAAAAE4/pF0bPBe24RU/s1600/5l.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pTNS-4tAIU4/T-x5YiuWBOI/AAAAAAAAAE4/pF0bPBe24RU/s320/5l.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The above photo <span style="background-color: white;">shows Section 5 on
the Rostrevor mountain bike trails. This is a long climb and has been designed
to allow for a nice steady ascent.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-knZRSc_G3XI/T-x5eOjaE5I/AAAAAAAAAFA/5YY6-BUL_MU/s1600/5b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-knZRSc_G3XI/T-x5eOjaE5I/AAAAAAAAAFA/5YY6-BUL_MU/s320/5b.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This photo shows the same section near the Cloughmore stone
in the open ground. The idea with this one is to try and minimise the visual
impact in this sensitive area. Note the landscaping and trail demarcation here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As stated previously, it is very important that no members of the public use these trails either on foot or bike before the construction of the whole trail system is completed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We shall continue to keep you updated with progress. </span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844013499406434049noreply@blogger.com0